ba-bye house payment

[Sarah in SC]

Bow-Tie, I'm going to resurrect your thread to make my official announcement---with a $3,305.61 check handed across the counter today at the bank--we have paid off the house!

WooHoo! It is an awesome feeling, especially knowing that we have been maxing out the retirement savings at the same time, and now the taxable savings are going to kick into high gear! WooHoo!

Incredible to think we've paid off $106k total in the past 3 1/2 years (consumer debt plus the mortgage). To heck with the diet--we're going out to the Mexican restaurant tonight for a Grande beer or two!
Sarah

 

[Sandy]

Wow, that is an awesome amount of debt reduction. Congrats. You earned that grande

 

[W2R]

Bow-Tie, I'm going to resurrect your thread to make my official announcement---with a $3,305.61 check handed across the counter today at the bank--we have paid off the house!

WooHoo! It is an awesome feeling, especially knowing that we have been maxing out the retirement savings at the same time, and now the taxable savings are going to kick into high gear! WooHoo!

Incredible to think we've paid off $106k total in the past 3 1/2 years (consumer debt plus the mortgage). To heck with the diet--we're going out to the Mexican restaurant tonight for a Grande beer or two!
Sarah

Woo-hoo!!! CONGRATULATIONS! It's a great feeling and it doesn't go away, either. Something that really floored me was how fast the money started piling up, once I didn't have to pay Chase Mortgage every month. Better start thinking about what to do with all the $$$$ that is going to start piling up very quickly! Enjoy your celebration tonight.

 

[bow-tie]

Bow-Tie, I'm going to resurrect your thread to make my official announcement---with a $3,305.61 check handed across the counter today at the bank--we have paid off the house!...we're going out to the Mexican restaurant tonight for a Grande beer or two!
Sarah

Hey, congrats Sarah. Rock on.

It might be just me, but that big ole beer should taste extra delicious with that kind of news.

 

[Helen]

Way to go Sarah ! You paid off a lot of money in a short period of time.

For some reason I didn't feel any different once we paid off the mortgage, and I thought I would. Maybe it's because I had to dump a ton of money into home repairs after paying the sucker off. That was kind of discouraging as I will spend about $50k once I'm done. Plus, it's the boring kind of repairs, dry rot, cracked retaining wall, new porch, new deck (that's kind of nice as the old one was becoming unsafe), new shower wall, new chimneys, new kitchen floor (OK, that's nice too) ...

If I sold my house today, financially I think I'd break even except that I wouldn't have paid rent.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Wow Helen, that is a bunch of work! We just started the list of stuff that we never did when we built the house. The list isn't too disheartening, mostly stuff like finally put down countertops in the kitchen (been living with the sealed plywood while we debated various materials) and the crown molding, plus windowsills and misc trim work.

You will be glad when all the repairs are done and the house will appreciate over the long haul. New floors are great, and anything to improve outdoor living spaces like a deck are my favorite ways to spend money!

Sarah

 

[kellz123]

Congrats Bow Tie.

I'm only 6 months into my 30 year mortgage, and I'm already dreaming of the day I pay it off.

I agree with you I am also dreaming of paying off my 30 year mortgage as I am only a year into my payments. I was thinking of refinancing but I rather get my loans paid off and live debt free.

 

[EngineeringMyFinances]

Congrats Sarah. Having paid off my mortgage 3 years ago, I can tell you that it's nice having one less check to send off every month.

The down side is that my FICO score declined, because I no longer have installment debt.

 

[packrat44]

I did not like going the mortgage route. We built our 2 houses doing all the work ourselves (except excavation and placing concrete). The last house required working most weekends for about 1 year. We diverted the money that would have gone into savings/investments into buying materials as we progressed with the building. Total construction cost was about 50% of having it built by a contractor, which is a big savings, especially considering no interest that would normally be paid over 30 years.

It is a good feeling to know you do not have a large monthly mortgage payment, especially going into retirement.

 

[teachme]

This thread has been very motivational. First I'd like to offer my congrats to everyone who has arrived or is close to getting there, keep up the good work. We are about to close on the first step of our dream by buying <20 acres and we can't wait to get out there but now reading this I'm even more motivated to pay it off sooner.

packrat44, we're going to be doing everything ourselves as well except for septic and can't wait, nice to see other people out there saving the money and doing the hard work.

 

[ERD50]

We are about to close on the first step of our dream by buying <20 acres and we can't wait to get out there but now reading this I'm even more motivated to pay it off sooner.

Do the math first. Most of these decisions are based on the emotional 'Whew, I paid it off, don't have that debt hanging over my head' feeling, but they ignore the fact that you don't have the money anymore either. It's locked up in your house equity, and less liquid.

Is that always a good thing? I'm not so sure.

It may still be good to pay it off, just don't jump to the conclusion that it is always better, or that it is much better.

-ERD50

 

[Bill T]

should I pay off the mortage

I have the funds, $238,000 to pay off my 30 year fix @ 5.5%. I can afford the payment. Should I pay it off anyway? it would not make any differents in my standard of living to do so.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Bill, there are two polar views on this question here. It depends totally on your own situation and debt comfort level. For us, it was important to pay it off, knowing that we could max all our retirement accounts at the same time. But I certainly know many folks perfectly happy to keep the mortgage and allocate their investments to reflect the risk. Me, I sleep in my bond portfolio equivalent!
Sarah

 

[Bill T]

I hear ya, go girl.....

 

[teachme]

ERD50,

Thank you for the response and although I appreciate your view on the math life isn't confined to the cells of a spreadsheet, it is much more dynamic and unpredictable.

My wife, although a wonderful woman and working hard at correcting her financial shortcomings, is not the best with money management. Due to the fact that I'm the sole income producer and do not know the day of my departure from this planet it makes more sense for me to secure our primary residence by paying it off.

 

[JohnDoe]

In times like this (market down 10%), I am glad I am paying down my 6.5% mortgage.

I learned my lesson(a bunch of lessons) a few years ago, money I had invested went poof - gone forever. Where as it could have been my mortgage that went poof.

I am still maxing out all my retirement accounts, but I am appling the extra to my mortgage instead of a taxable account. I am at 42% loan to value and plan on having it paid off at ER.