extra principal payments? (mortgage)

[greenskeeper]

How many of us make extra principal payments every month to OWN our home sooner?

[twest]

We pay extra on our mortgage. We paid extra on our first mortgage and paid off the house in 4 years so we are firm believers in paying extra on any debt we have. Interested to see what others are doing.

[disneysteve]

I voted yes, because I do, but if the question is 'should you?', the answer is really - it depends. For the average person, I'd say no because the average person doesn't have all of their other financial needs in order - emergency fund, retirement savings, college savings, other debt repaid, etc. I think all of that stuff should be taken care of before putting extra toward the mortgage.

[maat55]

I'm currently doing a refi. My payment will drop 133.00 per month on a 15 year note. Had I refied to a 10 year note my payment would have been 1054.00(303.00 difference). I'm going to take that 303 and invest it, then payoff my house whenever this investment will payoff the house, which I hope will be sooner than ten years.

[photo]

When we had a mortgage, we did, and it saved us thousands of dollars. It's been about a decade since the mortgage was paid off, so I don't remember the precise figures, but we had the mortgage for about 8 years, I think.

[MonkeyMama]

I currently am, but certainly have not always. (Pretty much never, the first 12 years). Paying off a mortgage ASAP is great, but I have had other priorities (financial and otherwise).

Our goal has always been to be mortgage-free by age 45. (Well, that's the plan since having kids and cutting our income in half). Is very likely we can beat this goal if my spouse re-enters the workforce. Then, we'd probably just pay it off in a few years and be done. I suppose I believe in hitting it hard if it can be done fast, but not so smart if it still takes decades (which is where we are at on one income).

[GREENBACK]

I don't and won't as long as I can borrow at 4%. If the interest rate was higher I likely would pay extra.

[Frugal]

If we had enough to make any extra payments right now, I most certainly would! I am making extra payments on my student loans in the same vein.

[feh]

We did, when we had a mortgage.

[Redraidernurse]

I am unsure if this would benefit us. We have 13 years left on our mortgage but plan to have more children (currently have 1 with 1 on the way) and see ourselves in a bigger home in 5 years. We could comfortably pay extra on principle now but should we since we see ourselves moving in 5 years? Our interest rate is 4.8% ( I believe) on 68,000 mortgage.

[bjl584]

I used to pay an extra $100 a month on mine. I had a 15 yr note, and many say not to pay extra on a 15yr loan, but my other debts and investments were in order, so I did. It worked out to 2 extra payments a year.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Nope can't afford to and save for other things period. We're saving for retirement and paying bills and saving for a newer car, paying off newly purchased car, college, so mortgage is low on the totem pole. Maybe in 10 years. For now we just have a lot of bills and growing our income.

[krantcents]

I am making extra principal payments to pay off my mortgage to coincide with retirement.

[greenskeeper]

interesting that the majority of us that responded to make extra payments.

Even the smallest amount ($100/month) can takes years off the note and save thousands in interest.

[humandraydel]

Even the smallest amount ($100/month) can takes years off the note and save thousands in interest.

Well, if the choice is to spend $100 per month or pay extra on the mortgage, the choice is clear. If the choice is mortgage vs invest, the choice is not as easy.