Warren Buffett Still Lives in the Omaha, Nebraska Home he Bought in 1958 for a Modest $31,500

Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and is worth an estimated $68 billion according The Motley Fool. Time Magazine named him one of the most influential people worldwide. Despite being one of the wealthiest people in the world, he still lives in the Omaha, Nebraska home that he purchased in 1958. The house was in the same area where Buffett grew up. He paid $31,500 for the house, which is just over $250,000 today. Buffett refers to it as his third best investment after only wedding rings, as his family has enjoyed over 50 years of memories in the home with more to come. Buffett did not buy the home as a financially motivated investment.

In its current state, the stucco home has five bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, with a total of approximately 6,000 square feet. The home is only five minutes away from the headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett genuinely loves life in Omaha, telling the Associated Press "If I had to live some other place I'd be fine doing it, but I can't think of a better place to live than Omaha" and "In some places it's easy to lose perspective...It's very easy to think clearly here. You're undisturbed by irrelevant factors and the noise generally of business investments." Still modest for a billionaire, it was last appraised for $700,000 in 2003.

Buffett’s Omaha home was not his only residence. Forbes Magazine reports that the billionaire also owned a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, which he bought in 1996 for $1.1 million and sold in 2005 for $5.45 million.

Mortgage Rate Drops Below 4%

Last week, Freddie Mac reported an interest rate on a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage of 3.97%, representing the lowest level since June 20, 2013. This results from a number of factors. Interest rates typically move alongside the 10-year Treasury note, which reached a low of 1.86% last week. This is the first time that the yield has been below 2% since May 2013. Many investors prefer the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds given concerns about the economic weakness in Europe, Ebola, and geopolitical turmoil worldwide (such as the threat of the Islamic State militia group in the Middle East). This contrasts expectations of rising interest rates resulting from the Federal Reserve pulling back its economic stimulus of buying bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

Many homeowners have seized this opportunity to refinance. Bank of America reports that a .5% decrease in mortgage rates for a home worth $221,000 should result in savings of $50 per month. However, the Associated Press argues that mortgage rates should not solely dictate the decision to refinance, because doing so is costly. For example, it would cost approximately $2,500 in fees to refinance from a 5.5% to 4% mortgage rate on a $200,000 mortgage, taking roughly 14 months to break even.