pay off my mortgage

At this point, I have decided that it may be better for me moving forward to take my additional principal payments and put them aside in my emergency fund. Since I am so far from achieving this goal, I believe that currently it’s better for me to have this cash in more liquid form in the event that the “unexpected” occurs – job loss, house catastrophe, etc. The more I build up the emergency fund, the better able I would be in such situations to continue making my regular mortgage payments without extreme stress. And at this point, thinking “shorter term” like that makes more sense for me. Plus, if I am able to build up my emergency fund beyond my expectations, I can always take the “extra” and apply it to principal down the road. I know that I will reach this goal eventually, but right now I’d rather be prepared for Murphy’s Law. So I’m planning for the worst and hoping for the best. :)

for each day I am in my home. It’s a not-so little circumstance I tend to take for granted. I am making each mortgage payment with more joy and gratitude, knowing that with each month, I’m a little closer to feeling the security of owning my house outright.

Found out that it may not, in fact, be worth my while to sign up for accelerated payments with my mortgage lender (1/2 payments twice a month). According to the research I’ve done, it seems quite expensive. Seems rather ridiculous for something that is so easy for them to do, but I realize they are in business to make money and will lose money from the interest I won’t be paying if I pay off my loan early. The poor things. They’ll only make thousands off my interest instead of tens of thousands. Sucks to be them. :)

So, I’m taking a new look at my finances to see where I can cut back spending to add more principal each month. If I can add an extra 1/12 of my payment to each month’s automatic withdrawal, it should amount to the same result by year’s end.

I just want to own my house. Even though it’s still pretty far off, I’m so excited to make that final mortgage payment. :)

Each month brings me closer to owning my home outright. That’s the way I view it. In my automatic payments, I add extra toward the principal (even if it’s less than $20 more…every little bit adds up and I do what I can live with).

I would much rather be paying a mortgage than paying rent. Basically, I need to have a roof over my head…to me, it just makes sense. I love the feeling of knowing that one day it will be 100% mine, and if I decide to sell and move (hopefully in a better market), I should come out further ahead. Plus, being able to take the mortgage interest off my taxes allows me to keep a lot more of my salary come tax time. To my knowledge, you can’t take any part of a rent payment off your taxes.

I bought in 2004 at a great interest rate and even in the “sour” market, my home has appreciated greatly. I have a 30 year mortgage, but I would love to pay it off sooner. At this point, I would be 55 at the close of those 30 years. I’d love to pay it off years earlier than that. I’m going to look into changing my mortgage payments – half payments twice a month (wind up making one full extra payment each year without feeling it) and then go from there. If I didn’t have to pay a mortgage, I could be even further ahead with savings! That’s my goal.