In reply to frenchyd :
A man is happy and a little proud about being out of debit. You tell him why he should still be in debit.
Man tells you he wants to travel. You tell him why he will be happy to be home.
I'm going to start calling you Negative Nancy.
It's OK to say congratulations and leave it at that. Frequently it's preferred.
Debt free is a good feeling. Congratulations!!!!
Congratulations. Debt free is great. It's nice having a pretty low cash inflow need if times get tough and the rest of the time you have extra money to do as you please.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:In reply to frenchyd :
A man is happy and a little proud about being out of debit. You tell him why he should still be in debit.
Man tells you he wants to travel. You tell him why he will be happy to be home.
I'm going to start calling you Negative Nancy.
It's OK to say congratulations and leave it at that. Frequently it's preferred.
Almost a dozen paragraphs, singularly responsible for around half the words on the entire thread, and never once congratulating the achievement. Very little information that is actually relevant, but lots of info on his OWN achievements.
Nothing new, S. S. D. D.
In reply to MrChaos :
Congrats! Excellent age to be debt free, and to have a great plan moving forward.
In reply to MrChaos :
That's awesome. Good job!
The only debt I have is mortgages, but I get other people to pay for them, so it's not too bad!
Love your traveling idea.
We will be next year. HAven't had car payments for years. Just the mortgage left. its a great feeling not having that high overhead.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:In reply to frenchyd :
A man is happy and a little proud about being out of debit. You tell him why he should still be in debit.
Man tells you he wants to travel. You tell him why he will be happy to be home.
I'm going to start calling you Negative Nancy.
It's OK to say congratulations and leave it at that. Frequently it's preferred.
That's why I see that byline and almost always move directly on to the next post.
Being debt free at 29? that's pretty berkeleying awesome IMO. Now go see the world..... you've earned it.
Duke said:Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:In reply to frenchyd :
A man is happy and a little proud about being out of debit. You tell him why he should still be in debit.
Man tells you he wants to travel. You tell him why he will be happy to be home.
I'm going to start calling you Negative Nancy.
It's OK to say congratulations and leave it at that. Frequently it's preferred.
That's why I see that byline and almost always move directly on to the next post.
Some men you just can't reach, So you get what we have here.
bobzilla said:its a great feeling not having that high overhead.
I have more freedom and greater piece of mind at work being debt free. Less stress in my life.
I get paid by commission and we are annoyingly pushed by our upper management to grow, grow, GROW! One day I might tell them I don't want to make more money than I am right now as I'm not interested in looking for any more business.
LOL - I'm sure I'll be shown the door.
Datsun310Guy said:bobzilla said:its a great feeling not having that high overhead.
I have more freedom and greater piece of mind at work being debt free. Less stress in my life.
I get paid by commission and we are annoyingly pushed by our upper management to grow, grow, GROW! One day I might tell them I don't want to make more money than I am right now as I'm not interested in looking for any more business.
LOL - I'm sure I'll be shown the door.
Same boat. Financially we are in a place where we have to have A job. Not even a good one. Man does the stress melt away.
In reply to bobzilla :
But, but, but, what about impressing the neighbors...what about all those shiny things that'll give your life real meaning 
Philosopher Reven's personal saying "The best way to be poor is to worry about looking rich"
Duke said:Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:In reply to frenchyd :
A man is happy and a little proud about being out of debit. You tell him why he should still be in debit.
Man tells you he wants to travel. You tell him why he will be happy to be home.
I'm going to start calling you Negative Nancy.
It's OK to say congratulations and leave it at that. Frequently it's preferred.
That's why I see that byline and almost always move directly on to the next post.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I know I shouldn't even bother with my responses 99% of the time, but the constant assertion of blatantly false/irrelevant information being presented as "Trust me bro, it's true/relevant" has long been past an annoyance.
Congratulations! We are down to the mortgage with about 5 years to go.
Mortgage paid off a few months ago. No other debt.
I work in an industry that is slowly downsizing. It's nice to be in a position where I no longer have to really care about that. I can always get a job, just maybe not one at the current income. Other than paying the taxes it's nice knowing you won't be tossed out of your home if something goes awry career-wise.
4 paid for cars/trucks, 4 paid for motorcycles. Paid for house. Life is pretty good.
Congrats!
I agree being debt-free definitely reduces one's stress levels.
One comment about paying off mortgages - if the taxes were part of the payment into an escrow account, be sure to set aside that amount every month. I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
I like the idea of being debt free to ensure peace of mind. One day.... but not now..
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
There has to be an awful lot more to that story. A mortgage free home, and you can't get a line of credit to catch up on the back taxes?
Streetwiseguy said:Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
There has to be an awful lot more to that story. A mortgage free home, and you can't get a line of credit to catch up on the back taxes?
Exactly.
Here in California, the state will sell a "tax deed" if you're five or more years delinquent on your property tax and haven't enrolled in a payment plan. That's a lot of time to get a little loan to pay the tax on a property with 100% equity or, worst case, sell the property and pay the taxes with the proceeds.
I'm not second guessing Ian F, I'm just agreeing that, based on my understanding, it seems like there should be extenuating circumstances to these reported foreclosures.
Streetwiseguy said:Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
There has to be an awful lot more to that story. A mortgage free home, and you can't get a line of credit to catch up on the back taxes?
I was thinking the same. My mortgage (insurance, taxes, etc) all in is $1100/month. Taxes and insurance are ~$4k/year.
Something really messed up would need to happen for me to go from easily affording the entire mortage, to not being able to handle ~$335/month.
z31maniac said:Streetwiseguy said:Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
There has to be an awful lot more to that story. A mortgage free home, and you can't get a line of credit to catch up on the back taxes?
I was thinking the same. My mortgage (insurance, taxes, etc) all in is $1100/month. Taxes and insurance are ~$4k/year.
Something really messed up would need to happen for me to go from easily affording the entire mortage, to not being able to handle ~$335/month.
I can see it happening if the house appreciated a lot. OK has pretty cheap property taxes (median appears to be 0.74%) but a place like NJ has median property tax rate of 1.8 and the property probably has a higher value to begin with.
So if your retired parents' modest, paid-off home is in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in NJ, and what was once a $400k home appreciates to 1.2 million over just a handful of years the tax burden goes from $7k per year to $21k per year (@1.8%). That's a jump from $550/mo to $1750/mo. If they weren't saving up for that bill, then how many people can cut a check for a sudden unexpected expense of $7k, let alone $21k or more. And then consider that the homeowner's insurance probably goes up to match the new higher property value, and the parents who retired thinking they'd be set suddenly can't afford the monthly nut. Or if the home was inherited after the parents passed, then the kids might have trouble paying the taxes, etc particularly if they were paying for their own place somewhere else.
In reply to STM317 :
I am sort of this guy. Property taxes in Illinois are high.
Datsun310Guy said:In reply to STM317 :
I am sort of this guy. Property taxes in Illinois are high.
Yeah, my house in Illinois was 11,000 a year in taxes. Stupid really, I got nothing from that.
Streetwiseguy said:Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:I know of a couple of families who lost their house after paying it off because they neglected to save for the yearly tax bills - which can often be substantial.
There has to be an awful lot more to that story. A mortgage free home, and you can't get a line of credit to catch up on the back taxes?
I am sure there was. Both stories occurred in CT. High taxes, and a decrease in income based on retiring apparently had something to do with it in both situations. And generally poor fiscal responsibility and planning. It might have to do with how tax bills are often done - at least for myself and my mother (the only two households I have solid knowledge of) the tax bills are big(ish) checks to write once or twice a year. In my case - the TWP taxes on April 15 and school taxes in early Sept. The TWP bill is easy to deal with - about $1000. The school taxes take a bit more planning - a bit under $3000. I'm fortunate in that these amounts aren't difficult to plan for at my income level and they aren't much different than other periodic bills I have to plan for (annual home and bi-annual auto insurance) so it hasn't been a big adjustment. I have a home-brewed budgeting system that allows me to plan for these sorts of things.
I believe in both cases, they already had debt issues and borrowing against the house wasn't an option. I know in one case, their children helped them, but afterwards they sold the house and went to renting (and now live with one of the children).
State and regional laws and taxes vary a lot. All I'm saying is it's something one needs to pay attention to after paying off a mortgage.
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