Anonymous wrote:$1.5M mortgage at 2.625%.

You still owe more than $1.5 million even with a low interest rate. That’s a lot of debt.

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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!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

I don’t even want that kind of wealth. I don’t want my kids to value wealth above all else. I want them to value education, friendships, and strong values. They have everything they need and some things they want. That is enough.

Very hard cope.

Hmm. But are you happy? I am. I have a strong marriage and great kids.

Money only gets you so far. I know quite a few very wealthy, VERY miserable people. I am happy with my choices.

Dp but agree that you’re doubling down on the hard cope. If you’re so happy you don’t need to say it like this. And probably not on dcum lol.

DP. It's ok to say you're happy. Some people are and will mention it rather than complain about their spouses and children.

Haven't had any debt since 2011 when we paid off our house.

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Anonymous wrote:People who have $600K+ mortgages, what is your PITI and what is your salary?

$4400, $420k HHI.

1.1M mortgage - 700k HHI

5700 PITI

Anonymous wrote:$575k on a house in Fairfax County at 2.8%. Worth $900k-$950k, and will be paid off in 15 years.

$350k on our vacation home at 4.25%.

$50k in car loans. One will be paid off in three years, the other in two. We keep our cars awhile, so no plans to increase this.

No student loans. DH and I both paid them off years ago.

We're 38 and 40 with an HHI of $415k, so $975k in debt doesn't seem unmanageable or unreasonable.

We know a similarly aged couple with an HHI of $350ish and $2.2 million in debt. I couldn't fathom that.

How do you know the full extent of their HHI and debt?

$575k on a house in Fairfax County at 2.8%. Worth $900k-$950k, and will be paid off in 15 years.

$350k on our vacation home at 4.25%.

$50k in car loans. One will be paid off in three years, the other in two. We keep our cars awhile, so no plans to increase this.

No student loans. DH and I both paid them off years ago.

We're 38 and 40 with an HHI of $415k, so $975k in debt doesn't seem unmanageable or unreasonable.

We know a similarly aged couple with an HHI of $350ish and $2.2 million in debt. I couldn't fathom that.

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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!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

I don’t even want that kind of wealth. I don’t want my kids to value wealth above all else. I want them to value education, friendships, and strong values. They have everything they need and some things they want. That is enough.

Very hard cope.

Hmm. But are you happy? I am. I have a strong marriage and great kids.

Money only gets you so far. I know quite a few very wealthy, VERY miserable people. I am happy with my choices.

Dp but agree that you’re doubling down on the hard cope. If you’re so happy you don’t need to say it like this. And probably not on dcum lol.

0. House paid off, no car loans (we paid in cash) and paying cash for children's college currently.

$475,000 on a $1.7 million house
$170,000 on a $650,000 rental property

Total= $645,000 on $2,350,000 value

Also have $20,000 student loans that will be wiped out by PSLF soon

46 years old

Anonymous wrote:

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!

You are probably from family money.

I grew up very, very poor with a lot of insecurity in my life. I now never have to worry about money again. I literally never think about it. It automatically transfers into different accounts and savings vehicles, and I spend what I want, which is modest.

It has been incredibly freeing. I spend my time with my family and friends instead of worrying about managing investment property/funds. It’s wonderful.

You know why I came from family money? Because my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents could all build wealth by utilizing leverage.

I don’t even want that kind of wealth. I don’t want my kids to value wealth above all else. I want them to value education, friendships, and strong values. They have everything they need and some things they want. That is enough.

Very hard cope.

Hmm. But are you happy? I am. I have a strong marriage and great kids.

Money only gets you so far. I know quite a few very wealthy, VERY miserable people. I am happy with my choices.

Mortgages:
- 500k on a 1.5 M house we live in
- 350k on a 750k starter house we are renting out
- 150k on a 300k apartment in Paris we are renting out.

Car:
- 30k left to pay on one car (other car paid off)

No credit card or student debts

TOtal: 1.03 M debt for 2.65M assets (counting depreciated two cars)

$1.4M owed on primary residence mortgage at 2.6% fixed. House worth $3.5M. This debt is a fraction of our net worth. We are in no hurry to pay the mortgage off at this interest rate. We own other rental properties with no debt attached to any of them. We carry no other consumer debt or student loans or any other financial obligations other than living expenses. We don't have a hard time sleeping at night with this mortgage, in case the snarky up thread posters have an issue with this.

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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.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

Not in the DC area, huh?

I don’t know where that poster lives but you can find fixer-uppers in my Silver Spring neighborhood for $400-450k.

Context is important. Just because someone can currently find a home somewhere in the DMV doesn't mean it likely that a person discussing a paid off home is from the DMV.

I wish these posters who stumbled on this board from other areas would preface their location in their response.

Yes, I am. We bought fixer upper that you’d never buy and diy most of it except roof and siding. After a few years refinanced to 15 from a 30 which kept our payment the same but we paid in a few hundred extra each month. Then we recast a few times and always paid the same amount with more going to principal. Not hard to do.

I'm in Arlington. We bought a house for $600,000 in 2003 and were able to put $150,000 down using equity from a condo we bought when we first got married (those shot up in value around here in the late 90's), we refinanced to a 15-year in 2010 when rates were down to about 3 percent--so our payment went up--and now we will be paid off in about 2 more years. People who bought in the DMV from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s benefitted from a big run-up in prices and low rates for refinancing in the 2010s and if you didn't take a lot of money out, you could be paid off or almost paid off by now in your early or mid-fifties.

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

Not in the DC area, huh?

I don’t know where that poster lives but you can find fixer-uppers in my Silver Spring neighborhood for $400-450k.

Context is important. Just because someone can currently find a home somewhere in the DMV doesn't mean it likely that a person discussing a paid off home is from the DMV.

I wish these posters who stumbled on this board from other areas would preface their location in their response.

Yes, I am. We bought fixer upper that you’d never buy and diy most of it except roof and siding. After a few years refinanced to 15 from a 30 which kept our payment the same but we paid in a few hundred extra each month. Then we recast a few times and always paid the same amount with more going to principal. Not hard to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We paid off our house and it’s freeing so we can pay for other thing like medical. The difference is living under our means. Our house is ver small and under $400k, yours is worth three times what ours is.

Not in the DC area, huh?

I don’t know where that poster lives but you can find fixer-uppers in my Silver Spring neighborhood for $400-450k.

Context is important. Just because someone can currently find a home somewhere in the DMV doesn't mean it likely that a person discussing a paid off home is from the DMV.

I wish these posters who stumbled on this board from other areas would preface their location in their response.