What's up today (bullchiting) thread.

You realize that most of us that own houses didn’t have all the money up front right? Just hard working with good credit. Hopefully we are debt free by 55

 

Yes, I do realize that, but one can daydream.

As of now my dad won't pay off his house till his mid 70s, but he wants to retire and move out of the city several years before. With any luck, he can get a place out of town for cheaper than he sells his for and get rid of the mortgage sooner.

 

Dream on my friend

Aim high if ya miss you are still going up

 

I was debt free until this place came along! 2 years ago, I couldn't say no and trained a monkey to sit on my back for the next 30 years. Got more than I ever imagined for the cottage and interest rates were extremely low. The place I bought was from a private seller; not listed with any realtor which saved 6% more. I ended up with 50% down without touching my investments; but since then, those same investments took a 25%-30% loss. Would have been further ahead pulling some of it out and paying down the principal back then. Who knew the damages that would be done to the economy in such short time?

Risky? Yup.

Foolish? Probably not, at least if anyone is saying that, it's not to me!

I make extra payments on the principal each month and hope to have that monkey looking for a new home in less than 10 years.

Point of all this rambling is not to boast but to show what can be done. Looking at how much I pay each month, I would NEVER have taken on this task at this age. It seems everything just fell into place. It is something that is reachable without sacrificing.

TrinitySouth99 I looked and hoped for years but finally attained my goal; you should too! Like a buddy said years ago when he took on a huge 30 purchase...."I'll always be paying on something every month. It may as well be a place I want."

 

I did same Yoop, a duplex, a quad, build lots .. buy fix sell/rent those are investments.. kind of like women ya date

my home is like the a marriage… The one ya keep

re fi 2020 because it was free $$ sub 3%
it was hard because I was 6 years from paid off

 

Make payments bi-weekly instead of monthly and suddenly you’ve made one months extra payment a year.

Us putting solar up and using the $180/month electric bill, we’ll no long have will take 8-9 years off a 30-year mortgage.

heck, just buying a pallet of 36 solar panels which you can get for $180-225 each vs $325-400 will save us $4000 which will pay for the electronics on the power wall. This right here more than doubles in savings the cost of the basic solar system just in interest expenses.

 

You would be much further ahead if that extra $$ went onto the principal each month instead of getting ahead on monthly payments.

Lately, I have been checking into DIY solar. Would like to find a pole mounted tracking array system and associated info.

Then, I can have that monstrosity sitting in my yard!

 

When you find it let us know

 

Build a woodshed with panels for a roof.

 

the payments would go to principle.

as to the arrays, it’s more cost effective to have your array broken into 1/3’s it seems. One pointed towards the sun at like morning dawn since the household is beginning it’s day and consumptions are high. 2/3 towards the south to enable full day charging etc and still work into the evenings.

Just many of the cost reviews I’ve seen on off-grid systems with no tie-in. So that’s how I’m putting our array up.

 

I have a small mortgage on this place but it is on a 15 yr loan @3%. I pay over twice what they want for the principle. The principle is dropping fast. I have no other loans, cars and cards all paid off. Insurance is paid ahead. I could pay off the mortgage tomorrow, but I want to have a good nest egg should we need it for something like extended care cost. Wife won't want for anything when I am gone.

 

we’re still young enough, the short term plans have had paying a lot of cash for things and made some new purchases that are tightening the belts, IE 2023 5.0 v8 flex fuel 1/2 ton. She’s 3 years into a 2018 ford escape. Both vehicles that should get us 15 years down the road.

our expenses after we “semiretire” will be property tax and rural water bill. The mortgage will likely also be half what it could be as we’re already paying cash towards the big construction. The pickup, skidsteer and dump trailer provide a lot of sweat equity towards the future.

there’s definitely many ways to skin those cats

 

Wild weather here today. The wind is ripping and we are going back and forth between sunshine and looking like a storm is coming every 20 minutes.

 

doing similar here. Ice forecast for today. Snow tomorrow night.

30’s then near or at subzero.

Mother Nature seems to be in menopause

 

My cousin gets up early enough to see this:

 

Cobbosseecontee?


Saw a clip on the news that the smelt shacks never made it out this year. Stinks for the owners.

 

Luckily for us, it's all rain. We got 1.35" by 9:30 this am. It was clear at midnight. Not a cloud in the sky.

Frozen ground and a lot of rain and melting 6+ inches of snow is a problem though. We are pretty much clear of those drainage issues living on a hill though.

 

Split up some red oak before the rain came in.

 

5:30ish now it’s getting light out. I’m loving it.