House Mortgage -- Countdown

[Randomsaver]

Focused Debt : $18K

Focused Debt : $15K

[Randomsaver]

Randomsaver, Amazing ! I believe as we will soon approach April, your home purchase date anniversary, I wonder if you're willing to examine how your razor focus may have impacted your home's value and debt.

As I understand it, you decided to focus on mortgage debt of $ 207,000. mid April 2014. In just 3 years, extra sums applied directly to principal has reduced the debt to about $ 104,000. That's phenomenal ! $103,000 reduction in debt in spite of monthly interest payments that began at $ 450. each month...now about $ 252. required each month.

It seems you have regularly reduced principal by $ 1K monthly. How many payments remain if you continue this astounding pace? How much does Zwillow in your region currently estimate's your house's value? How many months have you eliminated from your initial payment schedule? Have you any guesstimate on how much you've saved thus far in interest payments?

How do you feel this program has impacted your Net Worth?

Thanks snafu!

Getting it down half is a nice milestone for me but it is still a huge debt left. I think if I continue my pace I would see it paid off within 4 years including this year. The last time I checked the values in my subdivision is up around $15K from my purchase price. Add to it the interest savings I computed at $20K if I continued at this pace.

[Randomsaver]

We're at 18k now

Our monthly payment is $1607
Principal $983
Interest $69
Escrow $554 (taxes)

Insurance is on the side. After payoff, we will need to budget about 610 per month to cover taxes and insurance.

You are in payoff zone man! Congrats!

[Randomsaver]

Mortgage Principal - 175,053
Payments Left - 185 (Goal of getting that reduced to 168 and Stretch Goal of 116 months)

I doubt either of those dates are going to happen as we most likely will move in with in-laws before then in order to take care of them.

I am planning to get my parents to live with me by 2020 to take care of them as well. Good luck to you!

[greenskeeper]

Come to New Jersey. We would all kill for taxes that low.

I visit and then go home to PA. Taxes for me are around $200/mo (without looking at the tax bill for specifics)

[Gailete]

Come to New Jersey. We would all kill for taxes that low.

We are in rural PA and ours averages about $363/month plus fire insurance. When hubby started building the house (whose purpose changed entirely when he met me!) I don't think he had the thought of taxes in his head! So we have a big house, most of which is supporting two businesses. Many of the items that he used to build the house with are recycled. Every year we pay horrendous taxes for our part of the country, where if we had just a simple ranch house of 1000-1200 sq feet the taxes would probably be $1-1.5K a year.

Taxes and fire insurance are ongoing bills that will never leave you unless you rent and then you should still get renter's insurance. I do know I would rather be paying just the taxes and insuarance than them plus the mortgage which is fixed rate. I don't know how people are brave enough to sign up for an ARM. I still remember the years when interest rates were going for 14%+. I just checked at Freddic Mac and in the early 80's they were up to over 16%. Here is the link if anyone wants to see and be grateful for today's rates http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.htm The 80's were really tough going, especially for young couples just starting out. For awhile just about every young man in our church was laid off.

With rates as low as what we currently have going for us, we should all be doing what we can to get the bills paid off ASAP. While you may not make much by saving actual cash, any one with cash that isn't going towards debts at least has freedom to find other ways to invest. Seeing some of you on your homeward trek of paying off your mortgages are on the right path for sure. I'm hoping to get all our bills and mortage paid off within the next ten years if not sooner. Boy is it work to do!

[disneysteve]

$554/month is taxes sucks.

Come to New Jersey. We would all kill for taxes that low.

[greenskeeper]

We're at 18k now

Our monthly payment is $1607
Principal $983
Interest $69
Escrow $554 (taxes)

Insurance is on the side. After payoff, we will need to budget about 610 per month to cover taxes and insurance.

$554/month is taxes sucks. It's unfortunately true that you never really "own" your home free and clear since the tax man keeps knocking for his handout.

[snafu]

Randomsaver, Amazing ! I believe as we will soon approach April, your home purchase date anniversary, I wonder if you're willing to examine how your razor focus may have impacted your home's value and debt.

As I understand it, you decided to focus on mortgage debt of $ 207,000. mid April 2014. In just 3 years, extra sums applied directly to principal has reduced the debt to about $ 104,000. That's phenomenal ! $103,000 reduction in debt in spite of monthly interest payments that began at $ 450. each month...now about $ 252. required each month.

It seems you have regularly reduced principal by $ 1K monthly. How many payments remain if you continue this astounding pace? How much does Zwillow in your region currently estimate's your house's value? How many months have you eliminated from your initial payment schedule? Have you any guesstimate on how much you've saved thus far in interest payments?

How do you feel this program has impacted your Net Worth?

[Gailete]

Our problem is self-employment. No paychecks other than my SSD one. The mortgage is paid out of that and most of the absolutes like health insurance, etc. We wait for hubby to bring home a big check from his work to have it go to those big tax bills, fire insurance and propane pre-buys for winter.

[JoeP]

And that is the killer. We don't have a conventional mortgage due to a variety of circumstances, so we have something more along the lines of a HELOC (I think). So the bank doesn't take out any money towards taxes or insurance. I have to come up with it yearly at the right time. On a very limited income anyhow it is hard work saving up that money, especially as one of the property taxes comes due two weeks after the April IRS bloodbath.

Our strategy will be something along the lines of having pay direct deposited into a special account to be used to pay those bills.

[Gailete]

We're at 18k now

Our monthly payment is $1607
Principal $983
Interest $69
Escrow $554 (taxes)

Insurance is on the side. After payoff, we will need to budget about 610 per month to cover taxes and insurance.

And that is the killer. We don't have a conventional mortgage due to a variety of circumstances, so we have something more along the lines of a HELOC (I think). So the bank doesn't take out any money towards taxes or insurance. I have to come up with it yearly at the right time. On a very limited income anyhow it is hard work saving up that money, especially as one of the property taxes comes due two weeks after the April IRS bloodbath. This year however, thanks in part to hubby not being able to work most of the year due to vision loss, our income was in the toilet and pretty much all of our estimated taxes are coming back to us and I think I managed to set aside most of Aprils property tax as well so that is nice to have that this year. Instead of looking towards April with fear and trepidation, I have already finished the taxes, and working on other money MAKING projects.

[JoeP]

We're at 18k now

Our monthly payment is $1607
Principal $983
Interest $69
Escrow $554 (taxes)

Insurance is on the side. After payoff, we will need to budget about 610 per month to cover taxes and insurance.

[Randomsaver]

I was given a 5 year fixed rate mortgage, calculated over a 25 year payback. This means I need to sign new mortgage papers in a little over a year from now.

My question is how much down payment does the bank expect at this point? I am assuming it is 10 percent. Is this 10% of the value of the the house value I bought the house for? Or is it 10% of what the balance of what I owe on the mortgage when I sign the new papers?

Sorry, if this is a silly question that everyone should automatically know the answer too. This is the first time I have taken out a mortgage. I need to know how much to be setting aside, to be properly prepared.

This question has been bugging me for the last couple months, so I thought it was time that I asked some people that might know.

I only had saved 5% of set aside money for DP at the time and they accepted it. Of course I did pay PMI up to when the Principal was paid down to 20%.

[Randomsaver]

My monthly interest expense went down from $278 on 9/1/2016 to $252 for 1/1/2017. That is $26 payment swing to the side of principal reduction.

My monthly interest expense went down from $252 on 1/1/2017 to $228 for 4/1/2017. That is $24 payment swing to the side of principal reduction.