No- it's not a thread about historical social figures or race relations in America... it's a little more personal (and pleasant) than that.

Last month My Hunnie and I made our very last mortgage payment- and we no longer share our crib with the bank!

30-year loan- paid off in full in 20 years/2 months.

Every step I take seems somehow- lighter these days.

Damn, it feels good.

Geez thought you were gonna say you got fired lol.. Congrats on free and clear crib

You know, when I saw the thread title, this is exactly what I thought it would be!

Congrats Clem! That's a huge burden lifted and it brings a great sense of accomplishment. I'm very happy for you and the Mrs. my friend!

Congratulations. I still have 24 or so years left ....

Congratulations! Awesome I cannot imagine how good that must feel.

This is such great news, congrats bud!

We're getting close and we're also planning retirements.

Congrats Clem!!!

Man that's great. Congrats.

Good deal for you! I have, on paper, a little over 8 years. Can't wait for the day I can be free like you.

You will love it, Arch.

I have no dreams/desires to buy another property until I retire.

________________

When that time comes, I fully expect that my cello will cover the price of that property, one-and done (NO mortgage).


Perhaps the coolest thing about 'grinding on this ax' for the last 15+ years (aside from the 'daily fun factor')... is that it has appreciated in value since the day I purchased it. It's virtually recession-proof, and its appreciation has outstripped the most lucrative of stocks. I plan to play for another 10 years or so. When I put it up for sale, it will easily command 6 figures.

Best thing of all.... I still own the cello My Momz bought for me when I was 12 years old. I'll be able to sit up in my retirement nest,scratching out some horrible-sounding tunes as a tottering old man... on the first cello I ever made real music on.

Get up early, drink a little coffee, play a little Bach, take a walk around my pond... and plan how I'll use the rest of my day after that. Maybe teach a student or two in town.


Yeah... it's good to have plans.

I still have about 15 years to go on my first mortgage and abut 10 on my second mortgage. Which one do you want to pay off next. I want you to get that great feeling again Clem. I'm just thinking of you buddy ad trying to help you out

Great feeling indeed , just a wonderful accomplishment !

Congrats man...

What's a Mortgage?

Got to say, that must feel good...congrats...

hmmm he didn't say NO

Good news, Clem....perfect!!!

Reminded me of the story on npr about the guy who often visited Pablo Casals' widow and one day she gave him Pablo's cello. I remember thinking who would be one of the one guitarists whose guitar would hold such value in SO many ways?

Cellos and violins-even those not played or owned by virtuosos-really do gain value in ways that most guitars don't and guitars do gain value.

I still have the first acoustic guitar I bought new for $75. It's modeled after the Yamaha, but it's a Toyota

From the first day I kept light gauge electric guitar strings on it. A friend bought the same and kept the heavier acoustic strings on his and the bridge pulled off after a year.

I have it leaning against the wall in my office/studio/junk room. It really does mean something to have an instrument for that long even if it's a cheap copy. I remember feeling like I actually could play guitar while playing on that thing every single day.

Eventually I moved on to real instruments and I bought and sold plenty, but there's nothing that I would take for that first one.

I just wanted to add something to the conversation ..... for any Dawgs who are considering paying off their mortgage early using savings or such.

Don't.

Well, don't, unless you are going to just throw your money in the bank and earn a quarter of a percent interest rate.

Your mortgage is one of the best investments you have. The interest is deductible, and can offset the returns on other investments. Interest rates are ridiculously low, and you can do better investing your money in many other higher return investments instead of paying down your mortgage.

I admit, though, that there it has to be an amazing feeling to pay off your mortgage and burn that sucker up though.

I paid off my mortgage a few years ago. I don't have any regrets. If anything, I have made home improvements with the extra cash.

Congrats Clem! It's a wonderful feeling.

Part of the reason violins, celli. etc gain in value is because besides being tools for music-making, they are also considered 'art objects.' The Old Masters (Stradivari, Amati, the Guarneri family) were just dudes who were trying to pay the bills and feed their families. Our reverence for their pieces have elevated them to the status of a Rembrandt or Michelangelo. The rarity of these instruments adds even more value, as only a fraction of their total output remains. We in the biz call it "the dead guy factor."

As each Strad sold rises in price, it affects the market all the way down. During the 80's & 90's, there was an explosion in the Chrsitie's and Southeby's market for rare old instruments, and the whole thing took off. My former teacher bought a Matteo Gofriller in 1976 for 20K. Today, it's valued at around 300 grand.

A modern Italian like mine (Naples, 1905) was still affordable 20 years ago, but I'd never be able to afford it if I was in the market today. 5 years after I took possession of it, I had it reappraised for insurance purposes. It had already appreciated in value by half the purchase price.

Rare bows are even more insane. 19th c. French bows are the Strads here. A stick carved by someone like Domenique Peccate was affordable in 1990- maybe 2500-3K. Christie's has one up for a pending auction, and it's estimated to go for between 30 and 50K. And the Granddaddy of bow makers, Fracois Tourte... well, Christie's just sold on of his sticks for... are you sitting down?... ...$182,500.

Antiquities markets are wild. It's now to the point that rank & file orch musicians can no longer afford to get in the game... and hot young aspiring soloists with promising careers are playing on instruments loaned to them by ultra-rich benefactors, who own the instruments as investments. The story behind my purchase is one for its own thread, but let's just say that it would never have happened if a number of pieces hadn't fallen into place just so.

That's our plan, as well....

Please don't keep us waiting.

Which is exactly why everyone here had a panic attack when a cello player dropped his case into the orchestra pit while they were loading in. Luckily he had a high quality hard case and nothing happened. This show didn't have access to the pit so we hired a group of piano movers to help them load in and out every night because the musicians had to climb a ships ladder to get in. While he was waiting in line, he just lost his grip on the case and it fell into the pit, roughly 3'-0". After he discovered everything was ok, he was joking that it was a far more efficient way of getting in. We have made it a point since then to decline any scenic designs that blocked the actual pit entrance...granted we decided that prior to the incident because the nightly piano mover cost was high.

Now, about that cello player (someone else) that left the theatre half way through Act II of Oklahoma over this past weekend........

Congratulations, I'm sure that feels great. I look forward to that feeling in 29.5 years, unless I pay it off earlier like you did.

First Congrats!

We payed off ours about 5-6 yrs. ago. We thought yippee. However, I'm sure were not the only ones to feel this way. But, It seems we had more money before we payed off the house. You still have the house insurance, car insurance, property tax, power bill phone bills and internet. We owe nothing on anything we have. Maybe we spend more now because we know we don't owe anything. It does feel nice not to owe on anything but you still have to pay taxes and all the other bills. What is sad is, even though you've payed off all your bills, you'll never stop paying someone. You'll never "catch-up".

I guess I should add, that now we can shop at Walmart instead of Aldi's for our stuff. It was pretty rough. With a family of 5 and only 1 income. Now were putting the girl through school so theres money going there.

Yup.

I look at it this way: til the day you die, you'll always be wearing a backpack of expenses. With this house paid off, we just took a big 20 pound rock out of the pack and left it beside the trail. We'll still be toting around 'the usuals'... but our step will be a bit lighter, for sure. A good thing, since we ain't in our 20's any more...

Congratulations. I still have 10-11 years to go on mine.

Amazing! I had no idea. That's crazy!

Grats Clem.

Think I still have 23 yrs on ours But truth is we refi'd when the economy dropped, expecting long recovery, we figured the lower minimum payment would be beneficial if things got real rough (which they did), we were 50% paid off after just 6 years when we refinanced, not to mention we dropped 2.5% in our rate in the refinance.

If I stay on target, we should be paid off in 10 years.

Thats awesome! I am counting down the days myself. 27 1/2 years.....shoot me now please!

Ugh, I just looked, and my mortgage maturity date, as of right now, is 8/39.

Congrats Clem. I dream of the day I'm mortgage free. I'm 3 years in on a 30 year mortgage that I'm on schedule to pay off in 13 more years. It'll free me from the payment in my mid 50's. At that time I'll invest back into the place with some remodeling. With the strong housing market on the west coast I've already gained $20,000+ in equity. Which is basically the interest I'd pay on the loan over the course of the next 13 years. So my investment is proving to be a solid one.
If the drought in California continues I can see Portland's home values really climb. It's already showing some effect over the past several months. Portland is still one of the cheapest large west coast cities to buy in. This is changing. I know that friends in Seattle paid twice what I did for their home. It's no bigger and it's much further from downtown. Portland still has the chance to turn a $200,000 investment into $400,000- $500,000 over the next 20 years. For this reason I'm really now trying to figure out how to get into ownership of an investment rental property in the next couple of years. Let someone else pay off a mortgage that I'll have the ability to cash out in my retirement years.
Again congrats on the freedom. Sound like you've really earned it.

Congrats, Clem. That is a middle class milestone.