What age did you pay off home mortgage?

[Friendly Frog]

We bought our first (modest) home at 26/32 and it took us 26 years to pay it off. Part of the reason was of course income, but even worse, when we bought INTEREST RATES WERE 13%!!!! With interest rates like that no money is left for extra payments (or hardly any savings either). We refinanced after about 10 years, which was a help. Then again when rates went down to 5%. Just when we get the house paid off and we have a dollar for savings, we can't find a low risk way to earn any interest on it. Talk about bad timeing in life.

 

[pigletto]

We bought our first (modest) home at 26/32 and it took us 26 years to pay it off. Part of the reason was of course income, but even worse, when we bought INTEREST RATES WERE 13%!!!! With interest rates like that no money is left for extra payments (or hardly any savings either). We refinanced after about 10 years, which was a help. Then again when rates went down to 5%. Just when we get the house paid off and we have a dollar for savings, we can't find a low risk way to earn any interest on it. Talk about bad timeing in life.

That stinks. My inlaws were telling me about a time in the late 80's when interest rates were so high that people they knew were putting the keys on their counters and walking away because it's all they could do

 

[nunzia]

We bought our house at the end of 2009 for $350k w/3% down using an FHA loan (30 years, 5%). That means we financed $343k. With PMI our payments are $2,450/mo. I think our gross household income is now $85k, but that has only changed in the past year. Through the end of last year, we were a 1-income household, which was around $60k per year. Making the payments was super-tight with one income...now it's a bit better, but we still aren't making any extra payments. So, at this point we would be 59/58 when the mortgage is paid off. However, the greater likelihood is that we'll sell and move to a bigger house (this one is only 2/1, 880 sq. ft.). My hope is that we can make a 20% downpayment on that house, so no PMI, and do a 15-yr loan instead of a 30-yr. Real estate in L.A. is expensive!

To me that is just stunning.. and I'm from CA but could never go back..cost of living is just crazy. 350K for 880 sq ft and I'm sure horrific property taxes to boot. I can't imagine how a 60K income could keep current on that mortgage but good for you for hanging in there!

 

[nunzia]

We bought our first (modest) home at 26/32 and it took us 26 years to pay it off. Part of the reason was of course income, but even worse, when we bought INTEREST RATES WERE 13%!!!! With interest rates like that no money is left for extra payments (or hardly any savings either). We refinanced after about 10 years, which was a help. Then again when rates went down to 5%. Just when we get the house paid off and we have a dollar for savings, we can't find a low risk way to earn any interest on it. Talk about bad timeing in life.

Yep...our first house was also 13% and that was the going rate for good credit!! I remember those days well..yowzer..

 

[RitaE]

I'm another one who is really jealous of all you who have done such an awesome job of getting rid of your mortgages. I have 4 more years where large amounts of our money are going to college expenses and then I hope to pay off the house 3 years after that. Which will make me ... gulp ... 52 years old.

If and when I get to the point where I get the kids through school debt free and I have a paid off mortgage I'll be pretty happy though.

 

[lurkernj]

We should be all paid off in just about 2 years. That will make us both almost 45yrs old. We will have been in our house for 19yrs at that point. We planned it this way when our first DS was born so that we would be finished right around when he goes to college (it will be during his first year), then the money we spend on our mortgage would then go towards college tuition for the next 8 years or so, until both kids finish.

 

[ilovemk76]

Yep...our first house was also 13% and that was the going rate for good credit!! I remember those days well..yowzer..

We were lucky!! Our interest rate was only 12.65%!! We refied to 8.5% and thought we were in heaven.

 

[pigletto]

To me that is just stunning.. and I'm from CA but could never go back..cost of living is just crazy. 350K for 880 sq ft and I'm sure horrific property taxes to boot. I can't imagine how a 60K income could keep current on that mortgage but good for you for hanging in there!

I agree.. stunning!!!
Here I was feeling bad about our housing prices where I live. But 350K will get you a very nice house here with at least 3000 sq ft or more. Or something smaller on the lake with your own private beachfront. Sigh.

 

[punkin]

I agree.. stunning!!!
Here I was feeling bad about our housing prices where I live. But 350K will get you a very nice house here with at least 3000 sq ft or more. Or something smaller on the lake with your own private beachfront. Sigh.

The cheapest listing currently available in my zip code (I just looked it up just for fun) is $279,900 for a 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 877 Sq. Ft. condo. In real estate, location is everything!

 

[Karenj2]

I am VERY impressed with all those that have their mortgages paid off!!!

We've lived in the same house for ~14 years now - when we bought it (at 24 & 25 yo), we had two mortgages on it (I think one was the PMI mortgage) because we didn't have the 20% down payment. They were a 30 year mortgage. We paid extra on the mortgages (mostly on the PMI one), but not nearly as much as we should have been - DH had a 6 figure salary, and we COULD have saved so much more...

Seven years later, we had a financial setback, and decided to refinance to combine the mortgages, get money out to pay a large expense, and refi to a 20 year mortgage, which we continued to pay a little bit extra on, until DH ended up on LTD and I got laid off. (We still paid, just nothing extra.) That continued for a few years, until we both got back on our feet financially.

More recently, we contested our property taxes, and got it lowered a great deal, but kept paying the same amount (our mortgage payment includes money to go into escrow for taxes), so we're paying down a great bit more.

We're also looking into refinancing again, to take advantage of the lower rates, and we're contesting the property taxes again (some folks around here do it every year!). As it stands, I think we have another 12 years on our mortgage, which would put us at 51 & 52, but we're trying to follow the DR plan, and pay off our mortgage earlier than that.


P.S. Did anyone notice that this thread actually started in 2010?

 

[mrodgers]

To me that is just stunning.. and I'm from CA but could never go back..cost of living is just crazy. 350K for 880 sq ft and I'm sure horrific property taxes to boot. I can't imagine how a 60K income could keep current on that mortgage but good for you for hanging in there!

Indeed. I know for a fact that a $60k income is difficult to keep up on an $88k mortgage around me with the cost of groceries and such. You all have heard of my groceries. I spend $300/month more on groceries than I do on a mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Combine that with utilities and there is very nearly your entire $60k salary.

A $200k mortgage payment would be more than 1 paycheck/month at $60k income (I know many people here at work doing that.) There's no way one could do $350k mortgage on $60k?

Just reread the post and saw the stated payment numbers. That $2450 mortgage payment would be 77% of a $60,000 income take home pay! Impossible.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I have a 3% fixed 30 year mortgage that we plan to have paid off in 8 years (we've divided up the payments to make this happen, I'm 30 and he's 35). The original balance was $115k (a great deal, but it needed a lot of superficial work). My fiance has a house that we rent out with a 6% fixed 30 year mortgage (original balance was $250k; he's refinanced once) and the plan is to pay that one off in 13 years. We plan on buying our "dream home" in about 10 years and putting at least 50% down, but that's just the plan and sometimes plans don't go, well, according to plan.

 

[akcire]

Speaking of interest rates....

There is a fairly nice subdivision that is near me but less than 5% have basements? (I am in the midwest where basements are the norm). The best rate available at the time these homes were being contracted for construction was 17%--no one could afford basements. Of course CD's were paying 12% at the bank......

 

[Pesky]

I'm another one who is really jealous of all you who have done such an awesome job of getting rid of your mortgages. I have 4 more years where large amounts of our money are going to college expenses and then I hope to pay off the house 3 years after that. Which will make me ... gulp ... 52 years old.

Don't gulp -- I'll be 55! I'm hoping for sooner and that should be able to happen but the whole "don't count your chickens" thing. Of course we only bought our house 5 years ago so paying it off in 15-20years isn't too bad. As for the other question re emergency funds, ABSOLUTELY! Yes, we have an ER fund that we are building back up after the last ER. In this day and age, you can never count on a job and we don't want to have to worry too much for about 6 mos.

 

[DOREEN1779]

Paid off at 37, took 13 years. We decided to buy multi-family. Lived in one unit and collected rent from the others. We took the unit in the basement. Did not see light for 13 years but have no mortgage.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I too am impressed by those that have paid off so quicky. From our point of view it is more important for us to pay off our other debts (inclusive of student loans that just about equal our home's cost) first. Plus, we expect to move in a couple years and have no intention of keeping our current residence for renting purposes. I currently have plans to have all our other debts paid in the next 10 years, so only a greatly reduced mortgage payment will exist at that time. This is, of course, ignoring windfalls and disasters.

 

[QVCshopper]

I'm one of the first who posted in this thread in 2010. Anyway, still in our home, still no mortgage... I was 30 when we paid it off. Our interest rate was around 6%, then the market tanked, and I still think we had good timing. We did have am emergency fund when we paid it off, and we had no other loans. We fully fund our IRAs and my DH fully fund his 401k; I'm part-time and save 50% ino mine. Plus, we have Ed IRAs and 529s for the kids.

The only negative I've found is that I pretty much feel stuck to this home. Yes, I like it, but now that we have three kids, I wouldn't mind a bigger home. But, that's going to cost us at least $500k where we live (and those houses sell like hotcakes here) and we'd need a mortgage again. I'm trying to keep our "stuff" down, but we only have three bedrooms. And it's incredibly hard to walk away from the freedom of no mortgage and basically no financial worries. Plus, if we move, we'd have to get a big mortgage and then refinance or do a bridge loan after we sell this one.

I'm in SE PA. I don't think the area was hit as hard as other parts of the country. I have to say, the current low rates are tempting though, but I know what I want, if it ever comes.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I am on track to have my home paid off when I am 42 (my husband will be 53). I was 22 when we purchased our home. We signed a thirty year fixed rate mortgage, but will have it paid of in twenty years if not sooner. If I could pay it off in eighteen years, it would be paid off the year my daughter finishes high school.

 

[SUSIEQ]

There is also the non-monetary side of the equation - having a paid-for home is a lot of piece of mind, especially in a difficult economy. That was really our most powerful motivator and we felt it was worth the opportunity cost.

Exactly, the piece of mind is priceless!!!

 

[Nanu57v]

I'm one of the first who posted in this thread in 2010. Anyway, still in our home, still no mortgage... I was 30 when we paid it off. Our interest rate was around 6%, then the market tanked, and I still think we had good timing. We did have am emergency fund when we paid it off, and we had no other loans. We fully fund our IRAs and my DH fully fund his 401k; I'm part-time and save 50% ino mine. Plus, we have Ed IRAs and 529s for the kids.

The only negative I've found is that I pretty much feel stuck to this home. Yes, I like it, but now that we have three kids, I wouldn't mind a bigger home. But, that's going to cost us at least $500k where we live (and those houses sell like hotcakes here) and we'd need a mortgage again. I'm trying to keep our "stuff" down, but we only have three bedrooms. And it's incredibly hard to walk away from the freedom of no mortgage and basically no financial worries. Plus, if we move, we'd have to get a big mortgage and then refinance or do a bridge loan after we sell this one.

I'm in SE PA. I don't think the area was hit as hard as other parts of the country. I have to say, the current low rates are tempting though, but I know what I want, if it ever comes.

Maybe keep your eyes open! I'm from SE PA and I've seen some good deals. My friend just snagged one!