Yes, home ownership is a full time job! There is always something to do, repair, replace, clean, fix or buy. But after almost 30 yrs of owning our own home we would never rent again. We knew that paying off our mortgage before I retired, or shortly thereafter was an important part of having a secure retirement. If we hadn't done so we wouldn't be able to continue to afford to live where we have both lived all our lives. The rent is out of sight here in Sonoma Co. Even the most ratty 1 bedroom apt commands at least $1500.00 per mo. rent. Since we have our home pd for we just have the property tax and HOA dues as a monthly expense, which is way less than the $2,000.00, or more that it would cost to rent a comparable home. Granted, we do have to pay for any interior maintanance, the exterior maintanance is covered by the HOA. And we have replaced our water heater, all the faucets, sinks, carpets and kitchen and bathroom flooring, windows, front door, all the interior door hardware(because we wanted a change), the stove and refrigerator. But these expenses have been spread out over 22 years of ownership, and haven't been crippling financially.
The most important thing any mortgage holder can do is PAY EXTRA towards the principal each and every mo.! This works out more effectively than one big extra payment per year because the interest charged is being correspondingly lowered every mo too this way. But if one can only manage the one big extra payment per mo. that is still better than paying only the reg paymt amt. We pd 1/12th extra pymt per mo., every mo. Also, when we got the PMI dropped, we added the that amt. extra to the paymt every mo. too. I also kept a running tally of what the principal bal was at all times and how much the monthly interest charge was. As soon as we reached the point where the mort interest and prop tax, combined with any other deductable exp weren't enough to be more than the IRS stand, deduct. amt. we paid that sucker off with funds we had been saving for just this purpose. And, yes this did require discipline and sacrifice, but there is no comparison for the peace of mind that a paid for home gives you.
And at the end of the mortgage, instead of a fist full of rent receipts we have a nest egg worth over $300,000.00. If we should ever reach the point where home ownership is too much for us, we can sell and the nest egg can easily pay for housing for the rest of our lives.
Eddie
