Same here. Paid it off last year (yippee!).
But, they’ll get us with increases in property tax in a few years, I’m betting.
They’re already doing it in Texas. The state lowered property tax rates three years ago, so the county raised my property value $20,000 last year despite the fact that property values have fallen by 20% in our county. With more delinquent foreclosures, the tax guys are squeezing those of us that pay or bills a lot harder.
They jacked ours up pretty high this year. Filed a protest ans did get it dropped some.
Of course, this was all before the meltdown so they didn’t come off near as much as what I tried for.
Let's say you took out $100,000 at 4% net (after mortgage deduction) and invested it in a safe liquid IUL program at 8% tax free. In 10 years. you'd have 200,000. If you wanted, you could pay off your house and still have the $100,000 with no tax burden.
Paying off your house is a false economy. There is no rate of return on equity. You can lose a lot of money with downturns. You can't always take it out when you need it (banks only loan money to people who don't need it-Bob Hope) and you have lost your largest tax deduction.
Best wishes!