should we pay off house

Peace of Mind does have high value ... depending upon careful thought as to what it is that provides the peace of mind.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around a hypothetical situation like this: Having $100,000 in an (insured) investment account earning 4% (capital gains over time) and also having a $100,000 3.5% (deductible at tax time) mortgage on the house and then cashing out the investment account to pay off the mortgage.

Peace of Mind to me means as much as possible not missing wise opportunities to optimize one's resources.

X3. Peace of Mind has a priceless value. Insurance and taxes can still be a burden depending on your location, so yes, every situation is different, but the principal is still the same.

Cobra21 wrote:
YES YES and YES! Only the banking industry wants you to keep loans, that's how they make their money! We paid ours off 5 years ago, a mortgage does not put money in your pocket. That's the black and white answer to your question.
Brian

2X
I'm thinking peace of mind has some value. We were at the back end of a mortgage with little interest and the "peace on mind factor" kicked in...paid it off and never looked back.

No, more money for kids

The big point is not that one idea is RIGHT or WRONG, but that it's RIGHT FOR YOU.

Buying/selling/paying off only works if you do it with your specifics in mind. If you base your choices/decisions on other people's experiences, you're much more likely to have things go wrong. That's why investing is a risk - because what Joe Blow does to get rich doesn't work for John Doe - you can't base YOUR results on someone else's reality. Learn what is the best strategy FOR YOU and ignore the rest.

pasusan wrote:

JAXFL wrote:
bbaker2001

If you own the house it will NEVER be paid off. I finished making mortgage payment a few years ago but I still owe on it... There are taxes (hundreds to thousands a year)every year, there is insurances, there are utilities, there is repairs, there is yard work, it never ends... that is why a lot of people go with FULLTIME... yea you have bills there also but not as much as owning a S&B/

This is true. We have paid everything off as quickly as possible and have paid very little in interest our whole lives.

But - the expenses are still there. I was shocked to find it costs us $10,000 per year to live in our paid off house. Just with taxes, insurance, utilities - the bills just keep coming. And that doesn't even include general upkeep and maintenance. UGH!

It does feel good to have no monthly payments that include interest... For what that's worth. :)

The one huge factor missed by many folks having the "OMG, I can't believe how expensive it is to own a paid off house" conversation is the concept of "lost opportunity cost". That being, what you could be doing with your money if it WASN'T bound up in the value of your paid off house? In my case, that money would be sitting in a mix of Vanguard index funds that have done exceptionally well for me, over the last few years, and have a well documented, long history of returning way more than 3-4%. I live in a rural area of PA. that has seen very little post recession recovery in the real estate market, and appears to be bobbling on the edge of another downturn. If I sell my paid off house and full time, I would be recovering approximately $19K. per year in expenses, and lost opportunity costs. This figure includes the investable proceeds of the sale, and shedding expenses, including extremely high property taxes, HOA dues, homeowner's insurance, snow plowing fees, yard maintenance, and the never ending repair and maintenance costs. We now snowbird, and typically spend several months on the road in spring/summer/fall. Which makes us "3/4 full-timers". At this point the biggest hold up is the wife, who is still on the fence, and fighting the "nesting urge" of wanting a place to call home, no matter how little used, and expensive it might be to keep one. She is coming around, and the house will be listed in a few weeks.:B

looking at renting house out and buying place in Klamath Falls to be close to daughter and then take off for 3 months at a time. because of her cancer, we have to come back every 3 months for full checkup/

I agree with this state ment!!!!

bbaker2001 wrote:
we, I mean ME would like to rent it out for a yr or 2 and full time. wife not so sure. we are already out 5-6 months yr. next year we want to take the whole trip. not sure if we start south and go north or north and go south.
California--AZ--east to Florida north towards Canada--West to Portland south to Ca. or is it better to go North route.

I'm not clear on your wife not wanting to rent out the house or not wanting to full-time.

One thing I'd advise is that BOTH of you need to want to full-time or it won't work.

As for your planned trip and what direction to go - it depends what time of year you'll be starting this trip. The northern states are best done May through October. The southern states October through April. Some states are borderline.

NYCgrrl

30 ft 2001 Cardinal 5th wheel
2015 Ram 3500
do not want to tow in snow. decent weather would be nice. have south for warmer, north for cooler.
traveled outside of Ca and Oregon only a few times.

we always have kayaks for water.
we are thinking of seeing Utah this fall. 4 parks.
we want to see the country. just travel

thanks