What age did you pay off home mortgage?

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

This question is a spin off of a another question about paying off your mortgage. What age were you or what age will you be when you pay off your home mortgage? I know people who have said that they paid off their mortgage when they were in their early 30's. I am just curious to know how they did it. If it's to personal to answer the age part, any suggestions on how to pay off my mortgage early would be appreaciated. I already pay extra principal per month.

 

[rubato]

We paid ours off when hubby was 35 and I was 25. We didn't go out to eat, didn't go to movies, didn't buy cars on credit, and just put every cent into our mortgage. I know lots of people can't do this, but it certainly was helpful to have it paid off when I quit working to be a stay at home mom. We don't have near the worries that others do.

 

[2disneyboys]

Assuming my husband and I stay on track, we will have our home paid off by the time we are 40. We bought our home when we were 27 and we are now almost 36. We pretty much do what the poster above said. every extra penny we have goes to the mortgage. This does not mean we don't go on vacation and do fun things, just that we put that in the budget and anything extra goes on the house. Its hard to deny ourselves things now days (we are the only ones of our friends without the huge flat screen tv's and newest greatest cars but we just remind ourselves that in a few years we will have a fully paid for house and most of them will not only still owe on thier house but also owe on all the credit cards (most of them practically live on credit) and we won't owe on any of it. That makes it worth the sacraifice.

 

[Donnainnj]

I hope to be 44, which will be in 2 years.( 2 years 1 month to go) DH will be 50 at the time. We started with a 30 year mortgage in April 1997. We always paid at least an extra $60. After 5 years we refinanced with a 15 year mortgage and continued to pay extra plus the payment went up a little. Now we are paying more then 50% over the mortgage part of the payment. After the house is paid off we should be able to pay as we go for most of our two daughter's college expenses. If I could plan it again I would have paid as much as possible while still having some life at the beginning of the loan. It would have been perfect if we had been finished by the time the oldest starts college next fall. Good luck, Donna

 

[Kitzka]

DH will be 40 and I will be 38 when we pay off our mortgage. (keeping my hungers crossed). We bought our house about 8 years ago. We pay extra each month and some months we pay double or triple. We just refinanced from our 25 year to a 10 year. Our payment is the same with the lower rate and we will continue to pay double or triple and have it paid off in 5 years when dH turns 40.

Lara

 

[QVCshopper]

I was 30 and DH was 32 (I'm now 34). We both worked at a great company that gave bonuses equal to 1/3 of your salary once you worked there long enough. Other coworkers used that money to live off of/pay credit card bills (our salaries weren't very high); we used ours to pay off the mortgage. We also used the money we made from selling our condo.

We also scrimped here and there, and paid about $100+ extra each month when we had a mortgage (only about 4 years). I grew up fairly poor, my parents always fought about the mortgage, and I wasn't going to be like that. I also put myself through college. I worked hard (still do), shopped cheap (hello, Goodwill!), save on groceries, and pick up coins everywhere, even though I have a decent amount of money now. I'm just a totally all around frugal person, but I'm trying to change. Really.

Our home wasn't that cheap either, just to clarify. We were approved for a $350K home, but bought less than that b/c we didn't feel comfortable with that high a mortgage.

As I said on the other thread, paying it off was b/c I stopped working full-time. My husband's salary alone would not have covered the mortgage and all of our other bills/living expenses. It was a life decision. I'm glad we did it b/c the markets tanked soon after. Not saying they won't come back; it was just the right choice for us at the time.

 

[akcire]

We paid off our home when we were 31 & 33 respectively. We paid all our other debts before attacking the mortgage, since it was the only debt we threw all our money at it. Seriously, sell something at a garage sale for $20--sent it to the mortgage; found $10 on the ground--sent it to the mortgage. I was so happy when it was gone.

For point of reference we live in a fairly expensive area. Our home was $250K and was a fixer. Once we paid off the house, we started fixing in earnest. At this point the house is essentially maintenance free for the next 10 years new: roof, sky lights, heat & ac, exterior paint, windows, landscaping, and a few other big projects. As long as I don't feel the need to redecorate again, we should be fine.

 

[barkley]

like the op i'll preface this question by saying that if it's too personal feel free to not answer.

i'm curious-those that have paid off their mortgages early or are working towards it, did you or do you have "emergency" savings in place if a major expense comes your way or a catestrophic event occurs that severly reduces or completly eliminates your income?

i ask this because i had one of those events occur wherein i became ill causing my income to end (and despite having ltd insurance, it can take up to 6 months to receive the first payment), and my husband had to take extensive unpaid leave to care for me. in that situation even if the home we owned at the time had been paid for in full it would not have been an assett we could have drawn from. with no form of income we would not qualify for a home equity line of credit. the housing market was strong then, so selling would have been an option, but i look at what the housing market it like in most of the u.s. today and despite someone's best efforts they might not be able to sell their home.

i guess what i'm wondering is weather the "norm" with this kind of plan is to first fully fund a savings account, and then work towards the goal-or-is the idea that the paid in full home is regarded as the primary goal.

 

[Pastamom]

Interesting topic...Last year we thought about paying off most (or all if we could swing it) of our house. We looked into refinancing, but couldn't because we didn't owe enough so our next idea was to pay it off with savings. Then DH lost his job and was out of work for 11 months so we nixed that idea temporarily.

Now DH is employed and I have a better paying job, so we're building up our nest egg a little again and then the focus will be on paying of the house- hopefully in less than 5 years - age 45. Then that money will be going to college

We decided that some of the "cutbacks" we made this year will continue and the savings will go toward paying off the house - this way we won't even feel it...

 

[JaymeC]

We're hoping it won't take us long. Dh is 31, will probably be 32-33 when we buy our first house (military life, gotta love it!). I think we'll shoot for having our mortgage paid off in under 10 years. If we can do it under 7 (before he turns 40) I'll be super excited. The plan is to throw every single penny we can at the mortgage to get rid of it, then probably move again and keep it as a rental Dh and I like moving a lot.

I'll also add in that I think part of it may be where you happen to live. The houses we're looking at only cost in the neighborhood of 120-130k. They're small, but in excellent school districts and for us that's enough. If we were going to live in San Diego (where we'd prefer to live!) we'd be looking at places that were at least 500k to find something in a safe neighborhood, or looking at an hour commute daily. There's no way we could pay that off nearly as quickly, so I think sadly we may not move back there til the children are old enough that all we need to buy is a condo. Right now however with two young kids and an overactive lab mix, I really, really need that yard!

To answer the other question, yes we have a fully funded emergency account. We also have enough money for a downpayment and some money in our retirement account. I don't think it would do you much good to throw every penny at your house only to lose it because you didn't have any emergency savings!

 

[starwood]

We bought the house when we were about 26 (we had a condo before the house so we made a small profit on that). We refinanced when rates dropped (this was in the 80's) and paid extra on the mortgage every month. We were about 35-36 when we paid it off.

 

[scrapquitler]

We are on track to pay the mortgage off right as our DD graduates from high school.....so we will go straight from mortgage payment to college tuition

 

[lucas43068]

Bought my house when i was 27, DD is 4 now, i WILL have this house paid off by the time she graduates. bought a fixer upper, and besides totally remodeling the kitchen (besides being ugly)were pretty much done, so as soon as that is done ill be putting everything towards the principal. Im planning on refinancing shortly, i had bad credit when buying the house, so im hoping to get rid of my PMI and higher interest rate.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

We bought a house through Farmers Home I think it is now USDA-RHS but anyway oviously we were very low income so all our payments for over the first 10 years of our mortgage were interest only. Our principle never went down. We bought the house young and pregnant just out of college. It seemed like a good option at the time. We finally were able to refinance and got out of that whole Farmers Home deal. Finally we are seeing the principle go down. Hopefully by the time my youngest DD in 4th grade is in college we'll see. What is the current financial advise for families who have kids going to college. It used to be don't pay your house off your child won't get any financial assistance with college. Has that changed ? Just curious. I suppose without a mortgage tuition would be easier to swing though we have 4 kids so maybe not so easy to swing!

 

[MinnieForMe]

Just curious - for those of you who paid your mortgage in your 30's, did both of you work? I've been a SAHM mom for the past 13 years and thought we would be doing well with it paid off by the time we are 45 but I'm definitely beat here!

We did a 15 year mortgage on one salary and have 6 years to go! It is our only debt.

 

[The Princess]

We paid our home off when we were 37.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

Just curious - for those of you who paid your mortgage in your 30's, did both of you work? I've been a SAHM mom for the past 13 years and thought we would be doing well with it paid off by the time we are 45 but I'm definitely beat here!

We did a 15 year mortgage on one salary and have 6 years to go! It is our only debt.

Yeah I have beena SAHM as well. I have worked part time but it never has paid enough to make even what would be considered half an income. When we finally were able to refinance we ended up getting a 30 year with the plan to pay off well before that. After having been low income for a long time the monthly mortgage payment on a 15 year scared us! We discussed the benefits of it seriusly but then decided to go with what we knew for sure we would be able to handle. We are in a better place financially now though we certainly are not more than middle class and still one income essentially. I subsitute teach now so that is hit or miss as far as income or me.

 

[LovableGluttons]

DH was military, we moved every few years, lived in base housing or apartments, even rented a home once. We lived off his lower income and saved mine. DH spent 20 years active duty.

We bought our house three years ago without a mortgage. We have no debt, no credit cards. We still live off less than one income and save the rest.

For us, we couldn't figure out why we should borrow money for something when we could just save for it. We were pretty poor when we married 22 years ago and just became used to living on much less than we earned. DH and I are in our early 40s now.

 

[Swimalie]

My husband bought his first home at 28. Wrote a check for it at closing from his savings. Since then he met, married me and we've moved 2 times (across the country) into homes that we know we're not staying in so we're not paying the houses off now.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

Gosh, we're slow!

I think it depends on where you decide to put your money and where you are in your life, too. DH and I are both 41 and we'll have the house paid off in 8 years. But we only bought it 8 years ago and with 3 kids, 2 dogs and elderly family in the area (who require some time/care), paying off the house hasn't been our priority.

Rather, well-funded retirement funds, college savings, and general savings (and putting aside money for Disney every year!) has been our priority instead. We have a bi-weekly payment on the house and we toss some extra principal at it every year but that's it.

We've got a low interest rate and we're happy with our decisions.

As far as ideas on paying it off early, if you're in the early part of your mortgage you can do the bi-weekly payments (pay half the monthly mortgage payment every two weeks) and see a fairly significant shortening of your mortgage term as over the course of a year, you end up making an additional payment. If you're in the early part of your mortgage, then this can significantly shorten your term. As your loan ages, the benefit becomes less - still there, but not as significant.

Some mortgage companies will do automatic bi-weekly payments for free, some charge to set it up. Yes, it's the kind of thing you can do all by yourself but it requires a lot of discipline. We paid the $200 charge 7 years ago to have ours set up by the bank and as it took a number of years off the mortgage end date, the nominal charge for the convenience was well worth it for us.