Anonymous wrote:Bought in 1973 for $72K; sold in 2019 for 1.4M. Enjoyed almost 50 years in a wonderful neighborhood; used the $ from sale to buy a lovely condo. It feels great.

Interest rate on 1973 purchase wasn't low - maybe 8%? But as you can see it wasn't a bad choice.

Just don't call us boomers; we're older than that.

Good for you! Buy and hold is the way to go for real estate.

Anonymous wrote:One of the luckiest financial events of my entire life.

Similar. I took out 2x the mortgage than I needed to to be able to buy a second home in cash. Primary home has almost doubled and secondary home has tripled. I rent our secondary home so that has been a super lucky investment. Primary home doesn't generate money and takes money to run, so I'm less impressed by this stroke of luck.

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Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

NP. What are you referring to? That they could have kept the % for 15 (or even have gone for 30) and invested the extra payment money in the markets to make more?

If so, not everyone is comfortable investing in stocks and/or bonds. I think he/she has done great.

I think PP was referring to the foolishness of paying extra on a 2.875% mortgage.

As Michelle Singletary always says, "Some people treat debt like it's a pet."

Me, I love being debt-free.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

NP. What are you referring to? That they could have kept the % for 15 (or even have gone for 30) and invested the extra payment money in the markets to make more?

If so, not everyone is comfortable investing in stocks and/or bonds. I think he/she has done great.

I think PP was referring to the foolishness of paying extra on a 2.875% mortgage.

As Michelle Singletary always says, "Some people treat debt like it's a pet."

Me, I love being debt-free.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

NP. What are you referring to? That they could have kept the % for 15 (or even have gone for 30) and invested the extra payment money in the markets to make more?

If so, not everyone is comfortable investing in stocks and/or bonds. I think he/she has done great.

I think PP was referring to the foolishness of paying extra on a 2.875% mortgage.

For the peace of mind of owning your house in Chevy Chase outright? Priceless. This federal employee is going to own a $1.8 mil home plus have that federal pension and over $1 mil tsp by around age 50 after starting with very little and not making more than $160k, hardly very little financial sense.

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Anonymous wrote:How do you think it feels? Double the taxes, double the insurance, double the cost to invite a repair person out.
Was I supposed to say I'm happy? I don't plan to sell for a long time.

+1. You don’t realize the gain until you sell. If you are smart, you stay in the house until you die and then your kids benefit.

Your property taxes doubled in how many years and your insurance double? Is your house next to a river on a cliff? Unless you bought 30 years ago none of this is true and if you bought 30 years ago you’re probably paying a $3K PITI for a big colonial in Chevy chase, so…

Anonymous wrote:Renovation costs have gone through the roof so we are just living with our 90’s kitchen and baths. But still it feels great. We switched to a 15 year mortgage back in 2016 so in 2031 we are mortgage free. I know DCUM says to have a mortgage forever but we are so excited to spend that extra money on fun stuff. We will be empty nesters and retirement funds are on track, so that saved mortgage money will become our travel/eating out budget. Woohoo!

Same here. We bought a nice, big 1990s built house in Alexandria, VA 7 years ago. Our houses is paid off ( we had money for a huge downpayment from previous house sale). However, the house is somewhat dated ( old bathrooms), deck, fence. The cost of the updates is huge, and we decided not to bother. We have school aged kid, with one spouse semi-retired. We also love to travel, and now that our child is old enough and ready for more international travel, we plan to do so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

NP. What are you referring to? That they could have kept the % for 15 (or even have gone for 30) and invested the extra payment money in the markets to make more?

If so, not everyone is comfortable investing in stocks and/or bonds. I think he/she has done great.

I think PP was referring to the foolishness of paying extra on a 2.875% mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

NP. What are you referring to? That they could have kept the % for 15 (or even have gone for 30) and invested the extra payment money in the markets to make more?

If so, not everyone is comfortable investing in stocks and/or bonds. I think he/she has done great.

Bought in 1973 for $72K; sold in 2019 for 1.4M. Enjoyed almost 50 years in a wonderful neighborhood; used the $ from sale to buy a lovely condo. It feels great.

Interest rate on 1973 purchase wasn't low - maybe 8%? But as you can see it wasn't a bad choice.

Just don't call us boomers; we're older than that.

Renovation costs have gone through the roof so we are just living with our 90’s kitchen and baths. But still it feels great. We switched to a 15 year mortgage back in 2016 so in 2031 we are mortgage free. I know DCUM says to have a mortgage forever but we are so excited to spend that extra money on fun stuff. We will be empty nesters and retirement funds are on track, so that saved mortgage money will become our travel/eating out budget. Woohoo!

Anonymous wrote:18 years ago I bought a starter home at 6% interest but it doubled in value when I sold it 10 years later. I used the proceeds to pay off all of our student loans and put a big down payment on another house in the suburbs. I got a 2.875% interest rate for 15 years and have been paying extra so I’m almost done with my mortgage. Somehow I’m a lowly federal employee sitting on a $1.8 million house in Chevy Chase nearly fully paid off. It feels great, and I’m sure no one knows when I take the metro downtown with my brown bag lunch like the average schmo. Lots of luck.

It troubles me that our federal employees have so little financial sense.

It feels amazing but i can't tell anyone

Anonymous wrote:How do you think it feels? Double the taxes, double the insurance, double the cost to invite a repair person out.
Was I supposed to say I'm happy? I don't plan to sell for a long time.

OMG, here let me pick up my teeny tiny little violin....

I can't figure out if OP is gloating or incredibly jealous.