Poll - This is a simple Poll - Is your primary residence fully paid off? AKA no Mortgage, Line of Credit or other Lien.

[ShokWaveRider]

I thought it would be interesting to see if folks here have their primary home fully paid off. The primary residence in this case is the one YOU and your family are actually living in. It mainly applies to those living here in the USA or Canada, but can apply to those living overseas permanently.

Again, this is ONLY for one's primary residence, rental or income producing properties are not relevant in this case. Obviously this does not apply to renters of their primary home.

 

[fosterscik]

Nope. Can't pass up our current 2.875% mortgage rate

 

[Aerides]

Paid off in the middle of the 08/09 winter, right in the crash, preparing to reduce expenses if one of us got laid off that year (we didn't).

Of note though per your title, we do have a HELOC, but it's currently unused. So we do technically have a line of credit on the home. But that's just for if we need an emergency cash infusion.

 

[ERD50]

Another Factor would be that many of the posters here probably have lived in their home for 30 or more years so it would sort of just be paid off by inertia.

 

[ERD50]

We moved in the midst of the 3% 30-year mortgage. So we took advantage of that, and never plan to pay it off.

 

[6miths]

Yes paid it off in 2002 at age 41. Wasn't a huge chunk of change like it would be today.

 

[Tom57]

No mortgage since I bought the house in cash in 1999. The last time I had a mortgage was in 1990. Yes, I am 77 and have been living in this house for over 25 years. Retired in 2001 at 52.

 

[Ronstar]

Built our house in 93-94. Paid off around 2000. I wouldn’t mind having a mortgage in a future downsizing if the deal is right.

 

[MichaelB]

Nope. Can't pass up our current 2.875% mortgage rate

We moved in the midst of the 3% 30-year mortgage. So we took advantage of that, and never plan to pay it off.

Well done! Rates like that are amazing values. What a way to diversify a portfolio against rising rates ..

I wonder what the lowest rates are. Maybe an idea for a new poll.

 

[Koolau]

Yeah, kinda wish I had a sub 3% mortgage, but, no. I paid off my last 30 year mortgage in less than 2 years. Of course it wasn't sub 3%.

 

[Original Wally]

This one was cash (there WAS a bridge loan for 3+/- months till prior house sold), and the one previous was also bought for cash. The one before we LITERALLY built it ourselves) and had a modest mortgage that was liquidated in 5 years.
B-T-W, we SEEM to have moved every 15 or so years: Bought first in 1974. Moved to the one we built 1989 (5 acres out in the country). Back to town 2003. Our gated retirement community 2019. Shrug.

 

[Winemaker]

No, we have 7 years left on a 15 year mortgage of 3.375%

Untapped HELOC as well.

 

[richardsok]

Own two properties, both fully paid. Daughter to get prop A and wife prop B on my death -- free and clear. I get more satisfaction knowing I've provided for their security than from any extra investable cash I'd have by holding debt. .... one of only a few financial choices I've ever made that I never second-guessed.

 

[HI Bill]

Year 6 with a 2.675% interest rate. No plan to pay it off early. We've been paying $1K a month in interest, but have gained an average of $10.6K a month in appreciation, plus paying off $1K a month towards equity. Not too shabby.

 

[bada bing]

I have a mortgage on my Arizona house. It's 30 year 2.875% with 14 years to go. I've had a separate matching brokerage account that I started with the house purchase price deposited in 2010. I elected to take a mortgage back then and invest the home price. Single best maneuver I ever did. Both the house value and the brokerage account have tripled since and the payments and expenses have all come from the designated account. Mental accounting, but I like to keep it separate to track performance. Since day one I've been a couple mouse clicks away from mortgage free.

My Alaska house was built out of pocket over a few years 1989-1993. That was during my freshly divorced and working ex-pat days and I was sporadically in country. Never had a mortgage there.

I live about 55% Alaska and 45% Arizona.

I voted I don't have a mortgage since I consider Alaska my primary residence.

 

[rk911]

RE in '05. Went to debt free not counting the mortgage sometime in the 90's and paid off the mortgage a year or so before retiring.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

Another Factor would be that many of the posters here probably have lived in their home for 30 or more years so it would sort of just be paid off by inertia.

Our primary home was paid off. Then, we decided to buy a second vacation place in a mobile home community near the beach. Mortgage rates were better on the primary home (than a mobile home), so we took out a new loan on the primary home to pay for the mobile home.

Another case of money being fungible.

Our rate is 4%. I could pay it off anytime but I'd rather use the money for Roth conversions.

 

[jazz4cash]

Well done! Rates like that are amazing values. What a way to diversify a portfolio against rising rates ..

I wonder what the lowest rates are. Maybe an idea for a new poll.

And don’t forget the benefit of paying down a fixed rate mortgage on an appreciating asset with depreciated dollars. I’m at 2.75%

Edit: the more I think of it, keeping the mortgage is the conservative thing. Paying it off would be BTD

 

[Time2]

We paid cash for our home purchase in 1994. I did open a Heloc on it, but there is no balance.

 

[athena53]

Nope. Can't pass up our current 2.875% mortgage rate

Mine is 3%. Balance is $32,000. The bank can wait. It was a 15-year taken out in 2013.

 

[Koolau]

Year 6 with a 2.675% interest rate. No plan to pay it off early. We've been paying $1K a month in interest, but have gained an average of $10.6K a month in appreciation, plus paying off $1K a month towards equity. Not too shabby.

Your money is definitely w*rking for YOU! May your money never even consider Early Retirement!!

 

[treeofpain]

Paid off the house 10+ years before retirement. It helped us focus on saving more for retirement in the final stretch.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

We bought our current home in 2009 for $42K and we put $12K down. We hadn't sold our previous home yet so we got a 4.5%-ish mortgage with monthly payments being around $300 which included escrow for taxes and insurance.

We bought a fixer-upper home in 2012 for $12K and over the next 6 years, we put about $30K into restoring it, then sold it in 2018 for $75K.

We used the profits from that sale to pay off our home in early 2019. Now we just have to worry about taxes and insurance, which combined are about $1,500 per year.

 

[Montecfo]

At 2.49% I am paying as slowly as possible!

Also have an untapped HELOC.

 

[deserat]

This is my fifth home I've owned....this and last were bought with cash.