House Mortgage -- Countdown

[skives]

Officially paid off our mortgage. Sent payoff in last Wednesday and I believe it went through yesterday as my online banking account doesn’t show the loan account anymore. I believe a payoff letter is coming in the mail today. Took us 6 years 10 months and 22 days to pay it off.

[kork13]

Officially paid off our mortgage. Sent payoff in last Wednesday and I believe it went through yesterday as my online banking account doesn’t show the loan account anymore. I believe a payoff letter is coming in the mail today. Took us 6 years 10 months and 22 days to pay it off.

Huge accomplishment, congratulations!!! Does the lawn feel different under your toes?

I will say that when we paid ours off, it was a massive feeling of relief & security. You just stabilized probably the biggest single drain on your budget... Now you have nothing but breathing room! Seriously, congratulations. I hope you find some way to celebrate.

[skives]

Huge accomplishment, congratulations!!! Does the lawn feel different under your toes?

I will say that when we paid ours off, it was a massive feeling of relief & security. You just stabilized probably the biggest single drain on your budget... Now you have nothing but breathing room! Seriously, congratulations. I hope you find some way to celebrate.

It is a huge relief to have it paid off. Now we can pretty much do what we want with our free time or even change jobs if we wanted to.

Unfortunately our lawn sucks. Mostly dirt and weeds. I always say it looks like a sixteen year-old boys face with acne lol!!!

thanks

[james.hendrickson]

Guys, principle still to pay down: $299,501.07

[Fishindude77]

Happy to see all these pay offs and progress towards pay off.
It's truly a great feeling to have a paid for home.

[james.hendrickson]

Happy to see all these pay offs and progress towards pay off.
It's truly a great feeling to have a paid for home.

Thanks Fishindude, its good to see it under 300,000. Next stop 280k!

[Jluke]

I feel those of us with mortgage rates say 4% or less have reached a new phase where paying extra on the mortgage is not the best choice. new mortgages are hitting 7% and money markets / CDs etc are at 4% or more. Still nowhere near the past where mortgage rates were double digits but we haven’t been in this environment for at least 20 years.

seems like the days of cheap money are paused for now so if I need to buy a car or take a student loan because I used my extra money towards the mortgage, then I’ll be paying a higher rate to borrow that future money for cars, education etc.

I feel less urgency to pay extra on my mortgage. 150k at 3.125% with 17 years left

[disneysteve]

I feel those of us with mortgage rates say 4% or less have reached a new phase where paying extra on the mortgage is not the best choice.

I feel less urgency to pay extra on my mortgage. 150k at 3.125% with 17 years left

That makes sense. My Vanguard settlement account is paying 5.27%. We don't have a mortgage anymore but if we did, it wouldn't make sense to pull money out from that to pay down a 3% mortgage.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Yay congrats! Okay I'm ready to admit we broke mental barrier this month. We paid off 31% of our house so 11% in 6 years.

[Randomsaver]

Hi guys, just dropping by to say hi!

[Randomsaver]

Thanks so much James. There is peace I find in owning properties especially in these kinds of markets. I have 1 more property I like to invest into though -- a house on an island.

Enjoying beach lifestyle.

Properties piling up.

[james.hendrickson]

Guys - principle left to tackle => $293,379.40.

[bjl584]

Guys - principle left to tackle => $293,379.40.

Can you expand?

How much longer is the term?
Are you putting extra towards it in hopes of an early payoff?

[james.hendrickson]

Can you expand?

How much longer is the term?
Are you putting extra towards it in hopes of an early payoff?

BJ - So a couple of things about the payments.

1) The rate is 3.99 percent - which is pretty good.
2) The payment breaks down like this:

Principle: $689.25
Interest: $977.78
Escrow: $511.38

Paying it down early does make sense, but I still have a bit of credit card debt, so that's the immediate priority.

Also, I got the private mortgage insurance taken off a while ago, and I might convert the place I'm in now (where the mortgage is) to a rental property so, I'm undecided as to whether to pay it off early.

[kork13]

I might convert the place I'm in now (where the mortgage is) to a rental property so, I'm undecided as to whether to pay it off early.

Agree that credit card & other debt definitely should take priority over mortgage early payoff .... but I just wanted to note that potential conversion to a rental doesn't really change the equation in my mind. Speaking from experience, a paid-off rental is WAY better than a mortgaged rental, because vacancy for a few weeks or even months is far less of a concern. "But the tax write-off of the mortgage interest!" ... uh huh .... You want to pay $900/mo in interest in order to get a $200/mo tax write-off? No thanks.

There are arguments to be made for leveraging yourself to the gills to increase cashflow & ROI (spending $300k on 1 paid-off rental vs. $300k down spread across 5 mortgaged rentals worth $300k apeice), but that really only applies when you're buying new property(-ies) vs. converting your current home, and that strategy also carries significantly higher risks.