Today I paid off my house!

B

Breitling

Dryer sheet aficionado
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
26
I got my mortgage statement yesterday and noticed that my 2 year ARM rate reset this month. I had already decided that as soon as my ARM resets, I would pay off the mortgage in full. So thats what I did today, walked down to the Fidelity office and wired the pay off balance to the mortgage holder. Man did that feel good!

Exciting times! I feel so far ahead of the game right now, 29 years old, no cc debt, no car payments, no mortgage and a few hundred thousand left in my retirement accounts! :D
 
Congratulations!
Did you contact the mortgage holder for the payoff? I thought it would be dependent on when the funds post............or do they just estimate on the high side and refund the overage? Thats a great accomplishment, esp. at your age.
 
I called and they provided an exact number as long as i got the wire in by a cut off time. I'll call tomorrow to make sure everything went through as planned and for the right amount.

They also provided me a daily interest charge on the mortgage ($34.02) if I were to wait a day or two before wiring the money.
 
Congratulations!!!

When I paid off my house, Chase Mortgage gave me an exact amount to send in, and I did that by the time they specified, like you did, despite the fact that it seemed a little high. But then (much to my glee) they sent about $1500 back to me. Guess they recomputed it after they received my payment. So, you might get something after all.

Whether you do or not, this is a happy day for you! Enjoy it. :)
 
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Congratulations! Must feel great!

We are more or less in the process of paying off our mortgage. Apparently, we can't get rid of it without an official payoff statement, and unless we want to pay an extra $35, we need to wait 2-3 weeks to receive one in the mail. At this point, I'll wait for them to pay the property tax/insurance on 12/1 before paying off. Still, can't wait...
 
If you had an escrow account, check with the insurance and property tax people to be sure the information was transferred.
 
I have a 5 year balloon, due this coming May. It's at 4 1/8% so I'm in no hurry to pay it any earlier, but it'll be nice to be mortgage-free! Congrats to Breitling!

I mistimed the balloon a bit, because I'm selling the house in the summer and don't want to do it earlier in May, so I'll have to come up with the balance and then reinvest when I sell (I already own another house I'm moving into) but I've got it pretty well planned out. But this way I'm under no pressure to take a lowball offer just to pay off the loan before it comes due.
 
Congratulations! It's a great feeling!

I went to the Fidelity office and wired funds in to pay off my mortgage too - as soon as I realized that I was no longer paying enough mortgage interest on my 15 year loan to help with tax deductions. Sold some company stock, paid off the mortgage.

I was just a few years older than you.

It sure made me feel more financially independent - no longer worry about having to meet that house payment in case of a job loss or something.

Of course that monthly house payment was immediately redirected to savings/investments instead.

A couple years later we had some hail damage on the roof. And my husband told me that the insurance adjuster was astonished when he was told that we owned the house outright. I guess it's almost unheard of?!?!?!

Audrey
 
Congratulations Breitling and at 29. Wow great job!!!!!!!!!!
 
Congratulations. Now be sure that they execute the Release of Lien and register it in the courthouse. In my case, it took 3 months and constant harrassment from me to get that accomplished.
 
Well done, Breitling, especially at 29! You will probably never need be in debt again unless you choose to. If you do take on additional debt, make sure it's leverage for investment purposes. Resist the temptation to upgrade to the McMansion and do as Warren Buffett does (he still lives in the home he bought in the 1950s).
 
Congratulation! To be out of debt at 29 is quite a feat.
 
To be able to do this at 29 is [-]disgusting[/-] fantastic! Congratulations!! I did it in February of this year at 56 (wow only 27 years later than you ...). Anyhoo, though I know some look at the details of small deltas in interest paid versus interest made; I can only say that it has become almost a burden to keep shoving money out of my checking account and into the MM account ... just can't keep up ... tough job ... (but staying agile ...)

t.r.
 
I am not sure if they do this any more, it has been so long since I had a mortgage, but did anyone mention the filing of a "release of lien" (or whatever they call it) with the County where the deed is recorded? I think this may prove important some day that you have evidence of the satisfaction of the debt.

BTW Congratulations and enjoy the feeling forever more.
 
the filing of a "release of lien" (or whatever they call it) with the County where the deed is recorded?
Click to expand...

I think it is called release of lien. Good point to be sure and follow up on. When I closed with Chase I got a letter saying they would do this. Many follow up calls later with Chase I was told; "Yes, of course, we did that. But we didn't say we would send you a copy. Do you really want one." Me: Duh, Yes. And then they sent me a copy.
 
Congrats,we did it last month! Be sure to contact your insurer and ask them to remove the mortgage holder on your policy.
The deed does have to be recorded, it took about 4 weeks for us to get ours (just came in the mail this week, in fact).
We got a copy of it, though, and had a mortgage burning party with all our friends and family around--you should have one, too! It was great fun and some of our friends said we were a real inspiration to them.
Wow and at your age! I thought it was good at 36, but WHOOOO HOOOOO, that is great for you! Enjoy the freedom--I still love driving past the bank where I made my many many many payments and knowing I never have to stop there again! :)
 
Congratulations, you've largely disaster proofed yourself. Without that big bill, a job loss or downturn in the market is pretty manageable and you can take on a lot more career and investing risk without worrying about coughing up a huge amount of money every month.

Definitely make sure your release of lien is filed. When I sold my house last month, the credit union I had a heloc with several years ago still showed on the title as "having an interest". The good news is that after failing to file the release, they made up for that by dragging their feet for a week to produce a letter noting that they had no interest in the property.

They kept muttering "But we have no account information for you at all! Theres nothing to look up to verify this!"...umm...if you have no account information for me, ya think that maybe the chances are pretty good I dont have a mortgage with you? Hmmm?

I ended up just signing a document with the title company assuring that there were no liens on it, and the title went through.

The title agent told me that the quickest way to have a mortgage company drop your title claim on a heloc or zero mortgage is to briefly cancel the homeowners insurance and then reinstate it. The insurance company has a tickler in its file to automatically notify the mortgage company that your insurance has been canceled. The mortgage company will then call you to tell you that you must get insurance immediately. Tell them you've got no intention whatsoever of insuring the property. They'll drop title claim and file it so fast you'll be sure little magic elves were involved.

The last thing they want is to have you take 150k out of your heloc on an uninsured house that just burned down...
 
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cute fuzzy bunny said:
The title agent told me that the quickest way to have a mortgage company drop your title claim on a heloc or zero mortgage is to briefly cancel the homeowners insurance and then reinstate it. The insurance company has a tickler in its file to automatically notify the mortgage company that your insurance has been canceled. The mortgage company will then call you to tell you that you must get insurance immediately. Tell them you've got no intention whatsoever of insuring the property. They'll drop title claim and file it so fast you'll be sure little magic elves were involved.
Click to expand...

ROFL!!!

2Cor521
 
Hey, its all about the right motivation. Its clear that customer service and doing the job arent priorities anymore, but covering the ass sure is.

Do what works...

"I dont have time to get insurance. I'm playing with matches!"
 
Absolutely wonderful to do that at age 29! I am SO impressed!

CONGRATS!

TG
 
Breitling said:
I got my mortgage statement yesterday and noticed that my 2 year ARM rate reset this month. I had already decided that as soon as my ARM resets, I would pay off the mortgage in full. So thats what I did today, walked down to the Fidelity office and wired the pay off balance to the mortgage holder. Man did that feel good!

Exciting times! I feel so far ahead of the game right now, 29 years old, no cc debt, no car payments, no mortgage and a few hundred thousand left in my retirement accounts! :D
Click to expand...


Good job!!!! And at 29 that's just unreal.....Now just sit back and watch the "cash flow" to your accounts now!! FI comes next!! Don't blow it ;)

Hillbilly
 
Breitling said:
Exciting times! I feel so far ahead of the game right now, 29 years old, no cc debt, no car payments, no mortgage and a few hundred thousand left in my retirement accounts! :D
Click to expand...

Man ....you are soooo far ahead of the curve....outstanding!!

I'm FIRED'd at 52 and STILL have a mortgage....although it's actually my choice....as the funds are invested instead and I've made much more than the mtg has cost me....but still......that has GOT to be some kinda feeling! :cool:
 
Congrats! Now you can really save if you can get in the habit of investing the amount equal to your former house payment every month. I wish I would have done that.
 
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