$135k mortgage. $168k to pay it off in 20yrs?

[rh71]

You can look at it this way too...

mortgage (incl. property taxes) / 30 days = cost per day to live in your house.

$104/day for us (or $38k/year) to live in a 2700sf 5bd/4.5ba in a safe suburbia with good schools neighboring NYC. On the high side because of taxes, but it's do-able especially considering the higher salaries. The "HCOL" associated with housing here isn't exactly killing us.

We only bought 7 years ago, but when we go to sell, we will have gained maybe $150k on sale but negated due to mortgage interest & taxes. Still not very much spent considering we will have been here for over a decade. Oh yeah, we'll need replacement housing too.

 

[JEDI]

your $24k payoff is only off by $4k (you only owed $20k this month using my guestimate dates) so I'm pretty sure these numbers are close. It's crazy to think you paid $70k less interest than you did and not realize. Don't forget the 2 closing costs either.

Wait a sec...
$900x12months x 7 yrs =$75k
$700x12months x 13yrs =$109k
Plus I wrote a $24k check as the final payment.

75+109+24 =208k I paid (?)

So I couldn't pay $109k interest on top of the $135k loan.
I only paid $73k on top of the $135k?

 

[SNC]

It's a wonderful feeling. We bought within our means and paid off our place in 17 years. 120k with a 65k second to build out my office space on the property. Going to sign papers first of next month on a 100k 8 year loan to redo windows, roofs on both buildings, new flooring upstairs, garage, outdoor kitchen, and a few other goodies if funds allow.

 

[rh71]

Wait a sec...
$900x12months x 7 yrs =$75k
$700x12months x 13yrs =$109k
Plus I wrote a $24k check as the final payment.

75+109+24 =208k I paid (?)

So I couldn't pay $109k interest on top of the $135k loan.
I only paid $73k on top of the $135k?

Original loan for $135k @ 6.75% for 30 years paid at $875/mo. for only 13 years comes out to $85k total payments, of which $70k was interest.
Your refinance for $120k loan @ 4% for 15 years comes out to about $887/mo., not $700. Paying that for 13 years means $159k total payments (includes your ~$24k), of which $39k of that was interest.

$85k + $159k total payments = $244k total paid toward loan
$70k + $39k total interest = $109k of that $244k was for interest alone

If you're going to calculate total paid against it's worth, you can't forget the amount you put down before the loan (and closing cost) too.

 

[JEDI]

Original loan for $135k @ 6.75% for 30 years paid at $875/mo. for only 13 years comes out to $85k total payments, of which $70k was interest.
Your refinance for $120k loan @ 4% for 15 years comes out to about $887/mo., not $700. Paying that for 13 years means $159k total payments (includes your ~$24k), of which $39k of that was interest.

$85k + $159k total payments = $244k total paid toward loan
$70k + $39k total interest = $109k of that $244k was for interest alone

If you're going to calculate total paid against it's worth, you can't forget the amount you put down before the loan (and closing cost) too.

the 6.75% loan was for 7yrs.

and how did you get $85k?
$875 x 12 months x 13 years = 136.5k

even if it's 7yrs, $875 x 12 x 7 = 73.5k.

 

[TallBill]

Would have done better renting an apt and investing the $ in index funds?

Probably not. How much would you have paid on rent all along?

 

[hardhat]

What was the down payment?

 

[rh71]

the 6.75% loan was for 7yrs.

and how did you get $85k?
$875 x 12 months x 13 years = 136.5k

even if it's 7yrs, $875 x 12 x 7 = 73.5k.

You would care about the timeline more than me so plug in your numbers into the XLS I linked to and work it out since you have an idea now.