House Mortgage -- Countdown

[Gailete]

Eeks that is 6 months of mortgage payment for us!

I can't even conceive of gutting a kitchen in a house that you just bought for $600K+! How old is the house or did a ninny design the kitchen? I love looking at house plans and it amazes me to see at times the biggest and if built most expensive houses have the worst kitchens. Even if they don't cook, for catered parties you need some spots for them to set up. Who is the cook in the family or do you both cook? I finally got my real dream kitchen for space and cupboards, right about the time I can barely cook anymore

[breathemusic]

Eeks that is 6 months of mortgage payment for us!

I can't even conceive of gutting a kitchen in a house that you just bought for $600K+! How old is the house or did a ninny design the kitchen? I love looking at house plans and it amazes me to see at times the biggest and if built most expensive houses have the worst kitchens. Even if they don't cook, for catered parties you need some spots for them to set up. Who is the cook in the family or do you both cook? I finally got my real dream kitchen for space and cupboards, right about the time I can barely cook anymore

Yeah... living in the DC area costs an arm and a leg

The house was only built in 1998, but the kitchen I swear looks straight out of the 70s-80s. And for as big as the house is, the kitchen is small and terribly laid out. We want to replace the cabinets, counters, and appliances, rip out part of the wrap around counter that makes the cooking area so small and put in an island that extends out into the eat-in kitchen area. We also want to blow out a wall that right now just has an arched opening into the living room so that the kitchen area will be completely open to the living room.

We bought the house for less than it appraised... but the kitchen remodel will definitely cost way more than that difference. But, I consider this to be my forever (or at least until I'm too dang old to maintain such a large house) home, so sinking the money into it is about making it my dream home, not worry about whether I'll recoup that in home value.

Luckily, most of the other changes we have made or want to make we can do ourselves (ripped out 1,000 sq feet of carpet on the second level and laid down the wood floors ourselves, will make patio and landscaping changes ourselves, etc.).

[Gailete]

So a ninny did esign the kitchen! It always helps when the person using the kitchen is the one designing it. We had the good forune since hubby was building the house that we could take the space that we wanted for our kitchen. One thing we did have to do was make sure that I could get in and out of the kitchen with a wheelchair. I'm not to that point yet, but since even one inch too small is bad it was good we had space to be sure the islands had the space to get around them. We even have a eating area on one side of the island that has never been used as so much of the downstairs is full of boxes and boxes of sewing patterns. It should be interesting some day to have those out of here if possible

[Randomsaver]

So after giving cut-off date yesterday 8pm on prospective buyers AND mulling over which offer to take the entire night and this morning, I have made my decision and accepted to me the best offer.

Let the process of closing begin!

[snafu]

Congratulations on offer and send best wishes that closing goes smoothly, without drama. I think you're early on your initial timeline.

[Mandy63]

Good job! Keep up the good work!

[Gailete]

I love my banks new website! I was able to go in a bypass the automatic transfer to an account that holds the mortgage money until the 'due date' when it gets auto transferred to the loan. It may not be the due date, but I got my SS check today, so I paid the mortgage - hoping to save some interest doing this every month from now on. I also paid $50 extra on the principal like I have done for the last several months.

[MooseBucks]

Mortgage Principal - $172,998
Payments Left - 182

Mortgage Principal - $172,167
Payments Left - 181

[Gailete]

Just checked at my bank's website for the split on my mortgage payment yesterday (it takes 24 hours to post). By paying my mortgage the very day I had the money instead of waiting for 'due date' I saved $85.19 in interest! That is for a mortgage that currently stands at $66,487.22. As my payment is $648.65 I rounded it up to $650 plus threw in another $50 for $51.35 extra paid on the loan. The principle is now paid $136.54 ahead from where it would have been by doing nothing. Just even paying early can save over $1000 a year which isn't chump change and you don't need any actual extra money to do so, you just need the ability to work your budget so that you can make your mortgage payment as early as possible. In this case I was 6 days early. Next month I should hopefully be able to pay it 9 days early.

[Randomsaver]

Focused Debt : $11K

Focused Debt : $8K

[markr867]

July 2017
Mortgage payment: #3 of 358
Extra applied to principal: $156.96
Ending balance: $301,685.88

[james.hendrickson]

July 2017
Mortgage payment: #3 of 358
Extra applied to principal: $156.96
Ending balance: $301,685.88

Mark - excellent, if you keep adding that little bit you will pay significantly lower interest costs in the long run.

[Randomsaver]

What a Busy Topsy Turvy past month for me. And I still got a month to go.

Yup, it's a lot of work.

I'm pricing it almost at cost so it shall sell fast. The price shall cover all commission and closing costs + only $5K profit.

Here was/is my weekly plan :

June 1-7:
- Find good agent to partner with --Done
- Deep clean my house --Done
- Get pre-qualified --Done

Jun 8-14:
- Take pictures of my house --Done
- Find property to move to and make offer for those I like --Done, offer got rejected as someone else offered crazy high to beat me
- Reserve lots I like and then cancel if one of my offers to buy gets accepted --Done

June 15-21:
- List my house for sale --Done
- Do Open House (today!) --Done
- Find property to move to and make offer for those I like --Done, offer got rejected as someone else offered crazy high to beat me
- Reserve lots I like and then cancel if one of my offers to buy gets accepted --Done

June 22-28
- Fix any repair/blemish needed on my house --Done
- Accept highest offer by the 25th --Done
- Find property to move to and make offer for those I like --Done, did not find any to my liking
- As back-up, find a rental apartment to move to and make reservations --Done
- Start selling stuff --Done

June 29-July 5
- Accommodate closing activities from sale of my house like furnish documents needed, home inspection, appraisal, etc. --Done, on Home Inspection and Termite Inspection and passed; upcoming next week is appraisal
- Advise utilities to close my account to the closing date --Done
- Continue selling stuff --Done
- Start packing stuff I don't need while I stay in the house --In progress
- Contract a moving team --Done
- Find property to move to and make offer for those I like --Still looking


July 6-12
- Prepare welcome kit for the Buyer (floor plans, paint colors, stuff that were turned over to me by the Builder)
- Depending on closing date, pack the remaining stuff or delay
- Make decision : rent or buy --Done, Decided to Rent
- Make decision : sell or keep extra car


July 13-19
- Sale of house closing
- Move to new rental unit
- Since no already built home is to my liking, follow up on reserved lots and choose the best lot and cancel the rest.

[Gailete]

Before I ever go shopping, I balance my two chckbooks so I don't accidently go over with my debit card. Yesterday, no matter how hard I tried I was off hundreds of extra dollars in the one checkbook. I'm generally good with math especially with a calculator to help me and I couldn't figure it out. Today I went to see if I could figure it out and account for what I spent yesterday. What I saw in my checking account almost made me faint. Our tenant that NEVER pays his rent on time had paid it on the 30th (the paymment wasn't showing yet on the computer)! Gave me a chance to pay the two loans on our rental 'early'.

Total owed $2,270.99 - the payment of $231.25 plus $68.75 extra and it is down to $1970.99. The booklet that has the payment reminders shows that we have 10 months left on this loan, but I've paid $268.75 extra now since Feb. of this year so we are more than a payment ahead.

The other loan was at $1693.12 and the payment $125.18 plus I paid $59.82 extra so it is now down to $1508.12. I've made $184.82 since April.

Can hardly wait to get these paid off so I can put that almost $500/month in extra payments on to our house mortgage in about 7-8 months I figure instead of 10. Or spit them between credit card bills and the mortgage. Not positive on that yet, but I am leaning hard to putting it all on the mortgage. There is something comforting in knowing that where you live is paid off. The credit card bills, I'm trying to pay the amount in the line that will pay it off in 3 years, so that even if the minimum payment is $100, I'm trying to pay $358 or whatever the amount might be. If I can keep that up, I those bills should be gone in three years.

[Randomsaver]

Jealous of landlords/landladies

Congrats on the on-time tenant payment Gailete!

I wish to be in like you one day who is the the business of rental. Part of the reason I'm moving to a townhome is the allure of easier to manage for renting out vs a house.