Mortgage Payoff Club!!

[Trifle]

Goal: Pay off mortgage completely by end-2023

Original mortgage: 200,000 (May 2010)
November 2019: c100,000
Most recent re-mortgaging (@1.04%, tracker, early October 2021): 51,000
Current: 45,500

Put lump sum of company profits/dividends into the mortgage and was happy to kill 10% of the outstanding balance. Current goal is to get much closer to 40,000 by end-2021, maybe even hit that number before the year is up. I might drop in some cash savings, but I'm loathe to sacrifice my emergency fund.

I'm adjusting the goal somewhat because I need to build my Vanguard balance, and I'm now the only one paying off the mortgage because Mr Vashy needs to build his pre-tax pension. We're now at 41,000 and aim to be done by end-2025, ie our FI/RE date.

Sub-£40k!

You're in the home stretch now!  We did this too -- coincided our mortgage payoff to (more or less) match our FIRE date.  That was the intent, but then as we got closer it became irresistible to just kill the damn mortgage as quickly as we could.  If you're like me you'll start setting more goals, trying to scratch up extra money to get below 39k, then 35k . . . it snowballs. 

Good luck and congrats @Vashy ! 

[Vashy]

Goal: Pay off mortgage completely by end-2023

Original mortgage: 200,000 (May 2010)
November 2019: c100,000
Most recent re-mortgaging (@1.04%, tracker, early October 2021): 51,000
Current: 45,500

Put lump sum of company profits/dividends into the mortgage and was happy to kill 10% of the outstanding balance. Current goal is to get much closer to 40,000 by end-2021, maybe even hit that number before the year is up. I might drop in some cash savings, but I'm loathe to sacrifice my emergency fund.

I'm adjusting the goal somewhat because I need to build my Vanguard balance, and I'm now the only one paying off the mortgage because Mr Vashy needs to build his pre-tax pension. We're now at 41,000 and aim to be done by end-2025, ie our FI/RE date.

Sub-£40k!

You're in the home stretch now!  We did this too -- coincided our mortgage payoff to (more or less) match our FIRE date.  That was the intent, but then as we got closer it became irresistible to just kill the damn mortgage as quickly as we could.  If you're like me you'll start setting more goals, trying to scratch up extra money to get below 39k, then 35k . . . it snowballs. 

Good luck and congrats @Vashy !

Thank you! It's really exciting to see the balance shrink and the 25bp increase in the base rate should be less than £10 a month. I don't believe the Bank of England can go crazy anytime soon on the base rate (I don't see it returning to the 4-5% long-term average anytime soon), but even absolute worst-case scenarios really can't slow us down at this point. I actually have small goals written on the whiteboard in the kitchen that I get to tick off - the next one is at about £35k, and overall killing the mortgage is one of the "do by FI/RE date" goals - while I expect to do side hustle work after I retire, one way to cope with the lower income and higher volatility is to get the bigger expenses out of the way.

[Trifle]

I actually have small goals written on the whiteboard in the kitchen that I get to tick off - the next one is at about £35k, and overall killing the mortgage is one of the "do by FI/RE date" goals - while I expect to do side hustle work after I retire, one way to cope with the lower income and higher volatility is to get the bigger expenses out of the way.

Those are my sentiments exactly.  For me it felt much simpler to manage FIRE finances with the biggest thing (the mortgage) gone. 

[swaneesr]

I actually have small goals written on the whiteboard in the kitchen that I get to tick off - the next one is at about £35k, and overall killing the mortgage is one of the "do by FI/RE date" goals - while I expect to do side hustle work after I retire, one way to cope with the lower income and higher volatility is to get the bigger expenses out of the way.

Those are my sentiments exactly.  For me it felt much simpler to manage FIRE finances with the biggest thing (the mortgage) gone.

Totally agree.

When you get the big payments out of the way, the smaller ones are easy to manage. A certain amount of stress is lifted forever.

5 days from now is our one year anniversary of paying off the mortgage.

Swanee


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Duke03]

Well, it's official!!! My wife and I went to our local credit union and paid our house off this morning!!!  I don't think it will really set in until next month when we don't have to make a payment.  We built our house 7 years ago next month, so we are really excited to get it paid off this early.  The best part is we love our house, we love our neighbors, and couldn't ask for better schools so no need to move for a very long time!!!  Our plan moving forward is to invest our old house payment each month and continue building generation wealth.

On a side note, I also paid my truck off yesterday.  It was funny this morning because the branch manager was concerned that the credit union had done something to upset us and asked if we were paying everything off, so we didn't have to deal with them anymore. 

[jnw]

Well, it's official!!! My wife and I went to our local credit union and paid our house off this morning!!!  I don't think it will really set in until next month when we don't have to make a payment.  We built our house 7 years ago next month, so we are really excited to get it paid off this early.  The best part is we love our house, we love our neighbors, and couldn't ask for better schools so no need to move for a very long time!!!  Our plan moving forward is to invest our old house payment each month and continue building generation wealth.

On a side note, I also paid my truck off yesterday.  It was funny this morning because the branch manager was concerned that the credit union had done something to upset us and asked if we were paying everything off, so we didn't have to deal with them anymore.

Congratulations!  DOUBLE AWESOMENESS!  I can't wait for that feeling when I get this mortgage paid off in about 2.5 years!

[Askel]

On a side note, I also paid my truck off yesterday.  It was funny this morning because the branch manager was concerned that the credit union had done something to upset us and asked if we were paying everything off, so we didn't have to deal with them anymore.

haha "Clearly it's not possible for somebody to eliminate all of their debts, the only possible explanation is they don't like us personally!"   

I hope you got a higher interest rate out of your savings account or something. My credit union is pretty uncompetitive at every banking service except loaning money.   

[LeftA]

Congratulations @Duke03 ! Must feel amazing. Can’t wait to join you, sometime next summer.

[Money Badger]

Update on our mortgage#1 (we have 2 mortgages, but want to get rid of this one ASAP!):
   
Original: 120,000 repayment date 06/01/33
October 2021: 67,000 repayment date 12/01/32
January 2022: 64,000 repayment date 10/01/32

.. this is a huge thing to look forward to. Only 64K to go (and no, we do not have that kind of money readily available at our combined savings, unfortunately.....).

Great discipline and great progress @Dutch Comfort!  Good luck favors those who stay focused just as you both obviously are!

[talltexan]

I like your tracking of the repayment date. In order to project it, are you taking the estimates of payments you plan to make, or are you taking the estimate of your minimum remaining payments?

[Jon_Snow]

Let’s see…haven’t had a mortgage for….over a decade now! Paid it off a couple of years before I FIRE’d. The simplicity and streamlining of one’s finances without that mortgage line item in there cannot be properly measured. The feeling of being mortgage free, and the flexibility of funnelling that capital elsewhere is….fun!

Have not checked into this thread for quite a while but sure nice to see the mortgages fall one by one. Keep going folks! 👍

[Dutch Comfort]

Update on our mortgage#1 (we have 2 mortgages, but want to get rid of this one ASAP!):
   
Original: 120,000 repayment date 06/01/33
October 2021: 67,000 repayment date 12/01/32
January 2022: 64,000 repayment date 10/01/32
March 2022: 60,500 repayment date 04/01/32

Got DH on board to do an additional repayment from our savings. This will bring us to almost halfway! Feels good!!!!

For the projected repayment date, I take the minimum remaining payments. All the additional payments will only bring it forward and gives me the motivation to save for an additional payment. Every 500 euro will bring it forward 1 month! Now we first need to refund our savings account (as was my promise to DH) before we do any additional payments to the mortgage. This will be my goal for the next couple of months. As soon as the savings account is refunded, I will check whether we can do further additional payments for this year........ But for now, I'm happy with the progress so far.

[jnw]

Mortage payment of $1250 today.  Minimum due was $541 :)   Gotta love guaranteed 4.63% return.  (I am personally terrified of the stock market right now, with all the buy backs and very high P/E ratios.)

[Duke03]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

[jnw]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

Congrats!

[SwordGuy]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

That's great!

[Trifle]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

Feels awesome, doesn't it?  Congrats!

[jnw]

I had planned to pay off my mortage first but if VTI is this inexpensive (or better) on the first of the month next month, I am gonna put money into it instead.   Anytime there are bargains, I am just gonna have to put the money in the market for that month instead.

What do you think?  To me it makes sense.  I figure there are bargains, might as well at least capitalize on them.

I actually took a grand out of my large emergency fund and put into VTI today.

[Askel]

What do you think? 

It all depends on your risk tolerance, asset allocation, personal values, and maybe a whole load of other factors.  There's a whole crowd of folks up in the DON'T payoff your mortgage thread that will tell you this is a great idea.

It's not for me though. This would be trying to time the market which I don't do. 

Paying down my mortgage also buys me a lot of security the market can't offer. I've got a lot of work into my place, more than selling it could ever realize. I don't want to risk losing it over a 5 figure mortgage.   

One thing that's helpful to do is sit down and calculate out exactly how much paying down the mortgage vs investing will actually pay.  If you have a tiny mortgage like me, it ends up being a couple of grand either way. Not really too much to get excited about.   

However, I do put money in I bonds over paying down my mortgage as that is acceptable risk vs reward for me.   

[alcon835]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

Heck yeah!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[Money Badger]

I had planned to pay off my mortage first but if VTI is this inexpensive (or better) on the first of the month next month, I am gonna put money into it instead.   Anytime there are bargains, I am just gonna have to put the money in the market for that month instead.

What do you think?  To me it makes sense.  I figure there are bargains, might as well at least capitalize on them.

I actually took a grand out of my large emergency fund and put into VTI today.

Being mortgage free first, before changing plans to put more into the market, is the priority for folks in this thread.  No sense debating is it a "good time" or not in the market as there are counter arguments to every argument.   But it is NEVER a bad time to be mortgage free both spiritually and financially   Financial decisions became more rational once the mortgage is gone... And  acceleration of wealth (once payments are eliminated so you can drive cash averaged purchases of various assets classes such as stocks, gold, short term bonds is amazingly profitable.   )"Be the bank" instead of being "owned by the bank".

[Money Badger]

I received the deed to my house in the mail today!!!  I paid it off two weeks ago so was surprised it came that quickly...

Congratulations on freedom Duke03!

[BlueHouse]

I had planned to pay off my mortage first but if VTI is this inexpensive (or better) on the first of the month next month, I am gonna put money into it instead.   Anytime there are bargains, I am just gonna have to put the money in the market for that month instead.

What do you think?  To me it makes sense.  I figure there are bargains, might as well at least capitalize on them.

I actually took a grand out of my large emergency fund and put into VTI today.

Being mortgage free first, before changing plans to put more into the market, is the priority for folks in this thread.  No sense debating is it a "good time" or not in the market as there are counter arguments to every argument.   But it is NEVER a bad time to be mortgage free both spiritually and financially   Financial decisions became more rational once the mortgage is gone... And  acceleration of wealth (once payments are eliminated so you can drive cash averaged purchases of various assets classes such as stocks, gold, short term bonds is amazingly profitable.   )"Be the bank" instead of being "owned by the bank".

I disagree, and think all discussion is good.  Most of us agree that it is almost always financially advantageous to invest in the market rather than paying off a fixed-rate, low-interest rate loan. 
I don't agree when people just keep arguing the same points, even when it's clear the person fully understands the pros and cons, but for someone asking this question, this is a great place to share the advantages of both sides of the coin. 

OP - yes, it's a great time.  Decide what your motivations are.  If you are unsure which way you want to go, I suggest a "sinking fund" to save up for paying off the mortgage.  Then you can decide whether or not to pay it off (or down).  If you want to make a big hit to the mortgage, but not pay it all off, I suggest re-amortizing the mortgage (free at most mortgage lenders).

[jnw]

I disagree, and think all discussion is good.  Most of us agree that it is almost always financially advantageous to invest in the market rather than paying off a fixed-rate, low-interest rate loan. 
I don't agree when people just keep arguing the same points, even when it's clear the person fully understands the pros and cons, but for someone asking this question, this is a great place to share the advantages of both sides of the coin. 

OP - yes, it's a great time.  Decide what your motivations are.  If you are unsure which way you want to go, I suggest a "sinking fund" to save up for paying off the mortgage.  Then you can decide whether or not to pay it off (or down).  If you want to make a big hit to the mortgage, but not pay it all off, I suggest re-amortizing the mortgage (free at most mortgage lenders).

Thanks for the reply, rather than clutter this thread, I made a new thread with my idea for a mortgage sinking fund / emergency fund (combo).  Let me know what ya think.  I might invest half into VTI each month at current market rate and setup the other half of cash as limit buy orders dollar cost averaged down all the way to say $120 per share of VTI.. to take advantage of any dips, while most likely preserving a very large emergency fund since the market probably won't drop that low.. $40k is my mortgage payoff, so a lot of potential for a large emergency fund as well since the market probably wont' dip that badly.  (But if it does dip badly then that's only advantageous for me since I don't yet have much in my retirement fund and would enjoy the lower cost average.)

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/mortgage-payoff-emergency-fund-brokerage-account/

[Askel]

I disagree, and think all discussion is good. 

Careful, we've had problems with people showing up in this thread before intent on telling us why we're all dead wrong.  If you want to debate whether or not to pay off your mortgage, we're here to tell you the reasons we want to pay off ours also, and celebrate with you when you do. 

There's plenty of places to evangelize keeping a low rate mortgage around on this site. We know all the arguments for it. We don't care. 

[jnw]

Which is why I mentioned my other thread out of respect for this thread.  And I still haven't made my mind up; I might just continue to pay off my mortgage like I have been. I've been part of this club for a while now, although I haven't posted here until recently.  (I also recently got into trouble on the "don't pay your mortgage off" thread as well.)

[talltexan]

@JenniferW , I hope what I said to you over in that other thread was received in the good humor it was intended!

I'll admit that market downturns like what we're living through now are a reminder that reducing risk in your life--say by paying ahead on your mortgage--is a good thing.

[jnw]

@JenniferW , I hope what I said to you over in that other thread was received in the good humor it was intended!

I'll admit that market downturns like what we're living through now are a reminder that reducing risk in your life--say by paying ahead on your mortgage--is a good thing.

Yeah but how far does the market have to go down before you feel it's too good to turn down ? :)  That's my dilemma.  I agree with you.. I've faired well overall the past year paying off mortgage rather than put into VTI.

Oops, sorry guys I just did it again.  Maybe we can about it more in my thread I created and mentioned a couple posts back :)

[BlueHouse]

I disagree, and think all discussion is good. 

Careful, we've had problems with people showing up in this thread before intent on telling us why we're all dead wrong.  If you want to debate whether or not to pay off your mortgage, we're here to tell you the reasons we want to pay off ours also, and celebrate with you when you do. 

There's plenty of places to evangelize keeping a low rate mortgage around on this site. We know all the arguments for it. We don't care.

I completely understand. 
I think there are TONS of great reasons to pay off a mortgage and I love coming to this thread to celebrate with those who have made it to the club.  I will definitely pay mine off before I hit the 15-year mark, but not right now.  I've also been a strong advocate for recasting loans when a big chunk is paid down but payoff is a distant wish. 

That's why I hang around this thread -- I know the arguments and STILL am usually an advocate for many people paying off their mortgage.  I just don't think there's a one-size fits all answer for everyone, and it's helpful to teach people why it may or may not be favorable for them. 

I was pretty vocal in the past when a few people harped on and on and on (and on and on) about the financial reasons for NOT paying off the mortgage.  I do think this thread can have honest and open discussions with the pros and cons and point people in the direction that will work best for their situation.  This isn't a cult and we're not trying to recruit members, rather we want to support and celebrate with those who have chosen this path. 

Basically, I'm an advocate for people voicing their opinions, answering questions, and then moving on.  The few people who previously kept arguing were trying to change the minds of people who had already made their choice and they alienated many people until starting another thread.  I hate that the two threads are positioned as two teams against one another.  They should just be informational threads to help people decide what works for their unique mix of financial, emotional, and peace of mind reasons.

[Money Badger]

@BlueHouse  You're welcome to disagree.   So we will have to agree to disagree in this thread and stay on topic to help those who want to pay theirs off to be free of their mortgage.

[farmecologist]

I disagree, and think all discussion is good. 

Careful, we've had problems with people showing up in this thread before intent on telling us why we're all dead wrong.  If you want to debate whether or not to pay off your mortgage, we're here to tell you the reasons we want to pay off ours also, and celebrate with you when you do. 

There's plenty of places to evangelize keeping a low rate mortgage around on this site. We know all the arguments for it. We don't care.

I completely understand. 
I think there are TONS of great reasons to pay off a mortgage and I love coming to this thread to celebrate with those who have made it to the club.  I will definitely pay mine off before I hit the 15-year mark, but not right now.  I've also been a strong advocate for recasting loans when a big chunk is paid down but payoff is a distant wish. 

That's why I hang around this thread -- I know the arguments and STILL am usually an advocate for many people paying off their mortgage.  I just don't think there's a one-size fits all answer for everyone, and it's helpful to teach people why it may or may not be favorable for them. 

I was pretty vocal in the past when a few people harped on and on and on (and on and on) about the financial reasons for NOT paying off the mortgage.  I do think this thread can have honest and open discussions with the pros and cons and point people in the direction that will work best for their situation.  This isn't a cult and we're not trying to recruit members, rather we want to support and celebrate with those who have chosen this path. 

Basically, I'm an advocate for people voicing their opinions, answering questions, and then moving on.  The few people who previously kept arguing were trying to change the minds of people who had already made their choice and they alienated many people until starting another thread.  I hate that the two threads are positioned as two teams against one another.  They should just be informational threads to help people decide what works for their unique mix of financial, emotional, and peace of mind reasons.

Paying off the mortgage was the best thing we ever did...and that was over 14 years ago!  I'm not sure people really realize how much having debt hanging over your head is a stressor....until you don't have it.  Being debt free absolutely changes your outlook on life.

People always told me to 'put the money to work in the markets instead'.  Well...if I would have done that, I would have invested in the markets *just* before the 2008-2009 crash...and that would have been a disaster.  So the timing of our mortgage payoff worked out great for us.  Of course, like anything, it can go both ways. 

[Ambergris]

So, after some years of being the "Don't pay off the mortgage" person, I've decided I am now the "do pay off the mortgage" person. There are some really good reasons for the change:

1) I'm approaching FI rapidly (July 2024) and need to reduce risk. Since bonds are crap right now, I don't want to invest too much into them and need another way to do this.

2) I'm already maxing out (a lot of) tax advantaged space, so this applies to money that is in addition to this.

3) The market is very high and interest rates are incredibly low, so everything looks like bad value. My mortgage interest rate, however, is higher than the bond rates on everything pretty much right now (3.25%). Getting a risk free, tax free return at that level is a no-brainer.

Because this is going to be done with "remainder" or "extra" money, this is going to be sloooooow. But what is this thread for if not for that? I had a recent pay raise with some backdated pay to Jan 1, so the extra money I got this month is going on to the mortgage.

Previous balance:75319.42
Reg. payment principle: 493.66
Add. principle payment: 1300.00
New balance:73525.76

Original payoff date: Dec 2032
New projected payoff date: Aug 2032

[LeftA]

@Ambergris , come join us in the $50-75K left thread!

[srad]

I'll add to this thread.

As our wealth has grown over the years via steady investing in the stock market, rentals and live in flips.  The stash finally got big enough to pay cash for our current live in flip.  The plan was after we fixed it up we'll do the cashout refi and go back to the, I have a mortgage club.  Well, house is finally fixed and financeable, but we just can't see going back to a mortgage.  The last several months of no house payments have been great.  Our mortgage payment over the last several years had been around $2,500. No mortgage means DW doesn't need to work if she doesn't want to.  So she's fire now.   

The current house numbers: paid 360k for it, will end up putting close to 200k into it (still have exterior to work on), its worth over 700k now.  Got a year and a half to go till we can start looking for the next project.  Which we will most likely pay for with cash again.

fyi - I also have one rental paid off, we had some money left over after a previous live in flip decided to deleverage a bit.  I tell you what, its nice keeping the majority of the rent.

Don't worry all the DPOYM's out there, I still have over a million in debt on my other rentals.  However as I transition to fire over the next few years I may pay a few of them off for the additional cash flow, seeing how principal paydown doesn't pay for travel..

[mistymoney]

So, after some years of being the "Don't pay off the mortgage" person, I've decided I am now the "do pay off the mortgage" person. There are some really good reasons for the change:

1) I'm approaching FI rapidly (July 2024) and need to reduce risk. Since bonds are crap right now, I don't want to invest too much into them and need another way to do this.

2) I'm already maxing out (a lot of) tax advantaged space, so this applies to money that is in addition to this.

3) The market is very high and interest rates are incredibly low, so everything looks like bad value. My mortgage interest rate, however, is higher than the bond rates on everything pretty much right now (3.25%). Getting a risk free, tax free return at that level is a no-brainer.

Because this is going to be done with "remainder" or "extra" money, this is going to be sloooooow. But what is this thread for if not for that? I had a recent pay raise with some backdated pay to Jan 1, so the extra money I got this month is going on to the mortgage.

Previous balance:75319.42
Reg. payment principle: 493.66
Add. principle payment: 1300.00
New balance:73525.76

Original payoff date: Dec 2032
New projected payoff date: Aug 2032

I'm kind of on the same trajectory of thought, and same precipitatory influence - thinking about actually retiring and uncertain world/economic issues - the war, inflation, markets, etc.

But I'm really struggling with how to make any progress. My mortgage is about 350k, so even if I dedicate an extra 25k a year to it, I am not going to be able to pay it off in any reasonable way to give myself additional security entering fire. I'm also trying to shore up cash/cash equivalents/fixed income components to my AA with new monies, and that at least provides some immediate security.

so on some level, it seems I should just give up - wave and acknowledge that ship has sailed - but as I look into a retirement budget, some things are pretty startling once you dig into it.

To support my 350k mortgage, I need an addition 29k/year income. That 29k a year is likely going to take me out of the game for things like ACA subsidies, and at some point senior freeze on prop taxes, and I just keep uncovering more and more ways that supporting that extra spend is going to cost a lot of money. so then I need even more money/year and then pay even more taxes, father away from any taxable income based benefits.

And hitting early negatives in the SORR with the higher mandatory spend is concerning!

So it can be pretty frustrating, but I don't see a way to come out of this - unless at some point I pull an extra 350k out of retirment funds (maybe 450k to pay all those taxes on it!) and pay off the mortgage.

It seems pretty drastic! Has anyone on this thread done something like that? I don't think I can read the whole thing, but what I have looked at is people paying slowing over time with new money.

[MoseyingAlong]

I'm kind of on the same trajectory of thought, and same precipitatory influence - thinking about actually retiring and uncertain world/economic issues - the war, inflation, markets, etc.

But I'm really struggling with how to make any progress. My mortgage is about 350k, so even if I dedicate an extra 25k a year to it, I am not going to be able to pay it off in any reasonable way to give myself additional security entering fire. I'm also trying to shore up cash/cash equivalents/fixed income components to my AA with new monies, and that at least provides some immediate security.

so on some level, it seems I should just give up - wave and acknowledge that ship has sailed - but as I look into a retirement budget, some things are pretty startling once you dig into it.

To support my 350k mortgage, I need an addition 29k/year income. That 29k a year is likely going to take me out of the game for things like ACA subsidies, and at some point senior freeze on prop taxes, and I just keep uncovering more and more ways that supporting that extra spend is going to cost a lot of money. so then I need even more money/year and then pay even more taxes, father away from any taxable income based benefits.

And hitting early negatives in the SORR with the higher mandatory spend is concerning!

So it can be pretty frustrating, but I don't see a way to come out of this - unless at some point I pull an extra 350k out of retirment funds (maybe 450k to pay all those taxes on it!) and pay off the mortgage.

It seems pretty drastic! Has anyone on this thread done something like that? I don't think I can read the whole thing, but what I have looked at is people paying slowing over time with new money.

@mistymoney One approach would be to plan to refinance the remaining balance of your mortgage before quitting your job. If you refinance to a 30-year loan for the remaining balance, your payments will be lower which might help with all those income-related expenses. The change in interest rates will affect the change in payments.

I would not recommend making additional payments without planning to refinance. Reducing the balance of the mortgage does not usually result in recalculated payments. So you would still have to generate the payments for them, you would just pay it off sooner. Wouldn't help with the SORR.

HTH

[Askel]

@mistymoney One approach would be to plan to refinance the remaining balance of your mortgage before quitting your job. If you refinance to a 30-year loan for the remaining balance, your payments will be lower which might help with all those income-related expenses. The change in interest rates will affect the change in payments.

Might not even need to refinance. Depending on how much you knock off your mortgage, and how many years left you have on it- a recast alone might get your payment down enough. 

And yeah, staring down a $350k mortgage has got to be rough.  But hopefully you've got the income to support it. An extra $25k year is barely past $2k a month and I could push that if I had down down here in the bush leagues of a $97k mortgage.   

$75k to go.... 

[Askel]

I found this article interesting:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4498666-us-housing-is-a-dead-man-walking

There's some hard data in there that seems to fly in the face of the conventional narrative that there aren't enough houses and we can't build new ones fast enough so prices will keep going up and up. 

A paid off or even paid down mortgage can be a comfort when those home equity numbers fly off a cliff. Or even a necessity if life circumstances dictate.

(My mortgage company greets me with a click through every time I log into their web site claiming that my house is worth $300k and I should cash in on that $225k of equity. LOL)   

[Money Badger]

@mistymoney  That $350K will need a combination of a determined plan per year from income + a chunk of equity to recast the loan to accelerate the principal balance paid each month + faith that life will improve the ability to put chunks or more cash flow into it.   Lived this situation quite well with a mortgage and it was amazing what life sent out way to kill that debt.   Put it on a website or spreadsheet and look at it EVERY month to think of ways to accelerate payoff that debt.   It WILL work out.  If it's just you, that's easier to make the choices.  If you have an S.O., ensure they are aware of how important this is to you and your future together and ensure they don't undermine the choices made along the way to drop the balance.   Celebrate the 200K and 100K milestones.   They'll happen faster than you imagine.   

[mistymoney]

@mistymoney  That $350K will need a combination of a determined plan per year from income + a chunk of equity to recast the loan to accelerate the principal balance paid each month + faith that life will improve the ability to put chunks or more cash flow into it.   Lived this situation quite well with a mortgage and it was amazing what life sent out way to kill that debt.   Put it on a website or spreadsheet and look at it EVERY month to think of ways to accelerate payoff that debt.   It WILL work out.  If it's just you, that's easier to make the choices.  If you have an S.O., ensure they are aware of how important this is to you and your future together and ensure they don't undermine the choices made along the way to drop the balance.   Celebrate the 200K and 100K milestones.   They'll happen faster than you imagine.

Thanks, good advice.

[Dutch Comfort]

Update on our mortgage#1 (we have 2 mortgages, but want to get rid of this one ASAP!):
   
Original: 120,000 repayment date 06/01/33
October 2021: 67,000 repayment date 12/01/32
January 2022: 64,000 repayment date 10/01/32
March 2022: 60,500 repayment date 04/01/32
April 2022: 60,000 repayment date 04/01/32 - HALFWAY MARK!!!!!

Now this is a motivating timestamp! We hit the halfway mark 14 months earlier than expected.
Let's see if we can do the 2nd half sooner......

[Money Badger]

@Dutch Comfort,   Time to engage mustachian savings mode and debt paydown...  LUDICROUS SPEED!

[monarda]

We have 3 mortgages.
Two won't be paid off for a while, (one is at 2.25%, one is at 3%)
but one... now the balance is now $49,435.

Less than 5 years to go. :-)

[Money Badger]

Hmmmm, ya know the $-Badger can't resist killing 49K, right?   If you took everything out of savings accounts or CDs on hand, AND put at least 25% of your next 2 years "take-home" income towards it, could you pay that 3rd one off?   If you took just 10% off the table in the investment side, could you pay it within 12 months?    Then buy another property (about the time the next real estate "bust" cycle makes things attractive again)?    Fortune will favor those with low debt to equity.

[monarda]

I thought about that- we have 25K of credit card debt (0%, but with 3% balance transfer fee ~once a year) to knock down, too. (the remaining debt from a remodel)
I was going to pay the 49K mortgage more aggressively once the CC debt is down a little (should be down within a year).

This mortgage loan is 4%, and interest is a rental tax writeoff, so it's kind of a wash which we pay down first- this loan or the CCs.

But I hear you. I don't have anything in savings accounts or CDs. I'm buying those I-bonds and draining down the savings.

[Money Badger]

Gotcha.   Totally agree on killing the credit card debt first (as does the Dave Ramsey "debt snowball" approach to meaningful wealth creation through removal of consumer and most single family homeowner's homeplace mortgage debt).  Map out a 12 month "burndown" chart and hang it the home office as we did and just go at those cards till they're zero!  With short term rates going up, there's too high a risk of those 0% rates being pulled and ratcheting up such that suddenly that card rate effectively becomes 8 or 10%.   Happened to me on cards in the early 2000s... They just "cancelled" the low % rate and high reward cards and said "tough, here's your new 7% interest card "product" or you can go elsewhere!"  History doesn't repeat, but I certainly hear a lot of rhyming with rates and banks and stag-flation talk lately...   

[monarda]

There's also the HELOC option. Those have 1% or 2% promo rates for the first year, then they go to whatever the going variable rates are. I thought I could engage that option if what you are suggesting with the CCs actually happens.

I probably don't need more than an extra year. We'll see where things stand in the fall, when one of the 0% cards' promo period ends. Another card gets paid off this month.

[Money Badger]

Awesome on paying off the card(s) one at a time.    Been the HELOC route too... Absolute minefield of "start up fees", "minimum HELOC balance requirements" and then high monthly payback amounts of 1% of the balance or more, plus a nice ding on credit ratings to drive up any future financing terms on other real estate purchases or refinances.   And heaven forbid you forget to pay 1 month so they hit you with late fees anywhere from $50 to $100 for ONE month's late payment.    F the usurious banks that will screw you when it suits them to pay their dividends to shareholders.   Kill the debt.   Then become your own bank so "they" pay you instead.   

Sorry, the road to eliminate debt was a hard time.   And yes, it left a mark.

[AnxietyFly]

Hey guys! It's been a couple years now since I paid the house off. The sense of accomplishment still resonates in my daily thoughts. The amount of money I was paying towards my house is now being invested towards my retirement.   

[LeftA]

@AnxietyFly , thanks for dropping by and that feedback!

I can’t wait until I’m in the same situation. It will be in 2023!