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Does anyone remember Mortgage Burnings? Google says "Mortgage burning was a twentieth-century custom."
My wife and I made the final payment for our house in July, and yesterday we finally received confirmation from our creditor that the mortgage was paid off. It came as a packet of forms in a full-size, non-descript manilla envelope.
We were able to pay our house off in 21 years. This was made possible by refinancing to improve our rate when the prime rate rolled around to friendly territory, and by making a half payment every two weeks. My wife was the impetus behind both of these actions. She is a killer money manager. It is my earnest hope for all the wedded unions out there that one — and trust me, it is better if it is only one — of you is this person, and the other recognizes the value in it.
So unlike in the 20th century, I immediately scanned it to PDF and put a copy in our secure cloud. And the original goes in our fireproof safe. I will ask my wife if she wants me to print out a copy of the PDF to use at a mortgage burning party. These are kind of like housewarming parties at the other end of life. You can see one in an episode of a number of that century's classic shows: All in The Family, Mayberry RFD, Eight is Enough, M*A*S*H, and other TV hits of the '70s and '80s.
Did I mention I am an unrecovered Boomer?
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These days, it's probably more important to have proof of a mortgage being paid off. Since otherwise whatever the bank/whatever has, might be considered incontrovertible proof of a mortgage if someone wanted to commit fraud on you.
And a reminder: there is no "cloud," it's just someone else's computer.
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Congrats! Truly a milestone inlife.
Now if only we could stop paying the perpetual real estate use tax for the property we own.
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Hear hear. Our home has an absurdly high property tax, as do all the homes in New York because of the state law mandating that local governments pay for Medicare/Medicaid. It takes 85% of the county budget right off the table, leaving 15% to fix roads and water pipes. Stinks.
And congratulations on the major financial event!
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A few years after retirement we relocated to Tennessee: Paid cash for the property, does that count?
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