Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[Zamboni]

Belated Congrats, @SwordGuy!

[SwordGuy]

Thanks everyone!    It feels so good to be free of those payments!

[Finntastic]

Mortgage finally paid off. First time since 1994 I'm debt free!

[moneypitfeeder]

Congrats @Finntastic ! Woohoo:)

[SwordGuy]

Mortgage finally paid off. First time since 1994 I'm debt free!

Congrats @Finntastic !

[couponvan]

Mortgage finally paid off. First time since 1994 I'm debt free!

Congrats @Finntastic !

Congratulations!  It must feel amazing!

[Need2Save]

I can't believe it took me almost a week to post this news.....we are also done, done, done!  Paid in Full.  Mortgage free for the first time since 1995 (granted that was two houses ago).

Just waiting for our little paid off letter to arrive and return of our Escrow funds to seal the deal.

F E E L S   A M A Z I N G!

Congrats to @SwordGuy and @Finntastic

[SwordGuy]

I can't believe it took me almost a week to post this news.....we are also done, done, done!  Paid in Full.  Mortgage free for the first time since 1995 (granted that was two houses ago).

Just waiting for our little paid off letter to arrive and return of our Escrow funds to seal the deal.

F E E L S   A M A Z I N G!

Congrats to @SwordGuy and @Finntastic

@Congrats right back at you, @Need2Save !

I'm setting up my accounts in Quicken so (hopefully) I'll be more organized with my finances. 

Everytime I added an asset (our home, 4 rental properties, 2 cars, and parts of 2 farms), I got to answer "Nope!!!!" to the question, "Is there a loan associated with this asset?"

Damn, but that was a good feeling!

[Trifle]

I can't believe it took me almost a week to post this news.....we are also done, done, done!  Paid in Full.  Mortgage free for the first time since 1995 (granted that was two houses ago).

Just waiting for our little paid off letter to arrive and return of our Escrow funds to seal the deal.

F E E L S   A M A Z I N G!

Congratulations @Need2Save!   Well done!

[jordanfromcanada]

Kicking off my first post here (long time lurker) with an official 'We've Officially Paid Off Our Mortgage!'.

Purchased our house in 2015 with my SO and set out on a mission to clear the mortgage. We consciously directed more % of our funds to the mortgage vs. investing. It was a choice we made and are happy with the result. We still have a good chunk in the market and will amp up the allocation going forward. We are both 30 years old, engineers, working in the Energy sector.

Coles Notes ($CAD)

Start
House Purchase Date: August 2015
House Purchase Amount: $650k
Downpayment: $225k
Mortgage Owing: $425k
Payments: $2,880 Bi-Weekly Accelerated (initially 5 Year Fixed @ 2.54%)

End Result
Mortgage Owing: $0
Time Elapsed: 5 Years 2 Months
Paid to Lender: $425k Principal + $40.2k Interest = 465.2k Total
Lender Annual Return: 1.79% (lower than original rate - we hit the mortgage with big lump sum payments)

It feels great to finally say we actually own our house. We made a rule that we'd do zero renos until the house was paid off - a little bit of delayed gratification. Time to paint!

-jordan

[Trifle]

Kicking off my first post here (long time lurker) with an official 'We've Officially Paid Off Our Mortgage!'.

Welcome to the forum @jordanfromcanada!  And huge congratulations on the milestone.  You two are killing it!

[Money Badger]

Wow, 4 paid off mortgages on one page!   Where have I been?

CONGRATS on killing those mortgages @SwordGuy, @Need2Save, @Finntastic, and @jordanfromcanada !!!!

[Need2Save]

Wow, 4 paid off mortgages on one page!   Where have I been?

CONGRATS on killing those mortgages @SwordGuy, @Need2Save, @Finntastic, and @jordanfromcanada !!!!

Thank you!  Yeah I like to see so many forum members joining in all at once.  It really has me considering knocking off about 10-12 months from my RE date.  I'm still cheering for the rest of you though!

[Segare]

Hello all, we only owe on our house. We bought it in 2016. We are more than half way done, less than two years to go.  Recently we decided to put more into investments while still keeping the same extra principle payment. So here we are staying the course.

[talltexan]

Refinanced last month. Just got a notice in the mail that the lien on my old loan had been removed.

No notice about my escrow balance, surely they're not going to think I've forgotten it?

[SwordGuy]

Refinanced last month. Just got a notice in the mail that the lien on my old loan had been removed.

No notice about my escrow balance, surely they're not going to think I've forgotten it?

My understanding is they wait about 20 days from the pay off of the loan before disbursing the escrow amount to the consumer.  That way, they account for payments received after closing, etc.

[moneypitfeeder]

Congrats, @Need2Save and @jordanfromcanada ! Enjoy being unburdened by a looming mortgage :) @Segare sounds like you'll be paid off soon enough, good on you for allocating your funds where they work best for you.

[talltexan]

Got a nice, phat check in the mail that was our escrow account...will be satisfying to deposit that sucker!

[SwordGuy]

Got a nice, phat check in the mail that was our escrow account...will be satisfying to deposit that sucker!

Yeah, just got one of those too!    But the property tax is due now and the home insurance is due in December, so it's easy come, easy go!

[talltexan]

Update: deposited it, had my mother call and tell me all sorts of bad things about the bank that took that check. I replied that they "cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to me!"

[alcon835]

Joining the thread to keep me motivated! While I 100% understand the financial benefits of paying the minimum on the mortgage and investing everything else, there's something so emotionally satisfying about not having a house payment. The freedom that brings is...other worldly. Plus, I'd like to be debt free!

Right now I've got 32% equity in my home. There are a few potential windfalls in about 3 years  that I'm hoping to use to pay off my house, but if that doesn't work I should have it done in the next 7 years.

Here's to celebrating with you all as you pay off your mortgages and looking forward to that glorious day when mortgage payments will be part of my past!

[couponvan]

Joining the thread to keep me motivated! While I 100% understand the financial benefits of paying the minimum on the mortgage and investing everything else, there's something so emotionally satisfying about not having a house payment. The freedom that brings is...other worldly. Plus, I'd like to be debt free!

Right now I've got 32% equity in my home. There are a few potential windfalls in about 3 years  that I'm hoping to use to pay off my house, but if that doesn't work I should have it done in the next 7 years.

Here's to celebrating with you all as you pay off your mortgages and looking forward to that glorious day when mortgage payments will be part of my past!

I recommend you pay the minimum, while adding the maximum to a separate investment account that is the "house account". Once it has at least enough to payoff the mortgage, you can decided whether you want to actually do that.  You have the "house payoff" on the side you can look at whenever you want.  Just don't spend it on cars and vacations! This is what we'll be doing once we refi our current house.

[paulkots]

Coming close to celebrating  1 year of paid-off mortgage. It is still one of the best things I have done.

Took 1 month off this year since expenses are lower with no mortgage. Even with 2020 being the whirlwind that it is, I can sit back and relax.


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[alcon835]

Joining the thread to keep me motivated! While I 100% understand the financial benefits of paying the minimum on the mortgage and investing everything else, there's something so emotionally satisfying about not having a house payment. The freedom that brings is...other worldly. Plus, I'd like to be debt free!

Right now I've got 32% equity in my home. There are a few potential windfalls in about 3 years  that I'm hoping to use to pay off my house, but if that doesn't work I should have it done in the next 7 years.

Here's to celebrating with you all as you pay off your mortgages and looking forward to that glorious day when mortgage payments will be part of my past!

I recommend you pay the minimum, while adding the maximum to a separate investment account that is the "house account". Once it has at least enough to payoff the mortgage, you can decided whether you want to actually do that.  You have the "house payoff" on the side you can look at whenever you want.  Just don't spend it on cars and vacations! This is what we'll be doing once we refi our current house.

Hrm, that's something I hadn't considered. I need to think through what would make me happier and what the meaningful financial benefits are of contributing my current extra payments into the market for the next few years.

[moneypitfeeder]

Awesome @paulkots, glad you got to take some time off! To @alcon835, this probably is already understood, but if you do decide to set money aside in an investment account, I would make sure that it at least will make enough in interest to equal what you would have saved accounting for compounding interest on your mortgage.

[Calvin]

I didn't join this earlier, but I paid off my mortgage a couple months ago! It's so nice to not have any monthly mortgage payment.

Congrats to everyone who's paid it off!

[Lilium]

In the process of refinancing at the moment - but am trying to get this paid off as fast as I can (which won't be crazy fast, but much better than the 25yr refinance).

Bought in 2016 for 196k.  Loan was for 186k and currently owe 158400.  Earlier this year I was able to start putting extra money to it with the thought that I'd try hard to at least get the PMI off. 

Right now, if I keep going like this, I think it should take about 10 years to pay it off but I'm not sure I'll be able to continue with the pace of overtime I'm currently in.

[Money Badger]

Rock on @Calvin for killing that sucka debt!   

@Lilium,  How'd it go with the refi?   It's nice to kill the PMI to get the loan holder to stop charging you for the honor of doing business with them...    Instead of OT, look at how to build monthly cash flow margin... 10 years is too long... you can do it in 7.    Or less.    Work the plan for the win!   

[swaneesr]

Great job those who are in this club. DW and I have been hammering away at our mortgage and have celebrated each $10k drop with a bottle of sparkling wine.

I understand the math of investing versus paying off the mortgage debt. We do both. Getting finished with this mortgage will give us an even bigger $$$ stream for saving up for a few upgrades we want to make before retirement.

My wife’s spreadsheet says we may be done in THREE payments......

Swanee


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[Need2Save]

We paid off our balance in October as you can tell upthread.  Still really, really enjoying this very much even with crazy low interest rates available right now.

In November we anxiously awaited our confirmation letter that our title was ours free and clear, and wouldn't you know it.....they misspelled our names!  Now we have to wait another six weeks for them to fix this and refile with our county.  A little annoying that neither the bank who has serviced our loan for 8 years or the county could tell our last name was spelled wrong.  Really?

For those anticipating paying off soon, the bank told us up to 6 weeks for our Escrow to be returned to us but it was closer to 3 weeks.  We got it in plenty of time to pay taxes and insurance in December. 

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

[HPstache]

Dropped a substantial amount of money (for us) and paid our rental duplex off before the new year!  Hello additional income!  Units rent out for $1250 a side and expenses are about $600/more now the the mortgage is gone.  So happy, never thought this day would actually come!

[Lilium]

@Money Badger,  I think the refi finally closed on Dec 28th, it seemed like it took a really long time.  168,090 at 2.875%.  I haven't received any bills or anything just yet.  The first payment has to be by check in the mail.  The last time I paid through USPS, it took 20 days to get there.  So I'm thinking of just using the money I have for the Jan and Feb payment at first.  After that, I think I can pay online and I'm planning on putting back in whatever extra funds come back (1908 so far and at least 4200 from the old escrow acct).

I didn't realize there were different threads for mortgage payoff - I'll head over to the proper thread and come back when I'm under 50$!!

[Money Badger]

@Lilium,  Nice!   That $168K is now $162K with that escrow kicker.   While the threads for various amounts are nice, the method is the same all the way to zero...   Treat every item in your budget like an employee that needs to "re-interview" for it's job to stay there OR put that money each month to the debt.   Do the math, make the choices and kill $162K in 7 years with this mindset and make it mathematically certain.   Once it is done, the whole game of work and investing changes and you are in control to a FAR greater level than you'd imagine.   

[AK]

After months of deciding between investing or paying off the mortgage, I have decided to pay it off this coming week. The cash was sitting in a rental property fund but none have come up yet and it kept growing.

I hope it feels better than the meh / indifference after paying off my student loans. Anyone else feel like that?

[Bird In Hand]

I hope it feels better than the meh / indifference after paying off my student loans. Anyone else feel like that?

I wasn't super pumped in the last year or so leading up to paying ours off.  What made it exciting for me was when I realized we could scrounge up enough cash to pay it off about 6 months ahead of schedule.  That spontaneous decision, and the series of transactions immediately afterward (requesting the payoff letter, scheduling the wire transfer from our bank, seeing the $0 balance on the mortgage) was quite a rush.

We basked in the afterglow of that excitement for quite some time.  Naturally it fades after a while, but 11 months later it's still a very pleasant memory to relive.  Not having the mortgage during all the fear and uncertainty during the early days of COVID did give us palpable peace of mind.

[paulkots]

I hope it feels better than the meh / indifference after paying off my student loans. Anyone else feel like that?

Paying off the mortgage felt like an achievement and it was a reason to celebrate.

The real bonus for me kicked in a few months later, it felt like I received a raise. Then covid happened and nobody knew what the future would bring, having no payments gave me a peace of mind. Now I see businesses closing down around me and I have worries about my own but I know that if necessary I can take less profits from the business to help it weather the storm, paid off house allows me to do this.

[Money Badger]

It'll be 2 years to the day Jan 19th that I paid the mortgage off AND we downsized.   It's completely changed the pace of net worth growth (skyrocketing with cashflow investment vs. the old mortgage days).  And during a pandemic and my job loss, our net worth increased because I didn't have to raid our investments to live AND could take risks when the market tanked last March instead of hiding in cash to be safe and liquid.   Best thing we ever did.

[SwordGuy]

It'll be 2 years to the day Jan 19th that I paid the mortgage off AND we downsized.   It's completely changed the pace of net worth growth (skyrocketing with cashflow investment vs. the old mortgage days).  And during a pandemic and my job loss, our net worth increased because I didn't have to raid our investments to live AND could take risks when the market tanked last March instead of hiding in cash to be safe and liquid.   Best thing we ever did.

I love it when a plan comes together!

[mastrr]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

[alcon835]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congratulations!!!!!

How does it feel knowing you'll never have another mortgage payment?

[couponvan]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congratulations!!!!!

How does it feel knowing you'll never have another mortgage payment?

Congrats!  Dave must really work if in a week you could already pay off the mortgage! LOL.   I've read one of his books and listened to him off and on.  We've been "debt free" except the house, and then went back on the optimize investible assets until retirement bandwagon.  Frankly the "debt free" life is way more relaxing.

[mastrr]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congratulations!!!!!

How does it feel knowing you'll never have another mortgage payment?

Thank you, feels good!  That is my goal, no more debt

[mastrr]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congratulations!!!!!

How does it feel knowing you'll never have another mortgage payment?

Congrats!  Dave must really work if in a week you could already pay off the mortgage! LOL.   I've read one of his books and listened to him off and on.  We've been "debt free" except the house, and then went back on the optimize investible assets until retirement bandwagon.  Frankly the "debt free" life is way more relaxing.

It did work quick and had just enough liquid in savings + non-retirement investments to cover the mortgage (not including emergency fund).  I've always heard of Dave Ramsey but dismissed him because I saw the critics.  I liked his points about lessening the risk especially in times like these.  I've always had the thought the back of my mind to work on paying off the mortgage but always wanted as much invested as possible which stopped me from sinking cash into equity.  It's like listening to him validated some thoughts I had and gave me the "green light" to make it happen.

[alcon835]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congratulations!!!!!

How does it feel knowing you'll never have another mortgage payment?

Congrats!  Dave must really work if in a week you could already pay off the mortgage! LOL.   I've read one of his books and listened to him off and on.  We've been "debt free" except the house, and then went back on the optimize investible assets until retirement bandwagon.  Frankly the "debt free" life is way more relaxing.

It did work quick and had just enough liquid in savings + non-retirement investments to cover the mortgage (not including emergency fund).  I've always heard of Dave Ramsey but dismissed him because I saw the critics.  I liked his points about lessening the risk especially in times like these.  I've always had the thought the back of my mind to work on paying off the mortgage but always wanted as much invested as possible which stopped me from sinking cash into equity.  It's like listening to him validated some thoughts I had and gave me the "green light" to make it happen.

Dave is significantly more solid than folks around here give him credit for. Eat the meat, spit out the bones.

Congrats again on paying off your mortgage! I'm jealous...

[SwordGuy]

Dave is significantly more solid than folks around here give him credit for.

I think he's awesome at connecting with his audience and convincing them to change their behavior for the better.
He gives great advice for getting out of debt, particularly for people who have had problems controlling their spending.

His investing advice seems suspect and designed to funnel people to high fee investments.

[alcon835]

Dave is significantly more solid than folks around here give him credit for.

I think he's awesome at connecting with his audience and convincing them to change their behavior for the better.
He gives great advice for getting out of debt, particularly for people who have had problems controlling their spending.

His investing advice seems suspect and designed to funnel people to high fee investments.

Agreed. Eat the meat: Budgeting, Insurance, Getting out of debt, understanding real risk.

Spit out the bones: Anything and everything he says about investing.

[AK]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Congrats!!

[swaneesr]

after listening to Dave Ramsey for a week I decided to pay off my mortgage and did it today.  Purchased residence Jan 2015 so it was a large amount relative to the original principal on the loan.

before I was all about creating positive leverage with debt

Great job. You truly own every square foot of your home. Every 2x4 and electrical outlet. Must be amazing.

DW and I are working hard to get to the same place.


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[AK]

The mortgage is officially paid. I now feel excited for the future opportunities it brings such as

• I opened a brokerage investment account for the first time and bought some Tesla stock, which is my first ever non-index fund stock purchase. This helps with tax diversification.
• Opened 529 accounts and started funding them. After maxing out retirement accounts and paying off debt, funding 529s for the kids is awesome.
• It's also nice to know that I can use property taxes as a credit card bonus expense source if needed since they're my responsibility now.
• Reopen our HELOC to have a higher line amount at a better variable rate. This lets me change my mind and use the money to invest instead if desired.

I hope it feels better than the meh / indifference after paying off my student loans. Anyone else feel like that?

I wasn't super pumped in the last year or so leading up to paying ours off.  What made it exciting for me was when I realized we could scrounge up enough cash to pay it off about 6 months ahead of schedule.  That spontaneous decision, and the series of transactions immediately afterward (requesting the payoff letter, scheduling the wire transfer from our bank, seeing the $0 balance on the mortgage) was quite a rush.

We basked in the afterglow of that excitement for quite some time.  Naturally it fades after a while, but 11 months later it's still a very pleasant memory to relive.  Not having the mortgage during all the fear and uncertainty during the early days of COVID did give us palpable peace of mind.

It was a little unnerving for me this week. The payment was done electronically on Wednesday and showed as "unapplied" for two days. Friday it finally showed as paid in full. However, seeing that is Awesome. The timing may be poor though since my school taxes were due Friday and I have to check if the bank paid them from escrow or I have to now. Little things...

I hope it feels better than the meh / indifference after paying off my student loans. Anyone else feel like that?

Paying off the mortgage felt like an achievement and it was a reason to celebrate.

The real bonus for me kicked in a few months later, it felt like I received a raise. Then covid happened and nobody knew what the future would bring, having no payments gave me a peace of mind. Now I see businesses closing down around me and I have worries about my own but I know that if necessary I can take less profits from the business to help it weather the storm, paid off house allows me to do this.

I hope to have the same feeling come first of the month.

It'll be 2 years to the day Jan 19th that I paid the mortgage off AND we downsized.   It's completely changed the pace of net worth growth (skyrocketing with cashflow investment vs. the old mortgage days).  And during a pandemic and my job loss, our net worth increased because I didn't have to raid our investments to live AND could take risks when the market tanked last March instead of hiding in cash to be safe and liquid.   Best thing we ever did.

Congrats on downsizing and the net worth skyrocketing! I also feel like I could take on riskier things that could pay off even better such as starting a YouTube channel or releasing some informational product.

[Spoon]

We managed to hit mortgage payoff in 2020, and then turned around and did the least mustachian thing possible, loaded up on debt! We are upgrading our life and I can't wait. We have been looking to get out of suburbia for years and are moving to 25 acres this weekend.

At this stage there is no plan for paying off the debt, just lots of spending. From here the rough plan is
Clean and lightly renovate the existing house
Buy the wife a 4WD, there is a creek at the bottom of the property that crosses the road in/out that occasionally floods and the extra height is needed to get through
Fix the run down farm machinery, buy livestock and get planting
Adjust the driveway into a loop, clear 2 new building envelopes
Build a tiny/shipping container house to airbnb
Start airbnb -ing
Build another portable place to rent
Sell one/both/as many as necessary
Use the money from the sales to build something bigger and more permanent for holiday renting and live in when required
Knock down the existing house and build from scratch

I’m a builder (contractor to US folks) and I would rather work more years and build myself a new house than retire earlier. Once the new build is complete it will be time to smash the debt once again. Hopefully I remember how :)