I paid my mortgage down to an even $42,000 this morning (it was just about an extra hundred dollars beyond the usual payment to get down to this amount). That is an amount that feels do-able before retirement (I will turn 61 this month and plan to work at least until my full retirement age per SS of 67). I now own approximately 3/4s of my home's value.
The rate on my original 30-year mortgage, taken out in 2005, was 5.875%. I refinanced in 2012 to 4% and a 20-year mortgage. I've been paying extra on the mortgage monthly for years. While officially there's 8.3 years remaining on my current mortgage, I'm aiming to pay it off by the end of 2027 at the latest.
My bank sent me a notice offering me a 2.5% rate on a 10-year mortgage. I think I'm going to take it. The monthly payment will decrease by about a hundred, which either I can use to pay down principal or which I can use to pay down some of the non-mortgage debt, which never really seems to go down.
As a home owner now almost 16 years into home ownership, I've hit the point at which repairs, maintenance, and replacements are beginning to take their toll. So far this year, I've replaced the washing machine, A/C, and hot water tank, and had a couple of costly plumbing repairs. Yesterday the neighbor approached me about redoing the concrete stairs. My house is a twin, so it really makes sense to redo my stairs at the same time she does hers. A neighbor has been patching them yearly for the past several years, but they really do need to be replaced. They also will probably no longer squeak by city code--they're too steep and we will have to add an additional step to meet code. But that will have to be done in any case--and it will be nice to no longer worry whether my older friends can make it up my steps! There have been times when I have had to let older friends in through the bathroom that has a door out to the back porch, since there are fewer and less steep stairs if you go in that way. That job will not be cheap, but it's also something that should be done.
I had actually approached the former owner of the twin next door about replacing those stairs a couple of years ago, but he wasn't interested in doing it. I'm glad the current owner is. When you live in a twin, cooperation and good neighbor relations are important!
August 2nd, 2021 at 10:21 pm 1627942880
August 2nd, 2021 at 11:13 pm 1627946003
August 3rd, 2021 at 01:00 am 1627952455
August 8th, 2021 at 05:50 pm 1628445016