Comments on: What if a mortgage was not a debt?

By: ama49

ama49 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:31:32 +0000

You’re right! It’s good to have at least 3 months of savings stored up before starting to get aggressive with paying off debt…

http://www.graceforgrace.com

By: makingitsavingit

makingitsavingit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:49:29 +0000

This is an interesting topic. I agree that it’s a “necessary evil” to have a mortgage. It’s debt and as long as you have debt – you’re a slave to it. (sorry I don’t know the scripture reference for that) I would like to say one thing in reference to paying extra towards your mortgage. It’s important to have an emergency savings account. If you don’t – that’s where your money needs to go first, before paying down the mortgage.

By: ama49

ama49 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:42:04 +0000

If you talk with people of the “rich dad poor dad” philosophy, a mortgage is a liability because it doesn’t bring in a stream of income. I agree with this…it is a liability and even when it’s paid off you will owe taxes and have to do maintenance on it.

However, if one can figure out how to have another stream of income and pay off the house, then that is when the house is an asset because you do not have payments.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and for your great comments on getting out of debt.

http://www.graceforgrace.com

By: Markus

Markus — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:57:11 +0000

WOW!, Excellent work, I’m really glad I found your blog. I just love your post. Keep up the good work. Cheers!

By: gtrj

gtrj — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:11:32 +0000

I agree with Francois that we should strive to pay off our mortgages as quickly as possible (if there is no other debt).

However, I do think that since it’s a necessity, it’s an acceptable debt. Personally, I’d much rather deal with living in my own house than renting. It’s just nice to know that with proper care and planning, I can turn a small (in this market) but tidy profit for taking care of something. Wish the same could be said about vehicles, computers, etc.!

By: Lyrically Me

Lyrically Me — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:10:50 +0000

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Currently, our mortgage is our biggest debt, and one that we aim to pay off before the 30 years (We’re actually pretty good at it – extra money goes towards paying things down — which is why we have no car payments, my student loans were paid off early, and when we can swing it, an extra payment or two goes towards the mortgage payment. It’s by far our biggest monthly expense, but we lucked out with our house. We live in a subdivision where a lot of the houses are often for sale, and the houses match one of four floor plans – all nice homes – so we bought the one being foreclosed on – which for that reason was $15K cheaper to buy than any other home in the neighborhood.

By: Francois

Francois — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:41:13 +0000

Of all the debt average households have, I think a mortgage is the “least evil”, and I’d go as far as to say “it’s OK”.

However, I still think that, after you’ve managed to get out of all your other debt, and you are living debt free otherwise, you should make it a priority to pay off your mortgage as soon as possible.

Nate David Scott also had some good thoughts about buying a property here: http://natedavidscott.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/if-i-were-debt-free82/