Today, I woke up....in a paid off house.

[palmtreegirl]

Congrats! Just a heads up, it will effect your taxes so definitely prepare for that.

 

[bcwife76]

Congratulations!!!! We paid our mortgage off in October 2016. It feels like a huge weight had been lifted. Enjoy being mortgage-free

 

[emer95]

Congratulations!! What a wonderful feeling. I’m going to be making the same post in 7 years- wait for it!

 

[tvguy]

I think it is something to celebrate too but in our situation, we think it’s something we better keep to ourselves. To keep the story short and sweet, we have a relative who makes HORRIBLE financial decisions who would likely be looking for a continuous handout if it was known we might have “ extra” money. So, we’ve had a busy weekend but I think we’ll celebrate just the two of us.
I had NO IDEA mortgages were public record. Is that true in every state?

I can't speak for every state. It certainly would have to be disclosed if you sold a property. You would need to be certain that you aren't walking into a short sale that the lender hasn't approved. It is part of a standard Lexis-Nexis search, but almost all my searches for work are in California and everything is listed. Mortgage, criminal record, you name it..

 

[tvguy]

OK, but that scenario is a far-cry from people just checking up on each other for no reason at all.

It may be creepy, but people do it when they are house hunting. Just like checking crime in the area, and looking to see how many residents are homeowners or renters.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Congrats!!!

 

[amberpi]

That's fantastic! Congrats!

 

[dclpluto]

Congrats! Just a heads up, it will effect your taxes so definitely prepare for that.

How will it effect their taxes? The last 5 years or so you have very little interest anyway probably not worth it for most people to do the long form anyway when your house is almost paid off. Unless you have high medical bills or other things. The house being paid off will have very very little to do with your taxes.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Congratulations! I hope we're still alive to see that day.

 

[NFLDERS]

Yesterday, we paid our mortgage off. Today, we woke up for the first time in a house that we paid off.

We had bagels for breakfast and it was pretty uneventful. We haven’t told anyone, and don’t plan to, but all day if I caught my DH’s eye, we just had a little smile. We were with lots of relatives today.

I know from a previous post that tons of you have paid off your mortgages already. I don’t know how I thought I’d feel..... I guess excited. Happy. Relieved.

Did you feel any different?

Congratulations!

The second or third best 'freedom feeling' in the world! Second being totally debt free and, than RETIREMENT! Does this mean you will be changing your Username?!

 

[Kitty 34]

Congratulations!!! It does help not having that payment going into retirement; have more money now for medical bills!

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

How will it effect their taxes? The last 5 years or so you have very little interest anyway probably not worth it for most people to do the long form anyway when your house is almost paid off. Unless you have high medical bills or other things. The house being paid off will have very very little to do with your taxes.

It will affect them if they took a large lump sum and paid the mortgage off significantly early rather than just at the normal pace. If they just got to the natural end of their 15 or 30 year loan, then yeah, not so much of an impact.

 

[North of Mouse]

Congratulations!
Can say we felt 'very' different - just looked at our home in such a happy satisfied way. It's been 20 wonderful years of being debt free. DH would never have gone into retirement 12 years ago with any outstanding debt. I've always been a SAHM and wife, so didn't 'retire'. That's what I always say anyway - my work is the same - with dh's help now.

 

[NFLDERS]

they can dry their tears with all the envelopes and postcards they will get offering them new loans (I swear, I think once the bank removes their lien it triggers an unending avalanche of new credit offers).

Yup! We went from one silver haired ('cause I'm a dye bottle supported red head!) to two golden haired beings. We admit the reduced home insurance premium ie IS worth the avalanche.

 

[Southernmiss]

It will affect them if they took a large lump sum and paid the mortgage off significantly early rather than just at the normal pace. If they just got to the natural end of their 15 or 30 year loan, then yeah, not so much of an impact.

Confused. Why would making a lump sum payment from savings on a mortgage balance affect taxes?

 

[NFLDERS]

yeah baby

Eh low-key!

 

[shoney]

Confused. Why would making a lump sum payment from savings on a mortgage balance affect taxes?

They won’t have their mortgage interest to deduct any more. That’s all. If they weren’t at the end of the mortgage they would likely still have a large amount to deduct prior to paying the balance off


For us we if we want to have lower bills we would need to move. Our taxes and insurance are high. More than 1/2 the payment. While we do pay a little extra per month, paying off the mortgage isn’t really a priority. We will likely downsize and use the money to buy a small
Condo or something.

 

[Southernmiss]

They won’t have their mortgage interest to deduct any more. That’s all. If they weren’t at the end of the mortgage they would likely still have a large amount to deduct prior to paying the balance off


For us we if we want to have lower bills we would need to move. Our taxes and insurance are high. More than 1/2 the payment. While we do pay a little extra per month, paying off the mortgage isn’t really a priority. We will likely downsize and use the money to buy a small
Condo or something.

We are also paying off the house this year, but we've not used the mortgage interest deduction in years. So no hit.

Wondered if jalapeno was thinking of something else

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We are also paying off the house this year, but we've not used the mortgage interest deduction in years. So no hit.

Wondered if jalapeno was thinking of something else

If they are 5 years into a 30 year loan, they are paying largely interest, therefore have a larger interest deduction they would be taking. Then they pay it off all in one lump sum, so they go from lots of interest (able to be deducted) to no interest deduction.

If they are 25+ years into a 30 year loan, they are paying largely principal, and they already have a very small interest deduction. So then paying off the sum results in very little change from a tax perspective.

 

[ronandannette]

It may be creepy, but people do it when they are house hunting. Just like checking crime in the area, and looking to see how many residents are homeowners or renters.

Some people have mortgage burning parties. I think it is something to celebrate.

Never been much of a secret in my circles. And if you really care, if you have a mortgages, and the amount of it are public record and easily accessible.

tvguy - this thread has nothing to do with house-hunting and neither did your original comments. Why you're now trying to deflect from your original implications, I'm not sure.