We just applied for a mortgage refi, assuming we qualify, a 15 year term at 2.75 will get us to our goal of killing the mortgage 6 years early and will save us $181,000 (versus our current mortgage).

Wow! I hope you qualify -- that is one HECK of a lot of savings. Good luck! Let me know how it goes...

That rate is insane. I thought the 3.25% 10 year I got last November was good.

Thanks, we qualify based on our numbers we just have to track down all our paperwork and send it in this week. The big question is the appraisal, we are in South Florida, home of the mortgage foreclosure fiasco. So the required LTV for this product is 75% (normal is 80%). Plus we live in an unique historic neighborhood, each house is different so its hard to get good comps. There is one good, recent comp a couple of blocks over, so that is helpful.

We will be spending this weekend shining up the house. There is not much we can do to appraise at the number we need, but we can shine up our home, clean, attend to a couple of linger projects, add some mulch outside, powerwash, etc.

This refi would get us a lot closer to killing the mortgage.

Thanks for this journal. This is the inspiration for me. I want to pay off my mortgage by 2020 (6 years earlier) and I hope that using some tips and tricks I've read about it will be possible.

You're welcome! Glad you enjoy reading. I think the main "trick" is automation, with consistency being a close second.

Second July update: the second prepayment of the month has processed! The total balance is now $59,210. Right now the bank's online amortization chart thinks I will pay it all off in March of 2028 (as opposed to the original date, October 2034). Of course, they have no idea that 2018 is my target!!!

Do you know how close this is, gosh this is such an amazing feat to accomplish.

August has rolled on in. My garden is pretty much dead at this point from the drought in July, but then, I have been traveling enough that we never really bonded this year, anyway. Thank goodness the heat has lessened somewhat and it's now raining occasionally. Though that does mean I have to mow my lawn more often.

The regular monthly mortgage payment processed yesterday to bring the balance down to $58,987.28. Another thousand-mark, woohoo! It's nice that the principal portion of the regular payment is now big enough (thanks to these accelerated prepayments) to make that kind of progress on its own occasionally.

Made the first prepayment of August this morning to bring it down to $58,760. My goal is to hit $55,300 with the last extra payment of the year. Looks feasible at this point...fingers crossed!

A few last peaceful days of vacation, and then the school year craziness begins!

Meanwhile, the mortgage prepayment craziness continues. Made the second August prepayment to bring the balance down to $58,420. Looking forward to cracking another thousand mark next month. The bank now thinks I'll be finished in January 2028 (the original payoff date was October 2034). Heh

Various medical and other unforeseen expenses have really nibbled away at my efund this year, argh. I'm already pushing more money in that direction, but I think I will make building the efund back up a major goal for 2013...

School days, school daze...Naturally, the chaos is back on in full force at work; I'm looking optimistically forward to the chance that things might level out after the first week is over. Really hard not to go back-to-school impulse shopping! Especially when emotional events prompt me to think, "Oh, what the heck, I'll treat myself. I can afford it, right?" (Um, no. You have goals. The feeling of not reaching them will be worse than the feeling of not having this new turtleneck sweater. Stay focused, Cecily!!!)

Meanwhile, time to take another whack at the mortgage. The regular payment went through to bring the balance to $58,198.48, and I just scheduled the first prepayment to lower it to $57,973. Hello, fifty-seven-thousandses. Nice to meet you. But this will just be a fling. You're only the flavor of the month...

Hello 57ks! What's your bank's estimated payoff date showing now? You must have shaved ages off your loan with all these extra payments.

Thank you for your thoughtful post in my thread too. I am still mulling it over, thinking about goals and balance and all that tricky stuff.

Hi chasing! As of today, now that the prepayment has gone through, my mortgage balance on the bank website actually reads $57,969 -- not sure why, since Excel did the math I posted yesterday, but I'll just call it "Bank Error In My Favor" and wait to see whether it is corrected.

To answer your question: now that the first September prepayment is through, the bank thinks I'll be done in December 2027. Since the original loan amount was $87,900, and the original final payment date was 10/2034, I've taken $30,000 and almost seven full years off the loan since its inception in 2004. (I think I'll probably hit the seven full years mark later this month after the second prepayment.) Woot!

September mornings...

Whoops, sorry, don't know what's making me channel Neil Diamond. Ahem.

The second September prepayment has now been processed, lowering the balance to $57,629. The bank now thinks I'll be done in October 2027, exactly seven years short of the original payoff date.

Here we are smack in the middle of apple-picking season! Well, OK, apple cider donut season, to tell the truth.

The regular payment went through, lowering the balance to $57,400.68, and I've just processed the first prepayment of the month to push it down still further to $57,175. Getting ready to wave goodbye to $57K later this month. How do ya like them apples??