House Mortgage -- Countdown

[mo0n]

Land Loan principle as of 9/1: $50,250

Piece by piece...

[james.hendrickson]

Whittling this sucker down, slowly but surely. Current balance: $321,417.51.

[Randomsaver]

james, thanks for the question. My target is to bring it down to $59K by year-end. Though I would be very happy if I could get it down to $58K. I am targetting to payoff hopefully end of 2023.

Mortgage Balance Targets:
Jan 2019 $73K
Jan 2020 $59K
Jan 2021 $45K
Jan 2022 $31K
Jan 2023 $17K
Jan 2024 $ 3K

Looks like I'm ahead of my target. Or maybe my target was conservative.

My updated targets.

Jan 2021 $41K
Jan 2022 $27K
Jan 2023 $13K
Jan 2024 $ 0K

[Randomsaver]

because it is better than renting like we are doing right now...yes better to pay off but better to be able to buy in the first place...deposits over here are ridiculous...need around $20,000 plus just in fees on top of the deposit

You'll get there. I made a mistake of not meeting 20% DP to keep PMI out. Rent cheaply and save aggressively to get as close to 20% as possible. I say 10% is already a good D but not less than that.

[Randomsaver]

Mortgage Principal : $45K

[amarowsky]

*I should add. As a 33 y/o it is an amazing feeling to have some assets your value, and not own debt on them (no personal asset debt) makes it very easy to sleep. And enables me to take opportunities, risks, and experiences I normally (in the past) would have passed on due to time responsibility to work for someone else to pay for my things.

I'm not rich by any means. But the luxury of time, is a feeling of wealth that I have never felt until this little 7 month experiment. I'm enjoying it to it's maxxx for now. Because I know I "ought" to be working, and am ready to rejoin the workforce for a bit. Just though I should share that.... Get your hobbies NOW! so you're not lost when you're finally ready to hang up your shingle. The hobbies, friends, boundless entertainment, and family kept me UTTERLY occupied. Kinda a fun "preview" of me hopefully 10-15 years from now. When I'm at the point that: in any work/job decision I choose to make. The $$$ will be 2nd, 3rd, or even further on the list of "motivators to accept that job".

[amarowsky]

mumof2 ...why do you want a mortgage? Its way better to own your real estate free and clear, or even rent if the economics of the situation make sense.

I agree. This was a another milestone year for our R.E holdings. We paid off our primary residence back in 2018/Oct. I'm partner in 2 rental houses, paid off my share of one of them completely. I'm down to only owing 40k on the other, and plan to pay about half of it off shortly.

I been selling some stocks in my taxable account that seem to be overvalued.... (or I have already made, in my opinion "more than enough gains off the investment" and want to avoid greediness.....) And I figured it's a good time to finally "own all my sticks/bricks/earth" and start accepting the cash flows as income instead of paying off debt.

***Thankfully did all the above w/o touching any retirement. Currently I'm only employed part time (resigned in January, and haven't been able to find a job now that the pandemic broke out). But the DW is working full time, and we had paid off most of our remaining debt (the house n' cars) before I resigned. So now I just want to find a new full time job ( when the economy lets me....) so I can buy a new house to live in, and rent out our current one.

I can understand the extra leverage from keeping some $$$ on a mortgage. But in this climate.... w/ all the volatility.... you can't make the argument that it is "a bad idea" to fulfill the financial obligations on the things you already have custody of, but do not yet hold equitable title for.

I'm starting to feel more comfortable looking at my finances through the lenses of my grandparents (sometimes***** only). They preferred to save for what they wanted, and pay for it fully. I know our current economic mechanisms seem to promote the following: 1) Please do not save in an account, as there is no benefit because nearly 0% interest rate. 2) Yet again lowering the bar to get large mortgages through credit. <---- this seems to be a good recipe for growth. but it does not seem to be sustainable.... Letting everyone live 30 years of their lives on credit doesn't seem to wise.... I think it may benefit a lot of us to be more patient. Live at or ideally, well below our means, and save more to buy the things we want w/ little/no credit needed except for casual purchases. <---- just seems "safer" and less "riskY" but also slower growth/consumption.

[mumof2]

mumof2 ...why do you want a mortgage? Its way better to own your real estate free and clear, or even rent if the economics of the situation make sense.

because it is better than renting like we are doing right now...yes better to pay off but better to be able to buy in the first place...deposits over here are ridiculous...need around $20,000 plus just in fees on top of the deposit

[james.hendrickson]

some of us just wish we had a morg...one day

mumof2 ...why do you want a mortgage? Its way better to own your real estate free and clear, or even rent if the economics of the situation make sense.

[mumof2]

some of us just wish we had a morg...one day

[james.hendrickson]

Balance: $322,608.20.

Ratcheting down the number, slowly but surely.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

6/2017 100% Mortgage
8/2020 93.51% Left - paid 6.5%

I'm embarrassed by my mortgage so it's better this way.

[mo0n]

Land loan as of 7/1: $60,500
Land loan as of 8/1: $57,000

I've waited to start posting because I've only been chipping away at the loan incrementally, and have been saving all my extra cash in a sinking fund dedicated solely to the loan. That said, I got a pretty decent OT check this month, and pushed it towards the loan. My original plan was to have this paid off this year (with the help of selling a travel trailer), but I figured out if I stay on my course, it'll be paid off in May of 2021, and I can use the funds from a sold travel trailer to assist with building a house. Ohhh the possibilities.

[disneysteve]

With people working from home and doing their busiiness from home, I wonder if it is going to be a trend now for clients coming up to people's home office to transact business? Can people put business signage now in front of their homes, especially for sole proprietorrship/small LLCs. I'm thinking businesses like tax preparing, legal counselling, dentistry, financial advisory, etc.

That would be regulated by local zoning laws. I suspect most places won't allow that. If you have an HOA, there may even be rules against you running a business out of your home like that.

There are also insurance issues for anyone doing this. Your home owner's insurance probably won't cover incidents that occur in the course of conducting business in your home.

[Randomsaver]

With people working from home and doing their busiiness from home, I wonder if it is going to be a trend now for clients coming up to people's home office to transact business? Can people put business signage now in front of their homes, especially for sole proprietorrship/small LLCs. I'm thinking businesses like tax preparing, legal counselling, dentistry, financial advisory, etc.