My wife an I are working hard to achieve our goal of paying off our mortgage early.
As of May 2013, my wife and I will have lived in our home for 3 years and 2 months.
We have a conventional, fixed-rate, 15-year mortgage.
Our goal is to pay off our mortgage in less than ten total years.
As of May 1, 2013, we will have made 38 regular, monthly mortgage payments.
We have also made several additional principal-only payments, too.
We make our monthly mortgage payment by the first day of the month.
Additional principal-only payments are made throughout each month, as we earn additional income and find ways to decrease budgeted-for expenses.
Here is our most recent chart –
The chart shows two percentages:
The blue percentage is how much I still owe – the balance.
The red percentage is how much I have reduced – the paid.
This chart reflects how much of our mortgage balance we have paid – not how much we actually own. That percentage would be much higher.
We have made 38 regular payments and have lived in the house for a little more than two years. Our contractual remaining term is 11 years and 10 months , but our actual remaining term is 11 years and 4 months. We have reduced the length of our mortgage by 6 months!
At our current debt reduction rate, we will payoff our 15-year mortgage in 12 years.
Side note: Our goal is to own our home, mortgage-free. When we first moved in, there were several houses for sale in our neighborhood. As of today, those houses have sold and we feel great about the value of our home. We live in a rural areas, so prices are relatively stable. We also contribute to retirement.
How do you decide how much to pay extra on the mortgage vs how much to put into investments or savings? We’re currently having that debate ourselves since investing instead of paying off the mortgage will likely put us in an overall better place 15 years down the road.
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