How much debt you have? Mortgage and student loans included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:800k mortgage on a 1.4 house. Nothing else.

Nothing else, says the person almost a million dollars in debt!

they didn't say anything about their total net worth, even setting aside the equity in the house which more than covers their debt. You do understand how 800k in unsecured debt (credit cards, student loans) is very different than a loan on an asset where they still have more than 40% equity?

I've got a 1.2 mortgage on a 2.2M house at a 2.5% rate, no other debt. Plenty of assets elsewhere. and to answer someone else's question, PITI is 7100.

This. We have $700k in mortgage debt, on a house worth about $1.3m (or something like that, it may be more, prices are going nuts these days), at 2.625% interest, and no other debt. I have no intention of paying it off before retirement, or even after I retire, at that rate. I suppose we could have prioritized paying it off, but that would have been supremely ill-advised, both in the abstract and as life turned out - we need the greater liquidity to pay for some costly medical treatments and therapies.

The anti-debt evangelicals are just so myopic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

Also get to avoid the risk of retirement and all that boredom!

Right, lord knows it’s better to retire with a lower net worth and no mortgage than to have a higher net worth and a mortgage…

I don't plan to have a mortgage in retirement: I can rent out my current house for much more than my monthly mortgage payment, or sell it, and I will live in my second paid for house I will buy for cash.

[Anonymous]

0 for school
$15k for house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Nothing to be proud of. You poured money into an illiquid vehicle that was likely to appreciate anyway and you could take out extremely cheap debt to cover, missing out on putting all that extra free cash flow into the stock market, which has had a massively historic run up, nearly doubling. You’d have enough cash in the market now to more than pay your house note and would be sitting on - 2.5%-3% rate.

You lost millions in net worth. But at least you can brag about being debt free!

Also get to avoid the risk of retirement and all that boredom!

Right, lord knows it’s better to retire with a lower net worth and no mortgage than to have a higher net worth and a mortgage…

I don't plan to have a mortgage in retirement: I can rent out my current house for much more than my monthly mortgage payment, or sell it, and I will live in my second paid for house I will buy for cash.

And by not utilizing debt, you’ll be poorer for it.

[Anonymous]

$550k on a $1.5 million house.

$60k in credit cards though

Job loss, costly and unavoidable pricey home repair, sick child, sick DW all in the last year.

Working on renting the house out and moving to a small apartment to try and tackle the debt, or at least stop the bleeding.

[Anonymous]

$500k on a $750k house. But we kept refinancing down to %2.5.
No student loans

[Anonymous]

440K left on mortgage. Bought a condo in NW DC in 2020 when most others were leaving that kind of housing. That was our chance to get on the property ladder in DC and we didn't/don't have kids so we jumped at the chance to buy with those rates. Got 2.8% so not in a rush to pay it down.

No student loads, card, or credit card debt.

DH and I are 31.

[Anonymous]

$355k in a mortgage and maybe $37k in my car. We're both 46 and make $320k a year.

[Anonymous]

About $325K in mortgage debt. That's it. We buy cars in cash, neither had student loans. 40 years old.

[Anonymous]

$0. Paid off mortgage in 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

Did you have family money?

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Did you have family money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here, how did you pay off a 1M property by 35 on a 250K HHI?

We made more money then. When we started a family we stepped back from biglaw so we could raise our children. Very deliberate move, avoiding the golden handcuffs. DH is an academic, I work a part-time, very senior position in house.

DCUM is very HHI-motivated, though. We specifically chose a comfortable life with lots of flexibility instead of maximizing income.

[Anonymous]

Zero, 50 but worked hard to pay off the mortgage early but live way under our means in a small, cheaper house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people have such low mortgage balances in the DC area? Are the people responding people who have owned their homes 20+ years?

I think this thread is getting more responses from people pleased with their lack of debt.

Like me! Zero. Paid off mortgage on $1m property by age 35, paid off $75k student loans by age 27.

I value a debt-minimal life because it allows us to be able to afford private school comfortably on a 250k HHI, as well as decent travel a few times per year. We pay cash for vehicles.

Did you have family money?

No.

And to be clear, we are very aware of leverage. I am not interested in that strategy/way of life. It is not important to me.

We are very well-situated for retirement/college/etc. we will also both inherit assets later in life, but even if we don’t we will be fine. Our jobs are completely secure.