I’m a single parent and just paid off my mortgage

[Anonymous]

Outstanding! You are very good with money and a great example for your dd. You deserve to feel proud.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! Slow and steady wins the race.

Enjoy that carefree feeling. Finally.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry you didn't refinance at 3% and get to invest

[Anonymous]

You could have refinanced at 2.5% and invested with a much much higher return rate. What is the value of your home? What city are you in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could have refinanced at 2.5% and invested with a much much higher return rate. What is the value of your home? What city are you in?

Why does any of this matter? You can’t find that low mortgage anymore and OP has paid off hers.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations op!! You should be very proud of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could have refinanced at 2.5% and invested with a much much higher return rate. What is the value of your home? What city are you in?

Can you not read? She says in the OP "I refinanced several times."

Yay, OP. Well done you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could have refinanced at 2.5% and invested with a much much higher return rate. What is the value of your home? What city are you in?

No, no no! Yes, you can take a low loan and invest to earn more, but that requires a lot of work and has risks. This is a guaranteed return, she no longer has a mortgage payment (just property taxes and insurance). That is huge, especially as a single parent!

Congratulations OP!!! This is how you do it!

Treat yourself to something this month or next and then continue saving the mortgage payment for the future (for maintenance, or just whatever). Build to a 12 month EF and then invest the rest.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Why do you think I did not refinance to a lower rate in all that time? I mentioned how I refinanced. I ended up with a 3.25% mortgage for the last 10 years of the loan. I mentioned the 8% to show that mortgage rates were even higher then than they are now.

I’m in Montgomery County in a school cluster that people here either love to deprecate or defend.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations!!! That's an achievement!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing OP. It's definitely harder to do on a single income! I'm sure it wasn't easy and hope you will allow yourself a little celebratory spending on something you enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought my small SF house in 2000 when, yes, housing prices were much lower, but interest rates were 8%. I refinanced several times, but finally made the last payment today. I didn’t make $100,000 until just before DD went to college.

I guess I just wanted to share because I’m not DCUM wealthy but managed this milestone. 25 years ago I was pretty apprehensive about this day ever happening, especially because I had a young child on my own. Not having a mortgage payment will really help in being able to retire in a few years.

Awesome! Congratulations to you! This is a huge achievement!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, OP! It sounds like you have accomplished a lot: single parenting a child to college, working your way up the salary ladder, buying then paying off your own home. Good for you!!!

+1
Well done, OP!!

[Anonymous]

congrats!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Why do you think I did not refinance to a lower rate in all that time? I mentioned how I refinanced. I ended up with a 3.25% mortgage for the last 10 years of the loan. I mentioned the 8% to show that mortgage rates were even higher then than they are now.

I’m in Montgomery County in a school cluster that people here either love to deprecate or defend.

As long as the schools are "safe", 95% of a kid's success academically comes from parental encouragement and involvement at home and expectations---the individual schools do not matter nearly as much.

Your kid will be so much more successful because you are not in debt, can help afford to help with college (that mortgage payment will go along way to helping with college!) and you obviously are smart and involved with your kid.