The Benefits of Home Ownership?

[cramx3]

I'll have to look into that, thanks

[Stadler]

I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.  We've been in this house for 8 years this coming August and its value has increased by nearly 50% which I find simultaneously exhilarating and worrisome.  Exhilarating because, holy shit, what an investment!   Worrisome because, holy shit, what a bubble!

We've seen this movie before.  This is my second home.  My first one was a starter home that we purchased at a very, very high point in the market cycle, like we're at right now.  The house was WAY overpriced.  By probably 20% or more.  I don't know if anyone remembers but back around 2006 the housing bubble began to burst.  It REALLY dropped off in 2008 and as a result we were under water on our mortgage by almost $100k.  We never intended to stay in that house for more than about 5 years, but we ended up having no choice but to stay and keep paying down the mortgage until 2013 when we were finally able to GTFO and buy the house we're in now.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon.  We consider it our "forever home" with "forever" really meaning until my mother dies.  That may not happen for another 10 or 15 years, she's only 77 and in reasonably good health. 

We DO have plans to sell.   And the market as it stands is going to burst, for sure, but this isn't 2007.  Where I am (northern CT, right near the Mass. border) the inventory is almost zero.  We're planning on moving two towns west of us (to be closer to fam, far better schools, and to allow my father-in-law to come live with us) and my wife checked: there is LITERALLY not one house that is for sale in that town under $700k that isn't under contingency.    Here's what happened: when COVID hit so bad in NYC, enterprising realtors here in northern CT starting listing their houses IN MANHATTAN.  We were getting an influx of money from the City, and people started paying exhorbitant prices.  But it's not just prices:  houses are going as-is (meaning, no renegotiation after inspection).  Some are going NO INSPECTION AT ALL.  Many are cash offers.  We looked at a house a couple weeks ago, and they listed on Thursday, and got six offers, three of them cash, all over asking price, by the end of the weekend.  As relatively undesirable as my town is, it's starting to bleed over and we're seeing it now too.

Here's my dilemma, as a businessman:  I KNOW I'm buying on the high end.  What I've got to look at is runway.   My house is maxed out; people are moving out of my town, they're closing schools (we had two high schools; they just consolidated them into one).   If get out at the premium I think I can (nowhere near 50% but still pretty, pretty good, if my agent is to be trusted) I will be selling at near top dollar.  The trick is to find a house in the new town that I'm overpaying for but which has more upside long term. 

[gmillerdrake]

]I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon. 

Yeah....it's comical what the 'value' of our home is right now. It's certainly a sellers market and there's little doubt that this housing bubble is going to burst....question is 'when'?

We have no plans to sell anytime soon either. We're here until all the kids are at least graduated high school so that's a minimum 7 more years if we moved right when our youngest graduated which probably won't happen. So, we're looking 10-15 years from now. My brother in law criticized our choice in color of hardwood saying while that may be our taste it's limiting the resale to a specific buyer.....which, I 'get' his point but at the same time I really don't give a  about who is going to like our choice in hardwoods in 15 years.    I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

[cramx3]

The zillow estimate on my tiny house is bonkers.  But as my sister told me over the weekend, "I can see you living the rest of your life there" and honestly, so can I. 

[Chino]

I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.  We've been in this house for 8 years this coming August and its value has increased by nearly 50% which I find simultaneously exhilarating and worrisome.  Exhilarating because, holy shit, what an investment!   Worrisome because, holy shit, what a bubble!

We've seen this movie before.  This is my second home.  My first one was a starter home that we purchased at a very, very high point in the market cycle, like we're at right now.  The house was WAY overpriced.  By probably 20% or more.  I don't know if anyone remembers but back around 2006 the housing bubble began to burst.  It REALLY dropped off in 2008 and as a result we were under water on our mortgage by almost $100k.  We never intended to stay in that house for more than about 5 years, but we ended up having no choice but to stay and keep paying down the mortgage until 2013 when we were finally able to GTFO and buy the house we're in now.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon.  We consider it our "forever home" with "forever" really meaning until my mother dies.  That may not happen for another 10 or 15 years, she's only 77 and in reasonably good health. 

It's nuts.

My house is estimated at its highest value since it was built in 1927, roughly 40% more than I paid for it in October 2013, and $84K more than I currently owe on it.

[kirksnosehair]

I don't think the bubble will begin bursting until interest rates begin to climb.  But I'm no real estate guy. 


I just checked on Zillow and yes, I realize it's not scientific in any way, but holy shit:



LAST 30 DAY CHANGE
+$28,778 (+5.3 %)



     


According to Zillow my home's value has increased by almost $30k in 30 days.  What the actual fuck? 

[Stadler]

]I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon. 

Yeah....it's comical what the 'value' of our home is right now. It's certainly a sellers market and there's little doubt that this housing bubble is going to burst....question is 'when'?

We have no plans to sell anytime soon either. We're here until all the kids are at least graduated high school so that's a minimum 7 more years if we moved right when our youngest graduated which probably won't happen. So, we're looking 10-15 years from now. My brother in law criticized our choice in color of hardwood saying while that may be our taste it's limiting the resale to a specific buyer.....which, I 'get' his point but at the same time I really don't give a  about who is going to like our choice in hardwoods in 15 years.    I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Short of the crazy stuff - orange walls (like my stepson has) or an odd material - it's crazy to try to guess.    If I'm looking at the right photo, that wood is nothing odd or out of the ordinary; for every person that hates it, there will be one that likes it.  And if you're 15 years out, you can guarantee it's going to look dated just by definition, so go with what makes you happy. 

See, we're right where you say you would have to be to move.  I've got a stepson that now has his own house, a kid, and one on the way, in that other town.  I've got a daughter that is in her second year of college and already said "I'm not living in CT when I get out."  I've got a stepdaughter who is on her own in NC.   My stepson is on the spectrum and needs more schooling that our current town can give him.  And I have a father-in-law that just retired and he lives 45 minutes from all of us and wants to be closer.   It's like the stars aligned.   Now if only the market will cooperate! 

[kirksnosehair]

]I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon. 

Yeah....it's comical what the 'value' of our home is right now. It's certainly a sellers market and there's little doubt that this housing bubble is going to burst....question is 'when'?

We have no plans to sell anytime soon either. We're here until all the kids are at least graduated high school so that's a minimum 7 more years if we moved right when our youngest graduated which probably won't happen. So, we're looking 10-15 years from now. My brother in law criticized our choice in color of hardwood saying while that may be our taste it's limiting the resale to a specific buyer.....which, I 'get' his point but at the same time I really don't give a  about who is going to like our choice in hardwoods in 15 years.    I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Short of the crazy stuff - orange walls (like my stepson has) or an odd material - it's crazy to try to guess.    If I'm looking at the right photo, that wood is nothing odd or out of the ordinary; for every person that hates it, there will be one that likes it.  And if you're 15 years out, you can guarantee it's going to look dated just by definition, so go with what makes you happy. 

See, we're right where you say you would have to be to move.  I've got a stepson that now has his own house, a kid, and one on the way, in that other town.  I've got a daughter that is in her second year of college and already said "I'm not living in CT when I get out."  I've got a stepdaughter who is on her own in NC.   My stepson is on the spectrum and needs more schooling that our current town can give him.  And I have a father-in-law that just retired and he lives 45 minutes from all of us and wants to be closer.   It's like the stars aligned.   Now if only the market will cooperate! 

I have to agree with Stadler on this.  You make the home YOU want to live in NOW.  Not the home you THINK you MIGHT sell in 10 or 15 years.  As Stadler pointed out, for every person who doesn't like the hardwood floors you chose there will be at least 1 who DOES like it.

[jingle.boy]

Housing prices are cray cray everywhere.  Sell high; buy high.

This is the last home I anticipate on buying for at least another 25-30 years.  Downsize when we don't want or can't maintain a house/property of this size is all I see in our future.

[kirksnosehair]

Same for us.  In fact, once we sell this place we'll most likely be on Social Security and Medicare and retired so we'll be moving to Colorado and I doubt we'll be buying again when we're down to 10 or 15 years left in our entire lives.  But as I've posted elsewhere I never say "never" because circumstances can change in an instant.

[gmillerdrake]

]I'll tell you what's really been blowing my mind lately is the rapidly rising value of our home.

We are ABSOLUTELY in a housing bubble right now and it's going to crash and burn at some point.  We have no plans of selling this one anytime soon. 

Yeah....it's comical what the 'value' of our home is right now. It's certainly a sellers market and there's little doubt that this housing bubble is going to burst....question is 'when'?

We have no plans to sell anytime soon either. We're here until all the kids are at least graduated high school so that's a minimum 7 more years if we moved right when our youngest graduated which probably won't happen. So, we're looking 10-15 years from now. My brother in law criticized our choice in color of hardwood saying while that may be our taste it's limiting the resale to a specific buyer.....which, I 'get' his point but at the same time I really don't give a  about who is going to like our choice in hardwoods in 15 years.    I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Short of the crazy stuff - orange walls (like my stepson has) or an odd material - it's crazy to try to guess.    If I'm looking at the right photo, that wood is nothing odd or out of the ordinary; for every person that hates it, there will be one that likes it.  And if you're 15 years out, you can guarantee it's going to look dated just by definition, so go with what makes you happy. 

See, we're right where you say you would have to be to move.  I've got a stepson that now has his own house, a kid, and one on the way, in that other town.  I've got a daughter that is in her second year of college and already said "I'm not living in CT when I get out."  I've got a stepdaughter who is on her own in NC.   My stepson is on the spectrum and needs more schooling that our current town can give him.  And I have a father-in-law that just retired and he lives 45 minutes from all of us and wants to be closer.   It's like the stars aligned.   Now if only the market will cooperate! 

I have to agree with Stadler on this.  You make the home YOU want to live in NOW.  Not the home you THINK you MIGHT sell in 10 or 15 years.  As Stadler pointed out, for every person who doesn't like the hardwood floors you chose there will be at least 1 who DOES like it.

Yeah....that's the approach we're taking. For anyone who's paid attention to the times I've mentioned this particular brother in law.....it's on par for him to inject something like that into a conversation.

[orcus116]

I don't think the bubble will begin bursting until interest rates begin to climb.  But I'm no real estate guy. 


I just checked on Zillow and yes, I realize it's not scientific in any way, but holy shit:



LAST 30 DAY CHANGE
+$28,778 (+5.3 %)



     


According to Zillow my home's value has increased by almost $30k in 30 days.  What the actual fuck? 

Same with me to an extent although the "suburb of New York City" market I'm in is starting to dip down a little bit. I ended up getting a great deal on my house since I bought it from my parents as they moved down to Myrtle Beach and they were only looking to cover their mortgage down there so Zillow's value is about $55-60K more than I bought it. I just find it amusing to check in on every once in awhile.

[Cool Chris]

Once those jobs are done, I really only have two projects left...

C'mon Chino, any homeowner knows you are never truly done. There will always be more projects :-)

Whomever referenced the increased cost of repair/remodeling, as that is the source of my employment, I can vouch for the fact that materials are becoming noticeably more costly. The price of lumber is up something around 180%.

Also, regarding flooring, the last three houses where we replaced the floor we used Lifeproof vinyl plank flooring. I really like the look of it, and would consider it in my home should I ever want to replace our hardwoods.

[ReaperKK]

Housing prices are cray cray everywhere.  Sell high; buy high.

Same here, our house went up in value almost $100k in a matter of 4 years. My wife keeps looking at places for us to move to however prices have risen everywhere, not just our neighborhood

[ReaperKK]

Once those jobs are done, I really only have two projects left...

C'mon Chino, any homeowner knows you are never truly done. There will always be more projects :-)

This is 100% the truth, if I was single I'd be living in a condo/townhouse.

[Podaar]

Whomever referenced the increased cost of repair/remodeling, as that is the source of my employment, I can vouch for the fact that materials are becoming noticeably more costly. The price of lumber is up something around 180%.

I can attest to this. We're in the middle of a pretty large remodel right now. I can't believe how little lumber I got for $1000. 

Also, regarding flooring, the last three houses where we replaced the floor we used Lifeproof vinyl plank flooring. I really like the look of it, and would consider it in my home should I ever want to replace our hardwoods.

I just had a pallet of Cali Bamboo delivered. I've put this product in two other rooms in my home and love it. It's harder than the back of your head and looks beautiful. I can't wait to get to the stage where we're actually laying flooring... still a long way to go yet.

[Snow Dog]

I'll agree with the housing market being nuts and definitely bubbling.  I bought my first home in 2012 at the near bottom of the market.  My wife and I lived there until beginning of last year, and when we sold that house and moved into this one, the selling price had increased 80% over what I bought it for eight years prior.  That's nuts to me, but we were able to take advantage of that profit to get into the home we're in now.

The problem we're seeing around here though is that there's a lot of people who can't afford to live here now.  There's more homeless people and camps than I've ever seen in the 13 years that I've lived here.  Homes sell in less than a few days, rent prices are crazy, and housing availability in general is basically nonexistent unless you get lucky.  The fires that swept through the valley last year and displaced thousands of people (much of whom are low income and didn't have homeowner's/renter's insurance) have also added to the difficulty.  A patient of mine has also said that the price of building materials has essentially doubled or more, and they still can't keep their shelves stocked with lumber.  It also makes for a situation of higher prices, but there's not enough income around here to sustain that.

C'mon Chino, any homeowner knows you are never truly done. There will always be more projects :-)

I'll attest to this as well.  I swear I've done more projects in the one year I've lived in this house than I ever did in the eight that I owned my old one.  And once that list of projects is done, I'm sure my wife will happily find more for me.  Haha

[kirksnosehair]

When I loved into my neighborhood in 2013 the average home on my block was selling for about $369,000


That same block 8 years later the average home price is $540,000


If you wonder why people who sell real estate are mostly very well off, this is why. 


One sale and they're raking in $20k to 30k or more

[lordxizor]

We need some additional space and are thinking of finishing our basement to add about 700 square feet, including another bedroom and bathroom. We've gotten a couple of quotes and they're higher than I was hoping for. We've debated moving as well, but there's basically nothing around that meets our needs in our budget. I was hoping to do some of the work ourselves, but after really digging into it, basically beyond framing, we'd have to hire almost all of the rest of it out. I really don't want to take out a loan, but that's the only way we could afford to pay someone to do all of it. Life is expensive sometimes.

[hunnus2000]

From my understanding, building supplies are in short supply and the pricing has skyrocketed. That could be the reason for the high construction price.

[Snow Dog]

From my understanding, building supplies are in short supply and the pricing has skyrocketed. That could be the reason for the high construction price.

Exactly this. Just a month ago, I had to build a small platform frame to support my kid’s crib mattress so I could lower it to the floor and keep him from climbing out. Two ten foot 2x4s cost me a little over $20.

[lordxizor]

From my understanding, building supplies are in short supply and the pricing has skyrocketed. That could be the reason for the high construction price.

Yeah, that doesn't help, but I think the bulk of the cost that I was quoted is labor. I did a rough estimate on the cost of 2x4s that I would need and it's around $2k. Drywall, wiring, and carpet isn't all going to add up to $75k. Skilled labor is expensive.

[romdrums]

Our next project is new windows for the house, along with hopefully fixing the electricity in our living room.  For some reason, the circuit breaker keeps tripping in the living room.  We had electricians come out to fix the problem a few weeks ago, and then it started happening again.  The electrical work in our house is nuts, especially in the living room.  It feels like the previous owners did some "upgrades" that ended up screwing everything up.  For instance, there was a light switch on one of the walls that actually controlled all of the outlets in the room, so if you accidentally hit it, it turned everything off: the TV, the PS4, and all of the lights.  There are two other dead switches that don't do anything.  Dead outlets, etc.  Plus, all of the outside outlets on the front of the house are dead as well.  When we run Christmas decorations, we have to do it off of an extension cord running from the back of the house.

[gmillerdrake]

new windows for the house,

Man....we need these as well but it just never ends. Even with us putting in this hardwood....we now need to look into new area rugs for three rooms and one for our foyer.....I'm near done with re-painting our main level which was a few hundred bucks for paint and materials.....our furniture is over 15 years old and has endured three boys growing up on it so we're in 'need' of new furniture.....the list can go on and on.

We did good with the initial cost of the flooring replacement. We came in $830 over budget and that was because I had the guy change our base boards from 4-1/4" high to 5-1/4" high....it was a much neater looking profile and they look slick. We knew there would be some additional $$$ to be spent on misc. items but it seems we may have underestimated what we thought was necessary and what we really want   

[Podaar]

Romdroms,

I've spent 20 years slowly replacing all the bad electrical wiring by the previous owner(s). My home was originally built in 1967 and has three previous owners. The original wiring was black fiber wrapped 12 gage Romex.

The second owner (late 70s to early 80's) enclosed the carport a home day care business attached to their house. They definitely knew very little about code and had crazy ideas about construction and wiring. They would use almost anything they could find. I've found 10, 12, and 14 gage Romex (these are 20 amp circuits) and sometimes three wire cable (BWR) with no ground.

The third owner (late 80's to Mid 90's) was an idiot who considered himself a construction wizard. He extended the front of the house to enclose the porch and expanded the "day care" area and incorporated it into the overall living space of the house. The numerous things he did wrong (not to mention his lack of style) are probably for another post but the biggest hurdle has been that the entire main floor he sheeted all the walls in 1/2" OSB before covering them in drywall (at today's lumber prices, can you imagine what that would cost?). This makes it nearly impossible to trace electrical issues or moving fixtures because of the difficulty of cutting through both drywall and chipboard. When my wife brought up remodeling the main floor last Fall, I said okay, but if we do, I'm unsheathing every wall and cleaning up the electrical. She reluctantly agreed.

I've found no less than six J boxes (uncovered) buried in the walls and I'm only halfway through! Keep in mind, that my home being built in the '60's has a pretty decent crawl space under all this that makes it a wiz to run a new line if. But no, it appears if he wanted to put an outlet in a different location, he would just run a line from the old box to the new one and then bury the old under OSB and sheetrock. One wall had no ground connected to the last two outlets on the circuit because (it appears) he ran out of three wire Romex and just grabbed some white and black solid 14 gage wire (did I mention that these are 20 amp circuits?). Just yesterday, I discovered that one entire circuit was wired to the load connection of a GFCI outlet in the kitchen. If you press the test button the ceiling light in the dining room would go out but the outlet it was supposed to be protecting (2 feet away) was still live. 

Anyway, I feel your pain with the problems in your living room. Best of luck!

[Dublagent66]

I bought my house in Feb 2017 for $220k.  Now it's worth $333k.  Not a bad chunk of equity in 4 years since I only owe $160k.  Yeah, it's a sellers market right now, but I ain't going anywhere.  Refinanced last year at 3.0% (down from 4.62% when I bought it).  It's all a part of AAgent66's early retirement plan at age 60 (5 years).

[romdrums]

@Podaar, I think the previous owners had a multi-generational home going on, and the homeowner's dad considered himself "handy".  They painted all of the wood trim white, in fact they painted the whole house white (except the kitchen cabinets, and the downstairs bathroom, which they painted hot pink!), but they didn't use any primer or painter's tape, so there's paint splotches on the bathroom tile, door handles, etc.  We had to repaint the whole house before we moved in, but you can see all of his shoddy "handy work" on door hinges and things like that.  The previous owner was really proud of his work, too, going out of her way to mention that her dad did all of the "improvements" when we did the close.  She even asked us if we liked it!  I think the living room was re-wired to accommodate a home office and a decorative fire place.  Weird stuff!  With the windows, there's like 4 different styles of windows in the house, and some of the wooden frames have rotted.  We bought the house five years ago, and we've replaced the furnace and the A/C, and we got a new roof last fall.  It was in better shape than most of the houses we ended up looking at back when we were house hunting.  Lots of the older houses in our area had foundation cracks, which was really surprising. 

[Stadler]

I'm a stickler for that kind of stuff.  I've already said that when I paint a room (the first time), I change out all the outlets and switches, putting new ones in.   It looks better, and it helps me understand the fuse boxes (in my humble experience, the handwritten labels for each circuit breaker might as well be a jumble puzzle for all the accuracy - or lack thereof - that I've found over the years).   I will also do the faucets sometimes (I did the kitchen and two out of the three bathrooms in my current house) and the door hinges.  It's a lot of work, and it can cost you, but the look is undeniable.

Now that we're considering moving again, I've sort of reconciled that I will be doing it all over again.   Since this is original owner territory, I'm hoping the effort is a little less - at least with regards to tracing out the circuit breakers and the plumbing.

As for materials, they ARE more expensive, but I agree with Lordxizor; it's not all of it.   I just finished this myself, and I think materials were between $2500 and $3000.   I had one quote that was for $10k to do the same work:

[Cool Chris]

Being in the industry, a couple comments:

My boss's phone is ringing off the hook. We have hired two laborers in the past couple weeks, and he is either turning down jobs, or booking people well in to the summer. I am at home improvement/lumber yards sometimes multiple times a day, and they are always packed. Both with homeowners and contractors, though I couldn't say what the ratio is.

Re: electrical. Few things frustrate the crew more than tearing open walls and seeing poor, homeowner-quality electrical work that they have to spend hours trying to figure out and remedying.

And what the hell??

... the biggest hurdle has been that the entire main floor he sheeted all the walls in 1/2" OSB before covering them in drywall

[Super Dude]

I haven't read any of the rest of the thread, but the benefit is equity. If you can afford mortgage payments long enough to hold onto a starter house for about 10-15 years, it'll be a huge help to you on house #2. The more you pay into house #1, the lower you can make your mortgage payments on #2, especially if you've done improvements on #1 so that you can sell it at a profit.

All of this assumes a pretty decent and stable income though, be warned. I know a lot of people can't afford to do what I'm describing.

[lordxizor]

I haven't read any of the rest of the thread, but the benefit is equity. If you can afford mortgage payments long enough to hold onto a starter house for about 10-15 years, it'll be a huge help to you on house #2. The more you pay into house #1, the lower you can make your mortgage payments on #2, especially if you've done improvements on #1 so that you can sell it at a profit.

All of this assumes a pretty decent and stable income though, be warned. I know a lot of people can't afford to do what I'm describing.

That's not as sure a thing as you make it sound, but yes, ideally that's the advantage of owning. Add in maintenance costs, upgrades, insurance, etc, and owning a home is not the right choice for everyone. But for many people it's really the only way they manage to gain any wealth, if they don't keep cashing out their equity.

[Super Dude]

I haven't read any of the rest of the thread, but the benefit is equity. If you can afford mortgage payments long enough to hold onto a starter house for about 10-15 years, it'll be a huge help to you on house #2. The more you pay into house #1, the lower you can make your mortgage payments on #2, especially if you've done improvements on #1 so that you can sell it at a profit.

All of this assumes a pretty decent and stable income though, be warned. I know a lot of people can't afford to do what I'm describing.

That's not as sure a thing as you make it sound, but yes, ideally that's the advantage of owning. Add in maintenance costs, upgrades, insurance, etc, and owning a home is not the right choice for everyone. But for many people it's really the only way they manage to gain any wealth, if they don't keep cashing out their equity.

Oh yeah, by no means, hence my little disclaimer at the end. Insurance is one less thing I worry about though, since I have rolled it into my mortgage payments.

But yeah, this shit is expensive as balls. It more than pays for itself if you're able to hold on long enough, but the holding on part is definitely hard.

[Orbert]

I am now a true homeowner, meaning I just paid it off and own the house free and clear.  I came into some money earlier this year, and once everything cleared the bank, I paid off the mortgage eight years early.

To be honest, I expected a little more fanfare or something.  On the website for the mortgage company it shows a zero balance and a record of my payment, but also shows that my next regular payment is due on May 1.  So I called and talked to a customer service person, and she verified that the loan is completely paid off, and their website just has this glitch where it never clears the "next payment due".  She mused that I could log in three years from now and it will still show my next payment due on May 1, 2021.  But I'll be getting my payoff letter and package in the mail.

The other day FedEx delivered an envelope from them, my payoff package.  Inside was a single sheet of paper, basically an ad for them.  "We hate goodbyes" but call us for any of your future mortgage needs, etc.  Big bold letters saying "Call us at 1-800-bla-blah to see what we can offer you."  It did say that they recently received my payoff and hate to see me go.  I was expecting some kind of confirmation that I'm free and clear, and I thought that since it's mine now, don't I get the title to put in my safe box?  Some kind of document saying that the house is mine?  I feel like there should be more, but I've never done this before, so maybe my mind had created this entire scenario.

[gmillerdrake]

I think I've shared this story in this thread before but, a really good purchase by my wife before we met put us in a great spot as far as equity that still continues to this day. The first house she bought was in a really nice neighborhood in the city of St. Louis, and it was one of only a few city houses that had a private carport/garage behind the home. She bought it for $92k in 2002.

We met in 2003....engaged in 2004....married in 2005. Right before we got married she sold her city home (at the height of the crazy housing market then....and right before the crash in 08') for $136k. We were able to use that equity to buy a nice starter home....which, when we sold that in 2013 due to the market then we 'only' sold it for $5k above our purchase price but we still had all that equity.

With our home now, it's insane the equity we have even before these recent inflated estimates. That's one of the reasons we considered selling a couple years ago. We were told what our house would list at and our jaws hit the ground so we tried to sell real quick and see if we could bank some $$$. I'm glad we didn't. Anyway, a great purchase by her 20 years ago really did wonders for us.

[jingle.boy]

I am now a true homeowner, meaning I just paid it off and own the house free and clear.  I came into some money earlier this year, and once everything cleared the bank, I paid off the mortgage eight years early.

Fuckin eh man!!!    That's an awesome feeling.  I know what you mean about the fanfare.  I basically got nothing.  I printed off something myself that showed the balance on my loan to be $0, and was going to have a 'mortgage burning' party or something, but it just never worked out.  Not having a mortgage payment every two weeks has been glori-fucking-ous!