Paid Off My Mortgage this week!

[Shabby]

I try and keep pretty low profile about my finances with friends and family as I have been saving money and living well below my means for 20 years but....I thought I could announce on here ---- I paid off my mortgage!

Interesting feeling actually owning the house outright. Also with it being such a large swing in assets ($500k out of the portfolio), still taking some time to adjust to my new investment balance.

Here's to the real estate market continuing an uphill climb (clink)!

 

[Arifriekinel]

Woohoo! Congratulations, that is awesome. I'm just started saving, and haven't even thought about buying a house yet, but seeing so many people here pay off their mortgages and finally get over that hump is inspiring and really takes some of the fear out of going into the process one day.

Enjoy being mortgage free!

 

[W2R]

Outstanding! I think it feels wonderful to make a goal, work hard toward it, and finally... achieve it!

 

[misty57]

Congrats!! Isn't it a great feeling?

We paid off house #1 in '96 and house #2 in 2000. Now we're in house #3 and we have enough set aside to pay it off, but with such historically low rates, we've decided to hold off. The feeling isn't quite the same.

Good for you.

 

[jon-nyc]

Congrats!

 

[rodi]

I'm hoping to join you in the mortgage free club in Jan next year. In the meantime we've been paying close to triple payments... so the lump sum won't be quite so significant.

 

[nun]

Well done! Now you have to make sure you invest the money that would have gone on the mortgage in a sensible way. I just increased my automatic investments and have seen my portfolio jump in value over the last year, partly due to the run up in the stock market, but a lot from just increased saving.

 

[Tyro]

Congrats -- I recall the feeling well -- catharsis (and thinking about the extra money that will become available for saving/investing)!

If I may make a suggestion, how would you feel about 1 more mortgage payment -- not to go to the bank, but to celebrate -- a short trip/getaway, a big party, a new toy or two... Something to reward yourself/ves.

Some folks have a mortgage burning ceremony/party (after they've recorded the satisfaction papers, of course), and it doesn't have to be the original mortgage (if ill-advised by your atty or advisor) -- a copy will do!

Tyro

 

[diehard1997]

Congrats!

I think the emotional benefit of owning your primary residence outright is well worth it. It's a personal choice (write-off vs debt) and I like you're choice!

 

[heeyy_joe]

Feel the power!

 

[JoeWras]

Awesome! It was a great feeling. And the people at the court house (where I picked up my deed) were awesome, giving me high fives and huge congratulations too.

We really started saving once we got that monkey off our back.

Keep in mind, though, that you can be "outted" on your financial success. It happened with my friends when they asked "what's your mortgage rate?" I blew it and said "what mortgage", and of course this lead to all sorts of other discussion I did not want. So, think about what story you'll give them when it comes. If I had to do it all over again, I'd say, "I forgot, I'll have to check it."

 

[Calico]

Congratulations on reaching that milestone! What a wonderful feeling. Splurge a little and buy yourself a small reward!

For the past several years I have been making extra principal payments, and I was right on track to have the mortage paid off in the next 36 months. Plan A was working great. Then a couple of months ago my employer announced that they were going to start "eliminating jobs" this summer - without specifying which ones. Still TBD.

So, now all the extra payments are going straight into savings instead of into the mortgage. It's very hard to let go of the 36-month dream, BUT you can't eat equity, so into savings it goes for now until we see how things shake out around here.

 

[Marita40]

Congratulations! I have a year and a half to go myself and am counting down the months!

 

[Midpack]

Congratulations! I remember very well what a great feeling it was when we finally paid off our mortgage, it's wonderful! I wasn't even paying attention to where we stood, DW (our accountant) just informed me one month that 'this is our last mortgage payment." YIPEE

 

[Running_Man]

Congratulations! At one point you were talking of moving to another city in anticipation of ER did you do so? If so what city did you ultimately choose?

 

[GrayHare]

Some might say paying off a mortgage is like smoking: it's expensive, but feels good.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Congratulations!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Congrats, Shabby. You'll sleep like a baby tonight-no worries.

 

[scrabbler1]

Not too shabby, Shabby!

In the mid-1990s, I paid off large chunks of my mortgage using gains from the rising stock market, finally paying it off completely in 1998, only 9 years into it, just after I turned 35. The stock market was rising so fast back then that I quickly recovered the funds I used to pay the loan off.

Two big things happened as a result of this move. The first was that my savings rate zoomed upward, to over 50%, for the next few years. I was still working full-time back then and for the few years which followed. The second was that greatly lowering my expenses enabled me to switch to working part-time a few years later, another big step toward my eventual ER.

I hope you can match at least on of those things.

 

[Sun456]

Congrats!

Congrats! We did ours a few years ago. Nothing like being debt free. I wish I'd done it years and years ago.

 

[Shabby]

Thanks for all the congratulations! Working on ER is a long path, but hitting the milestones are a nice way to bridge the time. I am still going to move out of Seattle and am visiting Napa and Tampa this year to investigate both. I have lived near each of them before (San Fran and Boca Raton) so I know a bit about the areas. Need to refresh myself though.

 

[SumDay]

Good for you!!! We also did this several years ago and I agree - it is a very liberating feeling. Whenever I get down about finances, I remind myself of the fact that we 100% own our home, and very few people can say that. It's a great position to be in.

 

[HighRoller]

Congrads, I know when I paid off my first house I was able to pay off all my other debts (cars, property, etc) within a few years of that. Then my retirement money started to accumulate faster and faster and that allowed me to ER.

 

[Covbro]

Congratulation. It feels liberating to know you own your home completely. We paid our mortgage off in November 2011. It was an amazing feeling when we made the final payment. Our house seem to be more beautiful than ever since being debt free.

 

[obgyn65]

Well done.

I try and keep pretty low profile about my finances with friends and family as I have been saving money and living well below my means for 20 years but....I thought I could announce on here ---- I paid off my mortgage!

Interesting feeling actually owning the house outright. Also with it being such a large swing in assets ($500k out of the portfolio), still taking some time to adjust to my new investment balance.

Here's to the real estate market continuing an uphill climb (clink)!