Last Payment

[stephenandrew]

Got home from work just a bit ago---during lunch, I went to the Bank and made the last payment on my mortgage. I had been making extra payments on my mortgage for a number of years thinking that once the house is paid off, the extra cash would help me fund any college expenses that the kids will incur beyond what I have already saved for them. (One heads off to school in August, the other in a year.)

I know there are different perspectives as to whether prepaying a mortgage is a prudent thing to do, but right now it feels pretty darn good. I feel like now is where I have the chance to really begin accumulating some assets outside of my retirement and the kids education savings accounts. Makes me think that ER is really not so far fetched!

 

[REWahoo]

Congratulations! And stand by...others will be along shortly to tell you what a grave mistake you've made.

 

[W2R]

Congratulations! Wait until the first of the month, or whatever the day on which your mortgage payment would have been due. It is SO GREAT to see your bank account growing by one mortgage payment every single month!

 

[JBmadera]

Congratulations! Paid mine off a few years back and I'm very happy to be completely debt free.

 

[jwkde]

Good for you - paid ours off almost a year ago!! It is a great feeling

 

[ejman]

Congratulations! Paid mine off 3 years before ER. It sure made the ER transition much, much easier.

 

[Darryl]

Congratulations! Must feel great!

 

[Rambler]

Let me add my congratulations! Feels great, doesn't it?

R

 

[Moemg]

Great work !

 

[powerplay]

Congratulations!

I decided it was time to pay off my mortgage also, so I mailed the check off last Friday. It will be so nice not having that payment anymore.

 

[stephenandrew]

Thanks for all the nice words---but I wanted to also ask a few questions. So the mortgage is paid off--what happens now? Will the mortgage company send me the actual deed to the property? Do I need to go the county court house and do something? Do I need to call my insurance company and tell them to mail me the bill for the homeowner's insurance? I am assuming the bank will send me any money they are holding in escrow--is this correct? Thanks!

 

[W2R]

Thanks for all the nice words---but I wanted to also ask a few questions. So the mortgage is paid off--what happens now? Will the mortgage company send me the actual deed to the property? Do I need to go the county court house and do something? Do I need to call my insurance company and tell them to mail me the bill for the homeowner's insurance? I am assuming the bank will send me any money they are holding in escrow--is this correct? Thanks!

In my case, they did not send me a deed. They sent me a letter that basically said it was paid off. They said they would inform the parish (=county in Louisiana) that it was paid off. I should probably find out if the parish has it as mine on their records, but I haven't. When I sell the house, if there is any question I have the letter saying it was paid off.

Yes, the bank sent me a nice fat check (about twice my monthly payment) once they had figured out the escrow and the exact amount they were owed down to the penny.

You need to go to your insurance agent and let them know that it is paid off. That way, if the house is destroyed (heaven forbid!) or damaged or something, they will pay you directly. Also, they need to send you the insurance bills directly. You will need to pay your property tax yourself, now.

 

[Lusitan]

Congratulations! I *think* the bank will probably send you the mortgage release indicating that the loan has been paid off in full, and I *think* they will do you the favor of filing this at the county courthouse. But you'll definitely want to double-check once they've done that to make sure it's all there.

I'm surprised you're not already getting the homeowner's insurance bill sent to you already ...

You'll want to make sure you keep abreast of the property taxes so you can pay them directly, maybe it's different everywhere but around here I think they are paid quarterly ...

 

[powerplay]

What happens now?

Pretty much what W2R says. My mortgage company said they will send me a letter of mortgage satisfaction. I paid a recording fee with my payoff so the mortgage company notifies the county and it will be recorded. I don't get a deed as that is held by the county. I also have the responsibility to notify my homeowners insurance.

 

[Meadbh]

YouTube - Crowbar (Canada) - Oh What A Feeling (1971)

 

[walkinwood]

What were you thinking? Paying off your mortgage when there are so many ..

.. just felt that someone had to say that so ReWahoo wasn't disappointed,

Congratulations! I'm still in the process of paying mine down.

 

[clifp]

Congratulations. I just got the check for my escrow balance from BofA Saturday. It is nice change to get a from them instead of sending them a mortgage payment.

 

[Alan]

In my case, they did not send me a deed. They sent me a letter that basically said it was paid off. They said they would inform the parish (=county in Louisiana) that it was paid off. I should probably find out if the parish has it as mine on their records, but I haven't. When I sell the house, if there is any question I have the letter saying it was paid off.

Yes, the bank sent me a nice fat check (about twice my monthly payment) once they had figured out the escrow and the exact amount they were owed down to the penny.

You need to go to your insurance agent and let them know that it is paid off. That way, if the house is destroyed (heaven forbid!) or damaged or something, they will pay you directly. Also, they need to send you the insurance bills directly. You will need to pay your property tax yourself, now.

Congratulations on paying off your mortgage. I also lived in Louisiana like W2R when I paid mine and everything happened like above.

HOWEVER, I did take a drive down to the registration office and check that the deed was in fact correctly transferred into my name. And that leads me to a story of a friend when we were living in Baton Rouge last year. She had owned 2 houses and sold one of them a couple of years earlier. One day she was reading the section in the newspaper where they name and shame the folks who are delinquent on their taxes and saw HER name listed as being behind on her property taxes. She was shocked (she's a proper "southern belle" ) and when she inquired, she discovered that the lawyers had transferred the wrong deeds so that she was still listed as the owner of the house she had sold and the deeds of the house she was living in were registered to the person she'd sold the other house to.

My advice is go check that the deeds are correctly registered

 

[W2R]

My advice is go check that the deeds are correctly registered

I probably should drive over to Gretna to check on that, now. I paid my house off the year after Hurricane Katrina. For the same reason that it seemed futile to check at that time, I am also concerned that it might have slipped through the cracks.

 

[Rascal]

Congratulations! It's a great feeling. I paid mine off about 1.5 yr. ago.
They said they would notify the country, but It's a good idea to make sure yourself all the legal strings are tied up, no liens, etc.

I did get a letter from the bank saying it was paid off, then the property taxes and insurance bills started coming to me directly. I was also able to check on-line with the county records dept.

I still want a fancy printed DEED document, preferably on parchment, suitable for framing, especially now that I have about $500k equity in it.

 

[bssc]

Good work. I checked the Recorder's Office online and the release was there, correctly filed and all that good stuff.

 

[W2R]

Good work. I checked the Recorder's Office online and the release was there, correctly filed and all that good stuff.

Must be nice to live in the 21st century, where things like that are actually available online.

 

[Walt34]

When we paid ours off the bank was very slow to release the lien. The mortgage had been resold about six months prior (part of the incentive to pay it off) and the bank that had bought it was itself in the midst of being bought by another bank. So it took about six months of prodding before they send me the original lien papers with a big "PAID" stamp or something like it and to record the lien release at the county court.

I was anxious to have the lien release recorded because I knew that we'd be selling the house in another two years or so when I retired and wanted that stuff all settled.

 

[superdave]

Congradulations. A watershed moment on the way to FI! Enjoy the day!!!

We paid off our one and only mortgage maybe 20 years ago when interest rates were 14% . Havn't looked back one second!


Oh some advice. Don't tell friends or family. You may be sorry you did.

 

[W2R]

When we paid ours off the bank was very slow to release the lien. The mortgage had been resold about six months prior (part of the incentive to pay it off) and the bank that had bought it was itself in the midst of being bought by another bank. So it took about six months of prodding before they send me the original lien papers with a big "PAID" stamp or something like it and to record the lien release at the county court.

Oh, that was awfully nice of them. Chase Mortgage REFUSED to send the original lien papers with the big "PAID" stamp to me. Just flat out refused. They did say that they recorded it with the county court and they told me that the letter that they sent me would be all I would get as proof that the mortgage was paid off but that it would be all I would ever need.

I was anxious to have the lien release recorded because I knew that we'd be selling the house in another two years or so when I retired and wanted that stuff all settled.

I can imagine.