OP here - glad to see I'm not the only one with that idea around here In all honesty I think this plan will also help me with my early retirement dream materialize. You see my house here in SoCal has a $200k+ equity today (and I still owe more than that on my 30yr mortgage). Hopefully the equity will be even more in 10-12 years when I'm ready to retire. Though the equity will do nothing for me if I stay put and do nothing with it. However, I could definitely leverage it by selling the house, then buying a ranch out right and eliminating the mortgage altogether. That way I can retire on a smaller nest egg than if I were to stay put, besides I'm getting to be that age where the 20 somethings people are starting to irk me more and more with their entitlement and lazy attitudes. I know I'm in the 'get off my lawn' age and part of it is that but I wouldn't mind a slower pace and courteous people.