Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[2sk22]

We just paid off the last few thousand dollars on our mortgage. We bought the house in 1996 at the trough of the market and now 23 years and 2 refinancings later, it's fully paid off. Retirement funds are more than adequate so we decided to just get rid of this - mainly for symbolic value :-) )

Well done, nothing feels better than sleeping in a house without a mortgage :)

Exactly - I know this may not make a lot of financial sense but it does give us peace of mind. I plan to RE next year so simply knowing the mortgage is paid off makes it a bit easier.

[Alfred J Quack]

We just paid off the last few thousand dollars on our mortgage. We bought the house in 1996 at the trough of the market and now 23 years and 2 refinancings later, it's fully paid off. Retirement funds are more than adequate so we decided to just get rid of this - mainly for symbolic value :-) )

Well done, nothing feels better than sleeping in a house without a mortgage :)

Exactly - I know this may not make a lot of financial sense but it does give us peace of mind. I plan to RE next year so simply knowing the mortgage is paid off makes it a bit easier.

The financial sense is debatable on the amount of risk you want to take.

Paying of early is as much an emotional decision as a financial one. It is not bad as such, but it is always better than doing nothing at all and putting the cash in a regular savings account :)

[arob54600]

Just checking in to keep my husband and me accountable!

Principal Balance
02/01/2019- $129900
05/24/2019- $127946 (-1954)

[Money Badger]

@arob... Testify!   You are in the house of freedom here!

[EngineerOurFI]

This is a resource I’ve found very useful when running through mortgage payoff options, timeframes, etc.:

Karl’s Mortgage Calculator

https://m.drcalculator.com/mortgage/

Just wanted to share in case others in this chain found it useful.

[SwordGuy]

This is a resource I’ve found very useful when running through mortgage payoff options, timeframes, etc.:

Karl’s Mortgage Calculator

https://m.drcalculator.com/mortgage/

Just wanted to share in case others in this chain found it useful.

Great tool!   I've been using it for years!

[TomSelleckJR]

We're down to 87k.

We are targeting payoff right around the end of 2019.

UPDATE - 02/28/19
We are down to 65k.  Barring anything unforeseen, I see no reason why we won't meet our 2019 mortgage payoff goal.  :-)

Update - 4/11/19
Big progress.  We are now down to just under 37k.  It won't be long now.  :-)

I'm (extremely) happy to report, that we received confirmation yesterday.  We have joined the no mortgage club!!!
Some of the sweetest words I've ever read came in the mail yesterday and simply read "The above referenced loan was paid in full".

It hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm sure as months come and go and we no longer have to send that payment... it'll sink in.
As of this morning though, I can confirm that I do feel a huge weight off of my shoulders.
There's also the satisfaction in knowing that I'll never pay another dime in interest.

[PowerStache]

I just called the bank and transferred the money to pay off our mortgage!  I FIRE'd in April and without the mortgage, we will be almost completely living off DH's salary so the stash can continue to grow.  While I understand we could make more in the market, I feel so much better. 

[Trifle]

Congratulations @TomSelleckJR and @PowerStache!!!

[RSG89]

@TomSelleckJR / @PowerStache - congrats! Friday for us! Nice way to end the month!

[TomSelleckJR]

3 of us in a week!  Is this a new MMM-MPC record? 

Thanks for all of the kind words and encouragement,   and congrats @RSG89 and @PowerStache!

[SwordGuy]

Congrats to everyone who paid off their mortgage!

Hint: Wait a month and then verify with the county registrar of deeds that the lien has been removed from the property.

It's not fun to discover at the last minute while you're trying to sell the house that some goober didn't do their job.   I know this from personal experience.

[Megs193]

We are still chugging away and trying to pay off the mortgage but today we hit an exciting milestone. We are under 6 figures!  We have $95,000 left to pay and we still have a goal of paying it off by the end of the year!

[RSG89]

Woo hoo! We are officially mortgage free. Our payments from Friday finally posted online and we are zeroed out. Congrats to the others and best of luck to those currently on the journey. You can do it!

[Trifle]

Woo hoo! We are officially mortgage free. Our payments from Friday finally posted online and we are zeroed out. Congrats to the others and best of luck to those currently on the journey. You can do it!

Congratulations!!  That is fantastic.

And congrats @Megs193 on your progress!

[TomSelleckJR]

We are still chugging away and trying to pay off the mortgage but today we hit an exciting milestone. We are under 6 figures!  We have $95,000 left to pay and we still have a goal of paying it off by the end of the year!

Nice!  Keep it up!!!!

[SwordGuy]

I'm sure that most of you know this, but I just learned it and it was really handy, so...

I just found out that the version of Excel I use has a template that can be picked when creating a new spreadsheet.  The template is for a Loan Amortization Schedule.   It works for fixed rate loans.   What makes it nicer than the mortgage calculators is that it will remember any extra payments I enter into it.  That way, I can know exactly when I'll pay off the mortgage based on exactly what I've already paid (which might be irregular) and what I expect to pay extra from now on.

[Money Badger]

Awesome @Megs193 , @TomSelleckJR, @RSG89!    Just walk around the house and the yard barefoot once it's paid off... everything you touch is yours and the world just seems a little nicer place to be ever-after!

[Alfred J Quack]

I'm sure that most of you know this, but I just learned it and it was really handy, so...

I'm fairly adept at excel but I didn't know this template...

[TomSelleckJR]

I'm sure that most of you know this, but I just learned it and it was really handy, so....

Microsoft has a bunch of free excel templates (including investment calculator, retirement calculator, budgeting, credit card tracker, etc).  Many of them are pretty good tools.  I chose to create my own spreadsheet to track my early mortgage payoff though, for the following reasons:
- it allowed me to truly understand the mechanics of mortgage amortization, and see how additional payments impacted the balance at different points throughout the loan. This might be an easy concept for others, but without going through the exercise of building the spreadsheet myself, I don't know how well I would have understood the "nuts and bolts" of it all.
- it allowed me to build in some features that I wanted, that weren't included in standard templates, like charting the payoff balance, charting the interest savings, comparing std payoff against early payoff, etc.
- it allowed me to see just how far ahead we were. For example, I could look at our current balance, and see that with a "normal" payoff routine, we wouldn't be at that point until say, 2035. This helped keep me motivated.

Having a spreadsheet for early mortgage payoff was an invaluable tool for me.

[TarHeelinTX]

So awesome to see so many people complete their mortgage payoff journey! We just started ours (current balance: 195k) but definitely encouraging to see folks at the finish line!

[iluvzbeach]

So awesome to see so many people complete their mortgage payoff journey! We just started ours (current balance: 195k) but definitely encouraging to see folks at the finish line!

@TarHeelinTX Good for you, you can definitely do this! We paid ours off two years ago on 6/9/17 and haven’t regretted it for a moment.

[TomSelleckJR]

So awesome to see so many people complete their mortgage payoff journey! We just started ours (current balance: 195k) but definitely encouraging to see folks at the finish line!

Congrats on starting your journey!

It really doesn't seem like it was THAT long ago that my wife and I stood in our kitchen reviewing our mortgage statement, which for the first time showed a balance of less than 200k.  We were so excited to see the progress we had made at that point.  Stay focused and dedicated, and the time will go by in a blur.  The next thing you'll know.. you'll be reporting back to this thread saying that you've joined the club.   :-)

Crossing the finish line is SO sweet.

[ScottsdaleSaver]

Wow - I am so motivated by all the payoff action since my last visit! Congratulations!

We're really starting to pick up steam and think we could have this thing knocked out in a year or so. Anyone else in the Q3 2020 payoff cohort? ;)

6/2019 - $127K
3/2019 - $153K
12/2018 - $187K
9/2018 - $196K
6/2018 - $217K
3/2018 - $227K
12/2017 - $237K
9/2017 - $245K
6/2017 - $245K

[Money Badger]

Bumping this thread to note that this has splintered into more focused target threads on mortgage reduction ($100-150K, etc.)...  Meanwhile the Dont pay off mortgage thread is about to pass the total pages of posts on this most mustachiam of threads!   Long live debt freedom!   Show the world you wont quit until zero debt freedom!

[Alfred J Quack]

Bumping this thread to note that this has splintered into more focused target threads on mortgage reduction ($100-150K, etc.)...  Meanwhile the Dont pay off mortgage thread is about to pass the total pages of posts on this most mustachiam of threads!   Long live debt freedom!   Show the world you wont quit until zero debt freedom!

I already showed the world and where did it get me? At a place of leasure where I can request a demotion while DW quits altogether to recuperate and find a job that actually suits her :P

[Megs193]

As of Friday we are officially mortgage free!!!  My husband got his bonus and we realized it we put all of it towards the mortgage plus 8k from our savings we could pay it off completely. Our liquid saving account had been creeping up again anyway so we decided it was worth it. I don’t think it’s really hit us yet. I think on October 1st when the mortgage payment doesn’t come out of the account it will feel real.

 For those of you who have paid off your mortgage - did you do anything other than call your insurance company and tax office to have the bills come directly to you?  The bank told us we would get a letter of satisfaction and a check from our escrow balance within 10 days.

[iluvzbeach]

Congratulations, @Megs193!!! Huge accomplishment you’ve made, especially considering how quickly you did it and the high balance you started with.

We did not do anything else when ours was paid off except to watch for the original deed with filed lien release to be returned to us in the mail - this took about six weeks. It’s great to see the “Paid In Full” stamp on those docs.

Congrats again!

[SwordGuy]

As of Friday we are officially mortgage free!!!  My husband got his bonus and we realized it we put all of it towards the mortgage plus 8k from our savings we could pay it off completely. Our liquid saving account had been creeping up again anyway so we decided it was worth it. I don’t think it’s really hit us yet. I think on October 1st when the mortgage payment doesn’t come out of the account it will feel real.

 For those of you who have paid off your mortgage - did you do anything other than call your insurance company and tax office to have the bills come directly to you?  The bank told us we would get a letter of satisfaction and a check from our escrow balance within 10 days.

In the US, wait about 30 days and verify with your county registrar of deeds that the mortgage lien was removed.    I suspect other countries have a similar setup.

[Trifle]

Congratulations @Megs193 !!!

[frizzywhiskers]

As of Friday we are officially mortgage free!!!  My husband got his bonus and we realized it we put all of it towards the mortgage plus 8k from our savings we could pay it off completely. Our liquid saving account had been creeping up again anyway so we decided it was worth it. I don’t think it’s really hit us yet. I think on October 1st when the mortgage payment doesn’t come out of the account it will feel real.

Wahoo!  Super huge congratulations!!  Nicely done!

[TomSelleckJR]

Congrats @Megs193

Sounds like he got an awesome bonus!

It's been a few months for us and it's still sinking in.  I can say that it's SUCH a great feeling to walk around the house and think "we don't owe anyone a dime".  I've never experienced anything quite like it. 

Best of luck with your newfound freedom!

[Gail2000]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

[SwordGuy]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

So you're paying about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 extra payments a year?   That will cut a number of years off a 30 year mortgage!

[Gail2000]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

So you're paying about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 extra payments a year?   That will cut a number of years off a 30 year mortgage!

Just in time for normal retirement of course (58) but we are on our way. This forum has certainly been a good influence. =)

[talltexan]

I actually think getting an anti-mustachian on board with an early mortgage payoff would be a sneakier way to bring zher on board than, "Let's just save extra into this random investment account". Keep us posted.

[SwordGuy]

I actually think getting an anti-mustachian on board with an early mortgage payoff would be a sneakier way to bring zher on board than, "Let's just save extra into this random investment account". Keep us posted.

I have a friend who got his wife to cut back on her spending by showing how much interest they were going to pay on the mortgage and how much they could save if they paid on it early.

Of course, that was back when mortgage rates were in the 10% range for a 30 year fixed rate.   

My first mortgage was 9 3/8ths, such a deal!

At those rates it's easy to get some real motivation to pay that damn mortgage down!

[Car Jack]

I was sitting at a red light today, staring off at a building across the street and thinking about the last time I was in there.  It's a Verizon store now, but back in 2002, it was a Tweeter etc. 

"So what, Jack?"

Well, in 2002, I received a small windfall from stock options and one of the things I did right after paying off our mortgage was to go buy an HDTV.  Back then, it was a $10k plasma or a $6k HDTV....37" sony CRT.  Being cheap, I noticed a last year's model right next to this year's model.  It was $2500 and the biggest difference was that the tuner was a huge box outside the TV.  The new one's picture looked much nicer, but I suspected shenanigans.  And indeed, I was right.  I picked up the remotes and went through the settings on both TVs.  As suspected, the older one was all messed up.  I corrected them so both TVs had identical settings.  They looked identical.  I went to buy one.  The price had just been dropped in the system to $1900. 

"Cool story, bro"

Yah......

[Money Badger]

 For those of you who have paid off your mortgage - did you do anything other than call your insurance company and tax office to have the bills come directly to you?  The bank told us we would get a letter of satisfaction and a check from our escrow balance within 10 days.

Awesome Megs!   A huge debt is done!  Tell insurance to remove lender from payees of policy... Reduce limits on homeowners policy if related to the debt... Ensure you have county and city tax bills for the next payable period coming to you (big deal) and JUST ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF FREEDOM!

[Money Badger]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

@Gail2000,   2040?  Sorry... But PLEASE get your S.O. to Dave Ramsey FPU or just mental counseling...  Amother 21 years of bank slavery really???   Every nickel in the sofa cushions goes to kill that debt.   No new cars.   No other toys... No $hit.    More than anything, the cash flow habits you build solving this $138K damned debt emergency set you on the path to independence...   “Occasional” paydowns are just band aids on a bleeding debt!   It’s that serious.

[BlueHouse]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

@Gail2000,   2040?  Sorry... But PLEASE get your S.O. to Dave Ramsey FPU or just mental counseling...  Amother 21 years of bank slavery really???   Every nickel in the sofa cushions goes to kill that debt.   No new cars.   No other toys... No $hit.    More than anything, the cash flow habits you build solving this $138K damned debt emergency set you on the path to independence...   “Occasional” paydowns are just band aids on a bleeding debt!   It’s that serious.

whoa...what's the emergency?  Gail, what is the interest rate?  If it's low enough, it's really not an emergency and paying off your mortgage is a nice-to-have in the overall view.  It's what most of us look at AFTER we've taken care of other savings goals, and definitely after other types of debt. 
It sounds as if you're doing okay and you have a plan to get ahead of the scheduled payoff, but that it's not overly aggressive. 

 

[Gail2000]

$138,250.00 to pay off. Only paying $40.00 extra a month but am knocking extra out with bi weekly payment schedule and ocational 500$ payments. Pay off currently scheduled 2040 but we are whittling away. More substantial plan to be established this week. Working with an anti mustacian. Progress though. Don’t give up on him. Yet.

@Gail2000,   2040?  Sorry... But PLEASE get your S.O. to Dave Ramsey FPU or just mental counseling...  Amother 21 years of bank slavery really???   Every nickel in the sofa cushions goes to kill that debt.   No new cars.   No other toys... No $hit.    More than anything, the cash flow habits you build solving this $138K damned debt emergency set you on the path to independence...   “Occasional” paydowns are just band aids on a bleeding debt!   It’s that serious.

whoa...what's the emergency?  Gail, what is the interest rate?  If it's low enough, it's really not an emergency and paying off your mortgage is a nice-to-have in the overall view.  It's what most of us look at AFTER we've taken care of other savings goals, and definitely after other types of debt. 
It sounds as if you're doing okay and you have a plan to get ahead of the scheduled payoff, but that it's not overly aggressive.

Hi there,
the  interest rare I have until 2021 is 2.24. granted this was an employee rate and will never happen again since I left that employment. So the emergency as Honey Badger says would be to pay it off before the renewal that will certainly have a higher rate. We currently put away 15% for retirement (yes, could do much better), some for college and to balance it out the extra on the mortgage. We bout the house in 2016 and have reduced the amortization from 2046 to 2040 since then. Minor victory but employment has not been stable for me so really we aren't doing too bad. Not Mustacian bad ass level but better then the norm. A fire that was trying to be lit could be what we need but as I said getting the boyfriend on board has been difficult.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We were just able to refinance to a 2.625% rate, and are very excited about the potential to have the mortgage paid off in seven years. We've paid off $217k since we bought the house a couple of years ago, but it's going to be a LONG slog. (Bay area prices.)

[AO1FireTo]

Threw off the chains on September 20th, mortgage is gone.  100% debt free, it's a sweet place.

[SwordGuy]

Threw off the chains on September 20th, mortgage is gone.  100% debt free, it's a sweet place.

Congrats!  It's a good feeling!

[talltexan]

Can I just take a quick survey among you people who are slaying the mortgage:

What kind of mortgage did you get? I'm trying to decide between a 30-year fixed and a 15-year fixed right now.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@talltexan - we went for a 7/1 ARM, because our goal is to have the house paid off in 7 years. Also, the next seven are our big income producing years, and after that, the kids will be out of the house. Our mortgage is quite large (bay area) so the difference in interest rate we could get with the 7/1 ARM vs a 30 year was crazy. We have a lot of flexibility, but plan to pay off the house on a very accelerated schedule.

[Photograph 51]

Threw off the chains on September 20th, mortgage is gone.  100% debt free, it's a sweet place.

Congrats!  It's a good feeling!

Good for you.  A paid off mortgage is something you will be thankful for over and over.

[talltexan]

@talltexan - we went for a 7/1 ARM, because our goal is to have the house paid off in 7 years. Also, the next seven are our big income producing years, and after that, the kids will be out of the house. Our mortgage is quite large (bay area) so the difference in interest rate we could get with the 7/1 ARM vs a 30 year was crazy. We have a lot of flexibility, but plan to pay off the house on a very accelerated schedule.

Thank you for this response. I asked my lender, and she said the ARM's are actually higher than 30-year fixed right now, which suggests to me that the banks expect rates to be quite low even 6-8 years from now.

[Money Badger]

@talltexan,   More than the money, it's about motivation.   I paid off a 7 year ARM that had an interest rate advantage over fixed loans at the time back in 2011.  Then the motivation to avoid the rate adjustment or refi expenses at 7 years was key.    All the talk about yield curve inversion means ARMs are a bit less attractive now though as you noted.   It's all about the fees up front in the mortgage origination game, so shop around like mad and avoid brick and mortar banks that give the whole greased sales pitch about mortgage/"Premium Banking"/"Free Checking"...   We found $3,000 or more in savings by shopping hard and going with a pure mortgage originating firm that sold our loan off in less than 60 days after closing to a mortgage servicer (who fed the monthly payments to either Fanny or Freddie every month) just like the big bank would have.   I remember the loan officer [aka, commissioned sales person] at SunTrust and Wells Fargo both crying "there's no way they can meet those [originating firm] numbers they gave you." so beware of what big banker mortgage sales person tells you!   Then all the parasitic middle men earning fees off your hard earned income every month.   If possible, swing the new house with higher equity up front and just a HELOC?   That avoids the big up front origination fees, and the higher rates sure as heck motivates to pay off the HELOC to avoid interest rate adjustments and note of course it's a full recourse loan (meaning if you don't pay, they can come after your income, not just the house)... but at a smaller balance, you will have less interest in total each month, more control and it will motivate you to get you to freedom faster.