Paying Off Your Mortgage Fast in Southern California

Orange County, CA Real Estate Podcast with Torey Severino

There are many options to consider if you want to pay off your mortgage early. The first is by making one extra payment per quarter. You can also apply things to your mortgage like a refund check or any additional money that came from a tax refund.

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How do you pay off your mortgage early? There are a few different ways to consider. For this scenario, let’s use the average $220,000, 30-year mortgage at a 4% interest rate.
If you were to make one extra payment per quarter, you would shave 11 years off your mortgage and save $65,000. If you’re in California and don’t have such a small mortgage and can’t afford to do that, but you have a property that you would like to pay off early, you can divide your average mortgage payment by 12. You can also make a 13th additional payment, or make two additional biweekly payments per month. Any of these options can save $24,000 and shave four years off your mortgage.
If you have additional money that comes in from a tax refund, you’re getting a refund check, or you get a raise or some other type of bonus, you can apply any of these toward your mortgage. You can also take any additional monies you have and round up your mortgage payment on a monthly basis.
Any of these methods will pay off your debt faster and save you both time and money. Make sure you contact your lender directly to see how you can apply that additional money toward the principal. You don’t want it to be applied toward the interest of the loan or the next month’s payment. You also want to make sure your lender doesn’t charge you any prepayment penalties in doing so.
You can also consider refinancing, or just pretending that you did. If you’ve already taken advantage of the great low interest rates that we have right now, you can pretend that you’re refinancing again by saving the closing costs, the appraisal, the title of the escrow, and any points you may pay the lender, and just pay the longer-term loan off.

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You can make extra payments, refinance, or downsize.

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Your last choice is downsizing to a smaller home. We’re seeing a lot of sellers sell their larger home, pay off their mortgage, and then either pay for their next home in cash or buy a home with a smaller mortgage and take the additional monies. With that, they can buy an income-producing property, such as a rental unit, where the tenants are paying their mortgage by paying rent.
In sharing the endorsement of Dave Ramsey—America’s trusted voice on money—I can assure you that choosing any of these options will work for you. If you have any questions, please give me a call or send me an email you so I can help in any way I can. Take care and have a great day.