Author Topic: Mortgage Payoff Club!!  (Read 1141032 times)

FunkyStickman

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #250 on: November 18, 2014, 08:01:53 AM »
My hours got cut back at work, it will end up costing me about $600 a month, which is what we were using to pay off the mortgage. Will probably put my Christmas bonus on it, and most if not all of my tax return. So still not doing badly, but kind of irritated I have to push it back a few months.

Current balance is $64K.

jrhampt

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #251 on: November 18, 2014, 11:16:40 AM »
Mortgage mutilated.  Struck the final death blow last week - totally debt free.

Amazing! Congrats!

I hope to be in your shoes in 4.5 years :)

Thanks!  Took us just over 6 years; still can't believe it's all gone.

serious_pete

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #252 on: November 20, 2014, 12:56:10 PM »
I'm in! £122,000 left to go on a £128,000 mortgage. Interest rate set at 4.99% So far made a grand total of £1000 overpayments so got quite a way to go. The plan is to overpay by £500 per month to start with and change mortgage deal in December.

Now down to £116,500 and interest rate is now down to 3.09% as of January. Still working on 500 overpay per month. Slow but steady!

frizzywhiskers

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #253 on: November 20, 2014, 07:44:04 PM »
I'm in on this mission, super excited and focused on getting this done as soon as possible.  Both my husband and I are feeling done with the 9 to 5 world.  Been at it for over 20 years and are ready for a new focus.  Being mortgage free will give us the freedom to choose what we want to do with our time.  Going to hang on in the corporate world until this baby is gone!

Purchased a new home in September 2013 for $655,000 (no judging - it's expensive where I live!)

- Starting mortgage = $435,000, 5 year term @ 3.26% (starting Sept. 30, 2013)
- Making weekly payments of $800
- Goal:  Make additional payments averaging $2700 a month = $32,400/yr.
- Realistic Mortgage Free Date:  March 2020
- Long Shot Mortgage Free Date:  September 2018 - the end of our current 5 year term.  Depending on bonuses received over the next few years and staying focused on the budget we actually have a shot at making this happen.

- Current Mortgage:  $407,500

And go.........!

Update on this mortgage payoff madness!

- 3 years 10 months left on term @ 3.26%
- Increased weekly payments to $900
- Revised monthly payment increase goal to $2333 a month = $28,000/yr (reduced due to increase monthly payment)
- Still shooting for Long Shot Mortgage Free Date:  September 2018 - the end of our current 5 year term.  Depending on bonuses received over the next few years and staying focused on the budget we actually have a shot at making this happen.

- Current Mortgage:  $394,537.49
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 07:46:04 PM by frizzywhiskers »

Neustache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #254 on: November 21, 2014, 06:20:25 AM »
I'm so happy for you all!  I've had to take a break due to some major house repairs (foundation !!! and new roof on the rental) so I probably won't be able to do much for the next 8 months or so.  Just wanted to say "Congrats!" to those making progress and a "WOOOOOT" to those paying off their mortgages.  So cool!

Neustache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #255 on: November 21, 2014, 07:28:58 AM »
Nice!  Our kids will know about our payoff, too, and we plan to cement it in their minds with a WDW trip.  I want them to forever remember going to WDW as a result of "Mom and Dad paid off their mortgage" which will make the trip very special for us and hopefully they'll assume that paying off a mortgage with young kids is just what people do.  :D

 (no face punches, please, I intend on making this celebration trip as mustachian as possible by utilizing points/card churning when it happens!)

Neustache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #256 on: November 21, 2014, 08:14:55 AM »
LOL!  Are you millionaires?  If not, I think you will be in short order!

mnsaver

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #257 on: November 23, 2014, 08:07:39 PM »
Hello,

   I'm a new member and have been mostly frugal my entire life. I'd working on stepping up my game. I bought a condo in July and want it paid off in now less than 20 years (can probably do 15)

Starting date Sept 2014 Age 34 108750 (I put 25% down)
payment is 534 per month, paying an extra 66 + toward principle each month
due to my parents giving me money has a housewarming present + OT mortgage is currently 107,000
payoff date has gone from 8/1/44 to 12/1/43. Will pay an extra 250 next month.

At my job I regularly have OT and I save 40% of that in a separate fund to eventually pay off my condo. Due to health issues and the fact that I'm single I feel better with a larger emergency fund. I would like it to be about 2 years worth. Currently it is about 13 months worth. My goal for next year is to get it to 18 months + get balance of mortgage to less then 102,000.

Currently contribute 7% for 401K (and my employer gives a 6% match!) I have about 80,000 in retirement funds.

shusherstache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #258 on: December 01, 2014, 06:33:04 PM »
We're down to 16 and some change.

I was sitting there tonight writing the check to physically take to my mortgage provider (they have mucked up every payment I have ever mailed in) and I finally decided I'm tired of it.  We get no deduction next year on our mortgage interest and so we have decided to bite the bullet and knock the last barnacle off.  Waiting on the payoff amount to show up tomorrow and then the check's on the way.  (Or, delivered in person, more likely.)

jordanread

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #259 on: December 03, 2014, 06:40:09 AM »
We're down to 16 and some change.

I was sitting there tonight writing the check to physically take to my mortgage provider (they have mucked up every payment I have ever mailed in) and I finally decided I'm tired of it.  We get no deduction next year on our mortgage interest and so we have decided to bite the bullet and knock the last barnacle off.  Waiting on the payoff amount to show up tomorrow and then the check's on the way.  (Or, delivered in person, more likely.)

When you do deliver it in person, I must insist that you do something like this:


medinaj2160

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #260 on: December 03, 2014, 05:33:55 PM »
We are in as well :)

Me 28 and my wife 29 purchased our first and last home June 2012.

Value of our home according to Zillow 180K. We only paid 126K since it was a foreclosure and have a 30 year mortgage at 3.75%.
 
As of today we own $64,385.

Payoff goal: March 2015

My reason for paying the house fast is peace of mind because you never know what the future will hold.

New balance: $59,980

I miss judged my tax withholdings so I am not going to be able to pay as much on my mortgage next month :/

New balance: $55,556

little by little

New Balance: $51,171

New balance: $47270

New balance: $43,868

Me and my wife changed our 401k contributions to max them out; there for principal payments for the rest of the year will be way smaller.

New balance: $42750.

Sold one of my cars and decided to send some money to the house.

New balance: $32750.

The goal is to pay the mortgage completely before I turn 30 in January... It is going to be difficult.

New balance: $28,050

Omg so close, I probably own less money on my house than my coworkers paid for their cars lol.

Update time :)

New balance: $23,100

New balance: $15,560

:) so close... I can't wait.

New balance: $10,550

New balance: $9,035

Finally in the 4 digits :) ... I think that I should be able to pay the house completely in January before turning 30 if everything goes well.

Will see what happens....

New balance: $6,011

So close....

Primm

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #261 on: December 04, 2014, 03:20:51 AM »
Oooh, so so SO close!

Alfred J Quack

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #262 on: December 04, 2014, 12:50:15 PM »
Mortgage mutilated.  Struck the final death blow last week - totally debt free.

Awesome!! Congrats!~!

It's almost January which means I can pick up again. Saved up a bunch too so I'll probably schedule a payment to clear on the 2nd of jan! Current balance is just under 53k, on the 2nd of january it'll be 49k hopefully, jay \o/

BBub

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #263 on: December 05, 2014, 02:11:01 PM »
Joining to follow.  Current mortgage 15yr $112k @ 3.625%.  Not paying real aggressively as it's our only remaining debt, and our main focus is building the stash for the time being.  But I'm all about some debt payoff - spreadsheets be damned.  Once I hit a certain number in assets I will put every next cent into annihilating the mortgage.  My current projections place me on schedule to simultaneously hit my FI number and achieve pay off in 8 yrs. But I may pivot mid-course and decide to curb stomp the mortgage.  Who knows.  For now I'm just coming out of lurker status on this thread & will periodically post numbers and congrats going forward.

jordanread

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #264 on: December 05, 2014, 05:13:05 PM »
Our goal was $150k by Dec 2014. In Nov we were at $156k.

Yesterday we brought it down to $149k! We met our goal, and are actually going to bring it down to hopefully $145 (or even less!) in the next month.

I am so pleased that our determined efforts are making such a difference. Our ~4 year goal is within reach, for sure!

Congrats to medinaj2160 and shusherstache! great job!

Damn!!! A $148,855 payment in the next month? I hope you have a really high interest rate, otherwise it doesn't seem worth it. :P

shusherstache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #265 on: December 08, 2014, 07:03:04 PM »
So we walked in to our CU on Saturday and sent off the death blow via wire transfer.  I still don't trust the mortgage company to acknowledge receipt of the transfer nor apply it correctly to our account as they have yet to do anything correctly in the two years since they bought our mortgage, so I'm waiting until Wednesday and then giving them a call. 

On the other hand, it feels awesomely freeing to have no debt to anyone in the world.

hdatontodo

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #266 on: December 08, 2014, 07:27:11 PM »
So we walked in to our CU on Saturday and sent off the death blow via wire transfer.  I still don't trust the mortgage company to acknowledge receipt of the transfer nor apply it correctly to our account as they have yet to do anything correctly in the two years since they bought our mortgage, so I'm waiting until Wednesday and then giving them a call. 

On the other hand, it feels awesomely freeing to have no debt to anyone in the world.

That must feel great. Congratulations.

We've gone from $166K to $99K in 2014. For my plan to work, for a payoff at the end of 2016, the Mrs and I have to manage to pay off $50K/year, via a monthly extra principal payment plus a $10K single payment each year. My job is on very shakey ground, and if it goes away when I'm in my mid-50's, we'll have to switch back to normal payments for more years than that.

Money Badger

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #267 on: December 09, 2014, 08:13:12 PM »
Hi all!   Loving the thread and what it means to be able to stop being "owned" by the bank!    Mrs. Indentured and I have the goal of payoff in 5 years on a $249k mortgage without gutting our current stash.    Big challenge for sure but have the kids college accounts already funded and just made the Baddass moves to eliminate the easy list of stupid expenses other debt and free up cash flow.    The goal is to apply chunks from annual bonuses these years totalling of $75k PLUS $40k a year in principal from investments and salary.   Right now, I only know how to make half of that amount happen...   Dont care though because this community can make it happen!

birdman2003

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #268 on: December 13, 2014, 03:17:46 AM »
My original mortgage was for $70k in 2012 (15 years @ fixed 3%) and now I think the principal balance is somewhere around $65k.  Obviously I have never made extra payments.  I think I will do that next year as I have extra monies not spoken for!

Thanks for the jumpstart to do this!

Davids

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #269 on: December 13, 2014, 07:39:04 AM »
Update from me is I am at $119,900. My goal was to be at $120K by year end and I threw in an extra $100 just to purposely beat it.

WynnDuffy73

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #270 on: December 13, 2014, 10:28:47 AM »
I'm going to implement a slightly different mortgage payoff strategy.

My goal is to have liquid assets greater than my mortgage balance within the next 16 months.

Our mortgage balance is currently $171k and our liquid(non retirement) assets are currently $112k.

Once I hit that tipping point in 16 months i will make the final decision whether to retire the mortgage and become completely debt free.  Just the thought of being completely debt free within 16 months is already providing incredible peace of mind. 

We have a double income family and once the mortgage is gone in 16 months only one income will be needed essentially forever.  Next up after that will be complete financial independence.

brooklynmoney

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #271 on: December 14, 2014, 02:49:24 PM »
WynnDuffy73 -- I did that last year. It felt good to get to the point that if I need to I can pay off the mortgage. I would have almost nothing left in my taxable accounts, but still a decent sized stache in retirement accounts.

JD_

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #272 on: December 17, 2014, 12:06:56 PM »
Update: Just made our final additional payment for 2014 of $3k.  Balance is now $172.6 ($250k starting).  Shooting for $130k by end of 2015!

-JD

McGeens

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #273 on: December 18, 2014, 05:11:29 AM »
We're in this club and incredibly excited that 2015 should be our last year with a mortgage- yippee! We started owing $230k in 2008 and currently owe $57k. With a big effort this will be cleared by dec '15. We're a 1.5 income family with two young kids, so really happy to be on the path to FI once it's cleared. Incidentally, we're in Australia and the house value is now $450k+, which still feels like Monopoly money to me!

Money Badger

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #274 on: December 18, 2014, 06:44:55 PM »
Mrs. Indentured and I have the goal of payoff in 5 years on a $249k mortgage without gutting our current stash. 
Baby step here so humor me and treat me like I just walked for the first time...

Balance was actually just under $250K.   Now under $248,500 with this payment.   Mulling a chunk payment depending on annual bonus (maybe?)

mnsaver

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #275 on: December 19, 2014, 07:54:59 PM »
Hello,

   I'm a new member and have been mostly frugal my entire life. I'd working on stepping up my game. I bought a condo in July and want it paid off in now less than 20 years (can probably do 15)

Starting date Sept 2014 Age 34 108750 (I put 25% down)
payment is 534 per month, paying an extra 66 + toward principle each month
due to my parents giving me money has a housewarming present + OT mortgage is currently 107,000
payoff date has gone from 8/1/44 to 12/1/43. Will pay an extra 250 next month.

At my job I regularly have OT and I save 40% of that in a separate fund to eventually pay off my condo. Due to health issues and the fact that I'm single I feel better with a larger emergency fund. I would like it to be about 2 years worth. Currently it is about 13 months worth. My goal for next year is to get it to 18 months + get balance of mortgage to less then 102,000.

Currently contribute 7% for 401K (and my employer gives a 6% match!) I have about 80,000 in retirement funds.

Mortgage balance is currently 10653.98 and payoff date (assuming no extra payments) is 10/1/43. I was offered and accepted a promotion to another department. It comes with a 10% raise! It is close enough that I will walk and can drop my bus pass (currently 76 a month. I will have 20 put on a stored value card. This will be 80% of my transportation costs)

This department doesn't have much OT but the raise is more then I've ever made in OT. I can spend some of my free time working on some of the computer skills to improve my prospects for future promotions :)

I'll be able up my 401k to 10%. For the first year at least my plan is to put all of my raise in saving so give myself an extra cushion.

frizzywhiskers

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #276 on: December 20, 2014, 09:00:42 AM »
I'm in on this mission, super excited and focused on getting this done as soon as possible.  Both my husband and I are feeling done with the 9 to 5 world.  Been at it for over 20 years and are ready for a new focus.  Being mortgage free will give us the freedom to choose what we want to do with our time.  Going to hang on in the corporate world until this baby is gone!

Purchased a new home in September 2013 for $655,000 (no judging - it's expensive where I live!)

- Starting mortgage = $435,000, 5 year term @ 3.26% (starting Sept. 30, 2013)
- Making weekly payments of $800
- Goal:  Make additional payments averaging $2700 a month = $32,400/yr.
- Realistic Mortgage Free Date:  March 2020
- Long Shot Mortgage Free Date:  September 2018 - the end of our current 5 year term.  Depending on bonuses received over the next few years and staying focused on the budget we actually have a shot at making this happen.

- Current Mortgage:  $407,500

And go.........!

Update on this mortgage payoff madness!

- 3 years 10 months left on term @ 3.26%
- Increased weekly payments to $900
- Revised monthly payment increase goal to $2333 a month = $28,000/yr (reduced due to increase monthly payment)
- Still shooting for Long Shot Mortgage Free Date:  September 2018 - the end of our current 5 year term.  Depending on bonuses received over the next few years and staying focused on the budget we actually have a shot at making this happen.

- Current Mortgage:  $394,537.49

End of the year update:

Mortgage amount as of December 25, 2014:  $380,819.42  Making some great progress!

Goal for 2015 - to break the $300's and get into the 200's!

FunkyStickman

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #277 on: December 23, 2014, 06:57:24 AM »
End of year report:
Started the year with a principal balance of $72,206 (started with $81,900 seven years ago and have gotten it down to $62,973.

I have knocked my principal down about as much in one year as I did the previous six.

Here's to early retirement, folks. Happy new year!

APowers

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #278 on: December 25, 2014, 11:38:46 AM »
Started 4.5 years ago:

$68,800
3%

Minimum payment = 290.06

We started out paying the exact amount, and after a while we decided to just pay an even 300. After a while we decided we didn't want to be paying this for 30 years, so we dumped about $16k from savings into it (leaving us with about $8-10k in the bank). After that, we upped our payment to $750, and a couple months later we bumped it to an even $800-- which has been our payment for the last 3 years.

There's $22,512 remaining at this point (we already paid for December). We've got $18k saved up and should be able to squirrel away enough to match the balance remaining by February or March of 2015. I will be extremely happy once that payment is gone. Without having to pay the mortgage, our monthly expenses will be $1,100 or less, and I will be able to quit my soul-sucking job, and will be able to handily pay the bills, save a good bit, and have a bunch of free time to be productive in other income-producing areas that aren't (bad)stressful. Also to not be working 7 days/week will be very restful.

NEMPLS

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #279 on: December 27, 2014, 03:52:00 PM »
11 months left! Last payment December 2014. No plans to pay it off any earlier now that we are paying about 95% principal on our monthly payments.

As a back story; 14 years ago we sold our previous 3,000 SF home to purchase a 1,500 SF home in order to lower our payments, Because of downsizing we halved the total amount we owed just by selling and moving. Our payment went down by a third, our utilities went down by half, our taxes went down by 60% per year (old house $7,600 year current house 3,100 per year), our yearly up keep went down by a third. The math on how much we saved in housing related costs is staggering.

We were going to take most of the cash that we made from the sale and bank it but the closing paperwork got messed up and we ended up paying our current house down to a 18 year mortgage just so we could close that day (it was the single best thing that could have happened). We have refinanced twice over the past 14 years using no cost refinancing to lower our payments and then payed a little extra each year to bring our time down from 18 years to 14 years while saving a bit in interest.

The best news is that we invested ALL of the money saved by downsizing into mutual funds and are now thinking of retiring soon or at least working part time.

ontario74

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #280 on: December 27, 2014, 06:13:56 PM »
Project pay off year: 2020, right before my child goes to university

135K to go, with 7K in extra payments yearly

medinaj2160

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #281 on: January 03, 2015, 07:26:22 AM »
We are in as well :)

Me 28 and my wife 29 purchased our first and last home June 2012.

Value of our home according to Zillow 180K. We only paid 126K since it was a foreclosure and have a 30 year mortgage at 3.75%.
 
As of today we own $64,385.

Payoff goal: March 2015

My reason for paying the house fast is peace of mind because you never know what the future will hold.

New balance: $59,980

I miss judged my tax withholdings so I am not going to be able to pay as much on my mortgage next month :/

New balance: $55,556

little by little

New Balance: $51,171

New balance: $47270

New balance: $43,868

Me and my wife changed our 401k contributions to max them out; there for principal payments for the rest of the year will be way smaller.

New balance: $42750.

Sold one of my cars and decided to send some money to the house.

New balance: $32750.

The goal is to pay the mortgage completely before I turn 30 in January... It is going to be difficult.

New balance: $28,050

Omg so close, I probably own less money on my house than my coworkers paid for their cars lol.

Update time :)

New balance: $23,100

New balance: $15,560

:) so close... I can't wait.

New balance: $10,550

New balance: $9,035

Finally in the 4 digits :) ... I think that I should be able to pay the house completely in January before turning 30 if everything goes well.

Will see what happens....

New balance: $6,011

So close....

New balance: PAID IN FULL

Sorry guys we are out of the club lol...

Thanks for all the encouragement; it feels great to be done.

Good luck to everyone in the club, every little counts

Groovin Old Hippie

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #282 on: January 03, 2015, 05:38:10 PM »
Medinaj2160 - Whoo hoo!!!  Congratulations on "graduating" from the club!  Such an incredible job.  You are so inspiring to us.  We are just joining today.

Our starting balance January 1, 2015: $26,881
Payoff goal date:  December 2015

It will be super tight for us to reach our goal but we are going to throw every extra penny at this thing.  My husband is 61 and he wants to retire!  We're looking forward to all of the support this group offers  :)


Money Badger

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #283 on: January 04, 2015, 08:08:24 AM »
@medinaj...,   Congratulations!!!!  You now get to start the "Paid off the mortgage, now what?!" thread where you brag about increasing passive income with your freed-up active income!   :)

Peacefulwarrior

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #284 on: January 06, 2015, 01:17:31 PM »
Sorry, but unless you have a monstrously large stash, I think this is a poor investment decision. Borrow at 3.5% fixed for 30years. Put the overpayments into the sp500, et al.

If this was such a great idea, don't you think the banks would put all their money into S&P500 instead of lending it to you?

tomsang

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #285 on: January 06, 2015, 05:43:09 PM »
Sorry, but unless you have a monstrously large stash, I think this is a poor investment decision. Borrow at 3.5% fixed for 30years. Put the overpayments into the sp500, et al.

If this was such a great idea, don't you think the banks would put all their money into S&P500 instead of lending it to you?

In the US Banks are regulated on the amount of money that they have in each investment bucket.  The reason that they make great money is that they can borrow from the government and depositors at a rate of 10+ times equity.  If they took the money, then the government would not allow them to be as leveraged, which would eat into their profits.

h2ogal

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #286 on: January 06, 2015, 08:06:35 PM »
We paid off our mortgage recently. I agree that it may not be the highest returning investment, but for us the feeling of security and freedom was worth it. 

We would not feel comfortable 'retiring' with an outstanding mortgage.

Maybe you can consider it as a sort of diversification.....if the stock market goes way down, at least you have very low expenses!


Alfred J Quack

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #287 on: January 07, 2015, 12:29:41 PM »
New balance: PAID IN FULL

Sorry guys we are out of the club lol...

Thanks for all the encouragement; it feels great to be done.

Good luck to everyone in the club, every little counts

Wow, that's some awesome progress and a killer ending too! Don't be a stranger though, alumni are always welcome ;)

Also did 6K on mine, 46.8K to go...

steveo

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #288 on: January 07, 2015, 01:11:04 PM »
We owe about 165k on the house at this point. The goal is to get it down to 100k this year and then pay it off within the following 2 years. Its the first step for us on our path to FI.

Still it feels so long to go.

I have just under 100k owing at this point. I'd like to pay it off by the end of next year.

We owe a little over 80k right now. I'd love to pay it off this year and its possible however we might not get there 100% spot on. If not it doesn't really matter because it will be done soon after that.

asauer

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #289 on: January 15, 2015, 12:32:51 PM »
In 2014 we paid down 70K on the mortgage.  Only 154K to go!  Hoping to pay off 80K in 2015- it's a big stretch but doable.

nora

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #290 on: January 16, 2015, 03:42:15 AM »
I am in. Intending to pay it all off in four years or less. This one is a big $600000 and 5.2% interest.

Down to 481544! Doing much better than I expected! So exciting.
Down to 354502. But interest rate is up to 6.25%!

Neustache

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #291 on: January 17, 2015, 08:04:21 AM »

Starting Mortgage:  123K
Current Balance: 122K



Just made my first extra payment of $1300...new mortgage balance is $119,800.00

Ahem....back on topic.

Made my August extra payment...new balance is........ $117,719.00   Woot!  Sent $1900 to the mortgage, plus Augusts regular payment.  Goal is to hit 80% LTV by my birthday in January. We shall see.


Okay, so not going to hit my original goal - had to pay cash for a roof replacement for our rental, plus my husband took up hunting ($$$) hopefully we can really be serious about this going forward.  And my hubby owes me..oh...like 10 deer before he can give up his new hobby. 

Current principal:  $113,199.00

Not terrible for having to shell out almost six grand in unplanned expenses.  My revised goal is to get this down to 80% by my next birthday, Jan 2016.  We have to pay for some foundation repairs to our current house, also, that's why I'm almost a year off of my original goal.

Money Badger

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #292 on: January 20, 2015, 08:30:10 PM »

[/quote]
Down to 354502. But interest rate is up to 6.25%!
[/quote]

That's fantastic progress over 18 months!   I didn't look back to 2013 for the backstory on your goal and situation so forgive my asking, but surely you can refi now to below 3% or so on another ARM with less than a 1 year payback?  Just not sure if the rate of paydown is going to be sustainable and with another 2 years in the plan or so, it could put 4-digit $ into your account if not 10digit $.

asauer

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #293 on: January 21, 2015, 07:11:59 AM »
We had a great 2014 with paying down the mortgage.  We went from 225k down to 155K.  We're hoping to get to get it down to 90k in 2015!

jordanread

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #294 on: January 23, 2015, 09:39:09 AM »
I guess I'm not asking an impartial audience, but curious if you guys could look at this as a mini case study.  I'm on the fence about whether to just attack the mortgage or not.

Info:
Personal: 25M, married
Take home pay: ~112k (about 40% comes quarterly)
Current Net worth (excluding home): ~215k
Purchase price, 8/2013: $275,000
Current mortgage rate: 3.5% @ 15 years (from March 2014, we refinanced already from 4.875)
Current balance: $196,000
Current home value: $280,000*
Monthly payment: $1960 (includes insurance, property tax and interest)

We currently round the monthly payment up to $2,000, so call our required payments $24,000 per year.  We have an additional $50,000 or so each year (hopefully increasing but you never know) to throw at this.  By my estimation we could pay it off by early to mid 2018.

Pros:
*Wife wants to do it.  Would love to be debt free (this is the only thing we owe)
*From the "heart" perspective I guess I would like it too.  I don't like the idea of being 40 with a mortgage, so I guess the logical extension is I don't like the idea of a continued one at all
*We will be purchasing the business we work at in 2019 or so.  Having low monthly expenses would reduce stress when making payments on that.  Now we should be making plenty of money at that point but it would be a hedge against a leaner year

Con:
Math

Other info:
We only live 3 miles away from work but wouldn't mind moving.  We love the house but neither of us are emotionally attached to it.  It's just the two of us and it's 2200 sq ft.  I wouldn't mind moving downtown (within walking distance of work) or just to a smaller place with less maintenance. Especially so when we purchase the business.  We will have kids at some point but have no immediate plans.

So what do you say?  Given the information above, would you pay off the mortgage or stay the 15 year course and invest the difference?




*Having a realtor friend giving me an estimate on this as she offered.

Well, Mr. Frugal Toque kind of agrees with the emotional value of paying it off. For me, I'm not paying mine off since it's so small, I have the 'cash' to do it immediately if I needed to, the interest rate is really low, I'm less risk averse, and don't get too emotional.

What I would do in your situation would be to start looking at moving. That would be a huge increase to the 'stache, and you could potentially use the cash from the sale to pay a new place in full. No mortgage, and no big dent in your current net worth. It might be a good compromise. The net worth numbers look good, the monthly costs go down, and you get all of that piece of mind mentioned in the article I linked. If that's not an option just yet, I'd try to sit down with your wife (well...not your wife), and put some numbers on the emotional value of it all. The emotional part of it all does have some non-direct financial impact. There have been some huge changes to people's health and budget just from the lack of slight stress it brings.

A caveat, though: $2000/month does kind of freak me out personally (for anything), especially with my goal of keeping costs low, so emotion might play a bigger role if I was in your situation...and I only make slightly less than you.

jordanread

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #295 on: January 23, 2015, 10:44:48 AM »

Well, Mr. Frugal Toque kind of agrees with the emotional value of paying it off. For me, I'm not paying mine off since it's so small, I have the 'cash' to do it immediately if I needed to, the interest rate is really low, I'm less risk averse, and don't get too emotional.

What I would do in your situation would be to start looking at moving. That would be a huge increase to the 'stache, and you could potentially use the cash from the sale to pay a new place in full. No mortgage, and no big dent in your current net worth. It might be a good compromise. The net worth numbers look good, the monthly costs go down, and you get all of that piece of mind mentioned in the article I linked. If that's not an option just yet, I'd try to sit down with your wife (well...not your wife), and put some numbers on the emotional value of it all. The emotional part of it all does have some non-direct financial impact. There have been some huge changes to people's health and budget just from the lack of slight stress it brings.

A caveat, though: $2000/month does kind of freak me out personally (for anything), especially with my goal of keeping costs low, so emotion might play a bigger role if I was in your situation...and I only make slightly less than you.

Thanks...I'd be open to moving but don't want to do anything rash.  We have only been in the home for 1.5 years.  Additionally, we got water after the thaw last spring.  I am worried we'd take a hit on the home even though we've mitigated the issue.  I figure going through a thaw with no issues would solve that issue.

Say we get 280 for the house.  After fees and closing costs I'm looking at what...255k?  So basically I walk away with about $60,000.  That's a good chunk of change but not enough to pay in cash for a new place. 

The 2k doesn't freak me out for now.  our monthly income is very stable and we get bonused each quarter.  Outside of our house and giving we spend about 27k per year.  Could definitely cut back but it isn't horrible.  Our base salaries would cover our house and living expenses with 0 changes, should our quarterly bonus go to 0.  That said, if the quarterly bonus is 0 it means the business isn't doing well, and we have bigger problems.  At that point we'd probably move to a new town with better job opportunities and sell the house anyway, eliminating said 2k/month payment.

I keep forgetting not everyone lives in the ghetto like me. Most of the houses around me are 900-1200ft2 and go for $50K-$90K. It sounds like you've thought it through, so I'll go with the last suggestion above (valuing the mortgage beyond purely monetary gain). Did you read the article I linked? I think MFT did a good job of really showing the ancillary benefits of paying off the mortgage. I've yet to sell a property, so I'm not that great at working those numbers out.

Lyngi

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #296 on: January 24, 2015, 12:28:59 PM »
Emotionally, I'd love to have a paid off house.  Been only reading MMM since September 2014 and have been cutting costs, small baby steps.   I kind of take a middle road, I max my 401K, max out my Roth, and pay $1000 to principal each month.  Set to be paid off in 2018, in time for DD to graduate high school.   

nora

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #297 on: January 29, 2015, 05:13:40 AM »

Down to 354502. But interest rate is up to 6.25%!
[/quote]

That's fantastic progress over 18 months!   I didn't look back to 2013 for the backstory on your goal and situation so forgive my asking, but surely you can refi now to below 3% or so on another ARM with less than a 1 year payback?  Just not sure if the rate of paydown is going to be sustainable and with another 2 years in the plan or so, it could put 4-digit $ into your account if not 10digit $.
[/quote]

I would love to refinance but the mortgage is on a property in New Zealand and it seems that rates there are going up :(   We live in Australia but I don't think I can get a mortgage here for an international property. But maybe I will ask..

KBecks2

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #298 on: January 29, 2015, 05:49:20 AM »
We made an extra principal payment of $1,536 in January.  Our balance is now $117,899.54. 

I am going to double check our contributions to retirement and kids' college accounts -- we want to save in multiple areas, but our surplus after those things will go to mortgage pay down.  It is slightly pleasing to see us under $120k.   

I am going to look at selling some stuff to make a few extra dollars to throw at the mortgage.

My aggressive goal is to have it done in 5 years, but we can flex a little, it may take longer  If we had gotten a 15 year at the start, our mortgage would be done by now.  But we refinanced a few times and now have 11 years on regular schedule left. 

I think my reasonable target should be a balance of $105,000 at the end of the year.  Stretch goal would be $100,000 at the end of the year.








eyePod

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Re: Mortgage Payoff Club!!
« Reply #299 on: January 29, 2015, 06:32:40 AM »
New balance: PAID IN FULL

Sorry guys we are out of the club lol...

Thanks for all the encouragement; it feels great to be done.

Good luck to everyone in the club, every little counts

Woohoo! Congrats!