I always enjoy your intelligent, well-though-out posts, Charles. And you make a good point, as always. I’m just relieved I bought my house during a slightly depressed market 18 years ago, so I didn’t pay more than it was intrinsically worth.
It’s a great feeling of security to know my house is paid for and can’t be taken from me, and I intend to stay here until I can’t manage the work necessary to maintain it any more. Another 20-30 years, at least!
Thank you for your kind words.
I bought my first house in 1982, and replaced it in 1996, so I’ve missed all the hoopla. I did refinance late last year to take money out, so I still owe a bit (no more than when I first financed in 1996 though). Essentially I keep paying off my house and then refinancing it again. But this one was only for 10 years, so my end date is still earlier than my original 30-year.
The reason I refinanced was twofold. First, I wanted to populate some college funds to get up-front tax deductions before and in case they decided to terminate the program. Second, I figured if there really was inflation, the money I borrowed but was invested would probably keep up, and I’d be paying back with cheaper dollars.
But my loan is still less than half the current value of the house, because I wouldn’t want to risk being “underwater”.