Mortgage Payment Club $175K : Starting current balance of $150K-$199K

[YoungGranny]

Piggybacking off the other thread for people in the $100-149k range but increasing it for my situation.

4 months ago hubs and I got married and moved from my "starter" home into a much more permanent home. It's bittersweet because that mortgage was down to $110k and now we're up to $175k BUT we see ourselves in this new home for a long, long time. It's closer to work (I bike now, biking is cool), faces south and was very well built so our utilities have been 70% less this winter, it's in a better school district, closer to grocery stores, restaurants etc ie very walkable/bikeable. Basically we got to move into a community that better fits our needs for the long term.

Anyways enough rambling. Our goal is 4yrs 3months, starting at $176.2k today, who wants to race?

[YoungGranny]

Paying the mortgage today - have some extra money to throw at it this month which is super exciting.

Beg Bal: $176.2k
Principal Portion: Just shy of $5k
End Bal: $171.3k

[Highbeam]

We're at 190k left, 3%, 15 year started in January 2015. I have a payoff fund which is actually a taxable account at vanguard. It's up to about 170 and will hit 190 by fall. Depending on how you want to look at things I am 25k away from payoff or I may let it ride for 12 more years. Paying off the mortgage with accelerated payments never appealed to me since that money is locked up but you still have a monthly payment. There is also the option of dumping a large sum of money into it and having the mortgage "recast" to reduce the monthly payment. Hmmm. Options.

[YoungGranny]

Yea we thought about putting the extra money into a vanguard account and then paying it off once the balance was greater than our mortgage. The reason we didn't was because on a short time-frame of 4years there's a possibility the market would be in a low point when we wanted to pay it off. It seemed a bit too much like trying to time the market so we opted to increase our monthly payments instead. Since we feel like we have enough liquidity I'm not super worried about locking the money up but I could see why that's a factor for some. Best of luck with your decision!

[kapnfriday]

Beg Bal: $157,100
Principal Paid this month: $11,800
End Bal: $145,300

This is our mortgage on a 2nd home.  We refinanced in February to both get a lower rate and also switch to a lender that would allow additional payments online anytime we wanted to make them.  Prior lender did not have this capability. 

Our plan is to try and pay it off in 5 years.  Is it possible?  I don't know.  I do know that we won't be paying it down as quickly as this month's principal paid amount suggests.  This month we applied some excess from cash reserves in a money market and small taxable investment account, and also applied everything over $1,000 left in the checking account at the end of the month. 

We haven't made any changes to retirement account automatic contributions and are still on track to have about $1.1 - $1.2M in invested assets in ~9 years.  Hope to FIRE then and will likely sell both houses and pay cash for a farm somewhere. 

[YoungGranny]

Glad to have you join kapnfriday! Awesome progress this month paying down 5 digits of principal!!!! I'm sure if you keep at it you'll be free of it in 5 years or less. Is your first home already paid off?

We're also not changing our retirement contributions I think it's definitely worthwhile to max those out before paying down mortgage debt. Awesome FIRE goal, excited to watch your progress :)

[kapnfriday]

Thanks YoungGranny.  Our first home is not paid off and we don't plan to pay that off early.  If we only had one mortgage we would likely not pay that off for all the reasons that have been hashed and rehashed in numerous other threads.  But with two mortgages I feel like we need to make one go away as fast as possible. 

I do monthly charts as recommended in "Your Money or Your Life" and I made one for the 2nd home mortgage payoff.  I tried to attach it - hope it worked. It'll be fun to watch that line go down and down towards $0. 

[YoungGranny]

Very awesome, nice chart! I love visuals.

Yea we debated on paying down mortgage vs investing the difference and decided to do a weird hybrid. I KNOW it's better to put it in investments but my DH is willing to make further cuts to pay extra on the mortgage so I look at it as a win/win. It may not be the absolute best but it is diversifying our portfolio. Plus getting him to cut back on things for 4 years might make him realize we don't need them. Then we can really dump a lot towards investments :)

[YoungGranny]

Beginning balance: $171.3k
Principal: $9,300
Ending balance: $162.0k

We were saving for our upcoming vacation this summer but then realized my DH had enough points to cover our airfare and lodging. Dumped the extra money on our mortgage so that's why there's so much extra this month. Two really awesome pay-off months in a row but I know it won't be able to continue. Sadly, I don't just find an extra $4k every month.

[kapnfriday]

Nice work YoungGranny.

We had another good month too - and rather unexpectedly. 

Beginning balance: $145,300.00
Principal: $6,072.48
Ending balance: $139,227.52

We got our fed & state tax refund for a combined $2,000, and my wife got about $2,000 in longevity pay.  We also had a record low month in terms of non-mortgage expenses of about $2,000 total. 

I am also not expecting this level of payoff to continue.  Like you we just don't get an extra $4k every month. 

[runewell]

My 15-yr mortgage @ 2.625% started at $150,000 back in March 2013.
It is now $113,251.  That is because I am not going to throw a single extra penny at it. 
With rates like that, there is a much better likelihood that my money will get a higher rate of return in the stock market. 
 

[YoungGranny]

Nice job kapnfriday! If only we got an extra $4k a month think how quickly these darn things could be paid off!

runewell - Nice so you'll be done in about 11 years which isn't too shabby anyway :)

[YoungGranny]

Beginning balance: $162.0k
Principal: $5,000
Ending balance: $157.0k

Slowly just chugging away at it, nothing too exciting this month.

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $139,227
Principal: $2,192
Ending balance: $137,035

Going in the right direction anyway. 

YoungGranny - $5k this month is just chugging away at it and not too exciting?  I wish I was chugging and lacking excitement like you are :-)

[YoungGranny]

Nice job kapnfriday! Over $2k is definitely something to be proud of!

Now that you point it out I do feel a bit ridiculous for how I worded it lol....from my perspective we should be able to hit close to $5k of principal each month so I didn't feel like we did anything 'extra' this month. With a balance that large we're still looking at about 3 years to pay it off so kind of settling in for the long haul I suppose. But then I remind myself we're paying it off in 10% of the normal time and 3 years suddenly doesn't seem incredibly long at all.

[kapnfriday]

3 years (or in my case 5) does seem like a long haul when it's all ahead of you, but think back to 3 years ago - 2014.  Does that seem like it was very long ago?  What were you doing then? 

We have an extensive photo collection on a flickr page that my wife keeps up and I look back on what we were doing 3,4,5 years ago and can't believe that much time has gone by since those events.  Funny how time passed doesn't seem as long as the same amount of time yet to pass. 

If you need something else to smile about just think of all the mortgage interest you're saving by paying off so quick. Tens of thousands of dollars you would have paid someone else for doing you a favor. 

[kapnfriday]

Updating for June:

Beginning balance: $137,035
Principal: $1,494
Ending balance: $135,541

June was a doozy in terms of unusual expenses all hitting at once.  I felt fortunate to have an extra $1k to throw at the cabin mortgage. 

[YoungGranny]

Beginning balance: $157.0k
Principal: $400
Ending balance: $156.6k

The opportunity to grow our real estate business came up so we've shifted our priorities to come up with the down payment for that. We'll probably be paying off our main residence much slower now but still on the right path in the long haul. We both still want to pay it off early.... we want to FIRE In 7 years and don't want a mortgage at that point if possible. So anyways I'm gonna stick around here and see what happens :)

[StarBright]

Hi All,

Hope you don't mind if I jump in, but I find these gauntlet threads so helpful to look at when I'm in autopilot mode.

Mortgage Start October 2016: $165,375
August 2017: $158, 064

We're aiming to pay $400 extra towards the principal a month right now (paying off a 30 year as if it were a 15 year), but daycare costs for oldest child are ending next month so who knows?

[YoungGranny]

The more the merrier StarBright! I'm sure it'll be nice to have that extra money from daycare cost back in your stache each month!

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $135,541
Principal: $2,504
Ending balance: $133,037

July spending was mostly back to normal after a crazy June so there was more money left over to throw at the cabin mortgage.

[Fomerly known as something]

I'm jumping in.

Beginning balance on 8/25/17 will be $200,000 even. 

I've just been moved for work and instead buying in cash as I received more equity from my previous house than my soon to be new one cost I'm taking out a 30 year mortgage and investing about $300,000 instead.  The money will be handled a bit more conservatively than I had previously invested but all dividends will be applied to extra principle on mortgage, additionally I'll be adding at a minimum about $750 a month in extra principle payments at least in the beginning.  At any time I "might" just pay the whole thing off or I may stop extra payments depending.  A lot of it depends on if I decide I have enough to FIRE before my current 2025 plan.  I will lump sum pay off the remainder in 2025.

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $133,037
Principal: $3212
Ending balance: $129,825

[YoungGranny]

Beginning balance: $156.6k
Principal: $1,500
Ending balance: $155.1k


Very slowly chipping away at the mortgage right now. Our plan is to acquire more properties then start paying off the mortgages more aggressively. After we have our full real estate portfolio and it's paid off we can easily 'retire' on the cash flow alone. Our primary house has the lowest mortgage rate right now so it's taken a firm position in the backseat. I'll still update from time to time; mostly because I love seeing everyone else's progress!!

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $129,825
Principal paid in September and October: $3446
Ending balance: $126,379

We've brought the cabin mortgage down by $30,721 over the first 9-months of our 5-year plan to pay it off. I guess that sounds like progress, but it sure seems slow.

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $126,379
Principal paid in November: $3484
Ending balance: $122,895

Making the extra payments and updating my charts every month has become addicting.

Full November expense report is now up on my site.

[kapnfriday]

Been pretty quiet in here, but I'm still at it. 

Beginning balance: $122,895
Principal paid in December: $2545
Ending balance: $120,350

[YoungGranny]

You are killing it @kapnfriday  - we've been slow and steady as we've re-adjusted our priorities so paying down the mortgage aggressively isn't our #1 focus right now.

Beginning Balance: $155.1k
Principal paid in Q3: $1,300
Ending Balance: $153.8k

We are on track to FIRE in ~5yrs and don't want to hold a mortgage after that. Right now we'll likely do a lump-sum in a few years but who knows we might chip away at it some more this year if we meet our other goals.

[kapnfriday]

YoungGranny,

You, my friend, are the one who is killing it.  I noticed you too recently joined the race from $500k to $1M thread.  I just stepped up to that thread at the end of December.

If you are really only 27 then I have some news that I hope will make your day, and that is that I am exactly 20 years older than you.   

We're in the same neighborhood in terms of mortgage payoff, years to FIRE, and invested assets, but you've still got two decades before you reach my age! 

Well done and keep it up.

[YoungGranny]

Thank you kapnfriday you're so kind! I've been fortunate enough to make a high income at a young age so I'm just trying to not screw it up :)

[kapnfriday]

Even if you do screw it up - and I don't think you will - you have time to recover.

I read some of your journal and finally understand your user name. Wish I was brave enough to get into real estate like you guys have.

KF

[kapnfriday]

Still chipping away at it.

Beginning balance: $120,350
Principal paid in December: $2,053
Ending balance: $118,297

We reached a turning point in January with our regular monthly mortgage payment. We finally hit that point where more of our regular payment started going to principal than to interest + escrow. More details on turning that corner here: https://www.thegrayingsaver.com/we-have-turned-a-corner/

We're 11 months into our 5 year (or less) journey to pay off the cabin and have brought the mortgage down by $38,802 in that time. More details on that process here: https://www.thegrayingsaver.com/cabin-payoff/

[YoungGranny]

Keep it up @kapnfriday!!! You're on track to have that cabin paid off in no time :)

[Need2Save]

Hi y'all.  I've been patiently waiting until our balance was under $200k so I could join you fine people on this thread to maintain focus.  We are now sitting at $197,800.  Our plan is to pay this remaining balance off within 3 years.  Last year we paid over $64,000 in principal (around $6,400 in interest), so very excited that we are now under $200k. This should be a little higher in 2018 due to the decreasing interest component with identical payment strategies.

We do pay extra monthly, plus devote a little extra in our 3-check months and from annual bonuses.

[kapnfriday]

Welcome aboard Need2Save. You guys aren't wasting any time getting that mortgage paid off. $64k in principal in one year is fantastic.

Looking forward to keeping tabs on your progress.

[Livethedream]

Just trying to keep some support going after all the Debbie downers say pay it off slow.

$187k loan 10/2016

Current balance $139k. Getting ready to throw a big chunk $40-50k once taxes are complete.

Our goal is before July 2020

Encouraging to see the great progress you guys are making.

[Need2Save]

Thank you for the warm welcomes to the thread!

February payment cleared.  New balance is $193,335

March should be a good one with some extra money to throw at the balance as planned from annual bonuses and extra check month! It's my favorite month of the year.

[kapnfriday]

February was a good month for paying down a mortgage:

Beginning balance: $118,297
Principal paid in February: $4,259 (includes $2,000 from tax returns)
Ending balance: $114,037

It's been a year since we started on the journey to paying off our cabin. In that time we've brought the mortgage down by $43,063. More pictures of our cabin and thoughts on the process here:
https://www.thegrayingsaver.com/43063-or-year-1-of-the-cabin-payoff-adventure/

[Need2Save]

Very exciting month for us here!  Just paid down $12,964.00 including regular monthly payment and extra funds from annual bonuses and our extra check in March (3 checks instead of 2 this month). For the first time in 4 years the bank handled our large payment correctly the first time and I didn't have to call to get them to apply the majority to principal!

Balance now: $180,370!!

[kapnfriday]

We kept the momentum going in March. The debt snowball continues to roll downhill:

Beginning balance: $114,037
Principal paid in February: $3,222
Ending balance: $110,815

I've started making additional payments any time I receive a little extra cash either from selling stuff or getting FSA reimbursements. Whenever extra cash comes in I round it up to the next $10 or $100. This process accounted for an extra $650 paid toward the mortgage in March.

[YoungGranny]

Awesome job @kapnfriday and @Need2Save! You're both making enormous progress this year; those mortgages will be gone before you know it =]

[Need2Save]

A lot less exciting this month, but our new balance is down to $175,875 (around $4,500 in principal paid this month).

[kapnfriday]

Beginning balance: $110,814
Principal paid in February: $2,759
Ending balance: $108,055

Inching closer to that below $100k milestone.

[Need2Save]

New balance: $171,374 (another $4,500 principal paid off in May).

[Need2Save]

June payment cleared. Another $4,513 bites the dust. New balance: $166,860

Another 4 months to go before we dip under $150K -- But our eye is on the prize!

[kapnfriday]

Need2Save - looks like you're killing it. Awesome stuff.

We're still above the $100k mark at $103,560 as of the end of July. The cabin mortgage is putting up some resistance, but it will die.

[Nederstash]

Whoo such inspiration in this thread!! Keep it going, guys!
 
My current balace is 195.1k (euro) and with some luck, I'll be able to drop 10k this year. 9k is probably a better bet. I really want to get this snowball rolling! My salary will increase but that will also put me in the 52% tax bracket... which means the increase will not be big. Other side of the medallion: I can deduct my mortgage interest in that same tax bracket so it's not all bad.

I wish I could drop 2-5k a month on my mortgage like some people here, but my reality is closer to 1k a month. Still, that's 12k extra a year on top of principle.

I've just checked; if I can make 10k a year, I'll be 4 years ahead on the mortgage.
EOY 2019: 6 years ahead
EOY 2020: 8 years ahead
EOY 2021: 10 years ahead
EOY 2022: 12 years ahead
EOY 2023: 14 years ahead
EOY 2024: 16 years ahead
EOY 2025: 18 years ahead

And then I should be able to pay it off early 2026, 11 years after starting and 19 years ahead of schedule. Of course I will try to increase the extra payments as time goes by, I'd really like to come in under 10 years.

I'm such a mega nerd for getting excited at this stuff.

[Need2Save]

Sitting at $162,336 now but sending a large payment in August with the extra part coming from our 'third extra check' this month (paid biweekly in U.S.)
Our annual property taxes did just go up around 10% and are now almost $8,000/year, so that kind of sucks and will take away from our progress over the next year as we have a fixed amount dedicated in our budget for mortgage each month and I'm not planning on adjusting it for the higher taxes.

[Need2Save]

Our bank always, always, always messes something up when we send more than double our normal monthly payment! Another reason to knock this puppy out as soon as possible.  Bottom line is the bank has FINALLY processed our August payment, but in the meantime - they sat on the payment for over a week and I was worried about missing the grace period for the 9/1 payment and being hit with some kind of late fee.  So I went ahead and sent in our 10/1 payment early as well to be sure there were no issues. 

So now, after 2 payments (including some extra for August) we are sitting at $150,556!! Yippee. I'm so happy to hit the $150k mark.

[kapnfriday]

Haven't updated in a while. At the end of September we finally crossed the $100k line and are now in 5-figure territory at $98,291.61. Feels good, but still feels like a long way to go. We're not at the halfway point yet. Still another $20k to go to get there. Hoping we can reach halfway ($78,550) before we reach the halfway point of our 5 year time frame. We're currently in month 20.