After assessing numerous housing plans the inevitable
conclusion is that the best available solution to finance the
purchase of an apartment is to take an affordable bank loan
(see below) and to divide the monthly payment into three,
allowing the young couple and both sets of parents to pay
just $165 per month.
The figures below were provided by Rabbi Shmuel Deutsch,
manager of Bank Yerushalayim's Geula Branch. He says that
numerous happy parents have adopted this plan and thank
HaKodosh Boruch Hu for granting them the intelligence
to follow this route and to marry off their children in a
dignified manner. (The terms are more or less the same at the
other mortgage banks.)
As an example we will take a "project" apartment (such as
Kiryat Sefer, Brachfeld, Beit Shemesh) priced at $100,000.
The parents provide a total of $10,000 each in capital (i.e.
savings or gemachim, depending on the individual
circumstances) and the bank provides $80,000, charging total
monthly payments of $495.
The loan is not linked to the cost-of-living index!
The interest rate is adjusted once a year for up to 25
years.
The interest rate for the coming year (short-term lending) is
1.1 percent above the prime rate. The current short-term
prime lending rate is 4.3 percent. This means an annual rate
of 5.4 percent.
The loan can be paid off in part or in full at any time
without any early payback penalties.
At the end of every year the loan can be transformed into any
of the following tracks:
* A loan linked to the cost-of-living index with a fixed
interest rate.
* A loan linked to the cost-of-living index with an interest
rate that varies every year, every two-and-a-half years or
every five years.
* A loan linked to the dollar.
* A loan not linked to the interest rate but fixed according
to the prime rate.
Each of the above plans divided among three sides applies as
long as the parents are able to continue paying. After a few
years if the burden weighs heavily on the parents or is
beyond their ability to bear, or if they married off a few
more children in the meantime, bli ayin hora, they can
always tell their dear children, "Please take it upon
yourselves to pay for your apartment."
Dear parents!
This time it is an appeal to your senses since the key is in
our hands. The apartment decree has brought many homes to the
point of collapse and the above plan (whose sum, location and
government mortgage-loan eligibility may vary) offers a
realistic solution to counter the apartment decree,
besiyato deShmaya.
The plan has received the backing and blessing of gedolei
Torah shlita.
With blessings for success,
Naftoli Greenbaum, Chairman Committee for Marrying Off
Children with Dignity, Rechov Malachi 11, POB 5152, Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5388111
