September turned out to be a very special month for my bride and I.
On September 30th just before lunch we entered our bank. The manager knew why we were there. She motioned us into her office and shut the door. The document she presented to us had a bunch of routing and account numbers, along with a dollar amount… $288,391.07. We both signed it, high fived, and were on our way.
We had just paid off our house!
Our celebration was lavish and maybe a bit over the top! Lunch at Friday’s.
Hard to believe that at age 45 I finally own my home. Actually own my home.
What’s even harder to believe are the reactions we get when the topic is discussed with other people. You know the far too often casual, shallow conversations we have with others. People ask what you’ve been up to, and your answer is, “Not much” or “Same ole same ole.” Well you should the looks you get when you answer, “We just paid off our house!”
I should’ve probably expected it. I didn’t. Stacey and I have had a few conversations about it since. Instead of an inquisitive, “Wow! How’d ya do it?” The responses were more looks of puzzlement, shock, and double takes. Now don’t get me wrong, everyone we shared the news with all congratulated us. It was their body language and facial expressions that told the story. Even our good friends that made us a bet a couple of years ago, kind of winced when they heard the news. The bet was made bellied up to the bar in our basement. They were admiring an old bottle of Dom Perignon we’ve held on to for many years. Not sure how this bet would’ve been fair (since it was our champagne, lol), but our friends bet us that the first couple to pay off their house gets to open the bottle.
A year later, they sold their home in Valparaiso and moved out to Castle Rock Colorado! Taking on a big mortgage on an even bigger home!
What concerns me with the mentality of many Americans, is that enough is never enough. Paying off the house you live in now never becomes the plan, because the second you can afford a bigger house – you buy it! Previous generations made it a priority to pay off the family home. Now it’s unheard of unless you’re old.
Stace and I still have spending issues. So please don’t think I’m speaking from the soapbox. Our current lifestyle costs us more than what is necessary. We are working on the problem. In fact, starting in January I will be sharing with you the details of our personal expenses. We’re working on cutting out all the unnecessary spending and creating more passive income. When we had a ton of credit card debt, we worked on it. When we had stifling car payments, we worked on it. When we had a hitch in our marital giddy up, we worked on it. It feels good to be working on positive life changes.
I shot some video footage of us paying off the house, but I haven’t edited any of it yet. When I do I’ll share. In the meantime, here’s a screenshot of an email I received from Mint.com a few days later. The large dollar amount in Uncategorized is the wire to the mortgage company.
Here is the latest look at our current Net Worth:
From $2,137,387 in August to $2,205,645 in September. That’s an increase of $68,258.
Our cash position looked like this:
Keep in mind, this screen shot was taken before the $288,391.07 was subtracted from the account! Funny, up until we walked into the bank Stacey was having second thoughts about paying off the house. She wanted to just leave the cash in the accounts! Just in case, lol.
Have an amazing day!
Your best friend in real estate – Bart Vickrey
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