Just realized: Condo half paid off!

[Independent Gal]

I finally crossed over to the other side! More of my condo belongs to me than to my mortgage company. Hurray!

I''m irrationally REALLY excited about this!

 

[erica k]

congrats! that''s really terrific news!

 

[scarleta]

So happy for you.Go and celebrate..Great news..

 

[sna77]

Date: 5/9/2008 2:05:47 PM
Author:Independent Gal
I finally crossed over to the other side! More of my condo belongs to me than to my mortgage company. Hurray!

I''m irrationally REALLY excited about this!

how long have you had your place? We''ve had ours for a year... its very depressing the first year''s interest... I give the bank $4k each month, they knock $200 off the principal. oyyy

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Congratulations!!!

 

[neatfreak]

Totally not irrational IG!! Congrats!

 

[Independent Gal]

Date: 5/9/2008 8:23:04 PM
Author: sna77

Date: 5/9/2008 2:05:47 PM


how long have you had your place? We''ve had ours for a year... its very depressing the first year''s interest... I>

 

[Independent Gal]

Oops. Forgot half the post.

Oyy is right! I bought it almost exactly 2 years ago. Closed at the end of April 2006. I had a large down payment because of some lucky investments. I had double funding in grad school, so socked half of it away and just, well, got lucky with the socks I chose!

Since then, I''ve been throwing down every bit of loose change that comes my way, and since DH moved in, we are making double payments. I''m paying as much as I used to, and he''s paying the same on top of it. Plus, we kind of cleaned up in the wedding gift department, so we just threw about 23K down in the last 4 months (wow!) Then the handout from the IRS + an unexpected honorarium for a speaking engagement pushed us over the edge to the bright side.

If you possibly can, pay down EVERY CENT as early as possible, because it compounds very quickly as you pay down the principal, and each month you''re paying even MORE principal and less interest.

But it sounds like you have a much bigger, more expensive place than I do in the first place. 1 bedroom, 860 sq ft over here. Not in NYC, either.

 

[Independent Gal]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! I feel like celebrating! But I''m too sleepy.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Good for you, you have every reason to be excited! Congratulations...it will be 100% yours before you know it!

 

[cnspotts]

Congratulations!!! That is such an awesome feeling!
WE''ve done similarly and we see the end nearing meanwhile we''re renovating and updating a bit here there as well. It''s all coming together so nicely and we have no intentions of leaving anytime soon.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Congratulations, IG!!!! What a great feeling that must be!

I''ve been making 150% payments for the past year. I loved the feeling that we''ve been able to put a visible dent in our loan only one year in. We''re still nowhere close to doing as well as you guys, but we kept our investments earning interest, and financed 80/20, as home prices in TX just don''t rise as much as they do in other areas of the country. The 20 is very nearly half paid off, and we''ve dropped $10k on the 80 in just over one year.

Still a long way to go, but seeing how well you''ve done, I think I may bump my payments up another 20% to try and pay off that second in 2 more years.

 

[purrfectpear]

Color me envious. I pay more than $30K a year just in interest (single income and it's only a studio condo). Sigh, los angeles real estate sucks

 

[pennquaker09]

Date: 5/9/2008 10:51:41 PM
Author: Independent Gal
Oops. Forgot half the post.


Oyy is right! I bought it almost exactly 2 years ago. Closed at the end of April 2006. I had a large down payment because of some lucky investments. I had double funding in grad school, so socked half of it away and just, well, got lucky with the socks I chose!


Since then, I've been throwing down every bit of loose change that comes my way, and since DH moved in, we are making double payments. I'm paying as much as I used to, and he's paying the same on top of it. Plus, we kind of cleaned up in the wedding gift department, so we just threw about 23K down in the last 4 months (wow!) Then the handout from the IRS + an unexpected honorarium for a speaking engagement pushed us over the edge to the bright side.


If you possibly can, pay down EVERY CENT as early as possible, because it compounds very quickly as you pay down the principal, and each month you're paying even MORE principal and less interest.


But it sounds like you have a much bigger, more expensive place than I do in the first place. 1 bedroom, 860 sq ft over here. Not in NYC, either.

You know, that's basically the same scenario as me. Because I went to undergrad on scholarship, all the money that my parents had saved for my college didn't get spent. For the first entire year and a half that we lived here, we used my entire monthly pay double towards our mortgage. Nate took on extra work as a general pediatrician and we were about to pay double AND save money. At the rate we were paying would would have paid our house off in 7 years.