Our mortgage is no more. 🙂 Yep, gone! Both of them. 😀
When we moved up here to Ballan, neither Martin nor I were sure of how things would go. We were nervous as to how 2 city people would cope living in rural Victoria (Australia) and how the commute to the city would work out, how we would go moving away from friends and what we knew. We had initially intended to rent for 12 months but we were unable to find a rental property in Ballan to suit our needs (in fact there were precious few rental properties available at all) and so we decided to look to purchasing a house. Houses in Ballan are half as expensive as they are in the city, particularly inner suburbs like Spotswood, hence we were able to use equity from the city house to secure a second mortgage in Ballan.
Our old house has been leased out to tenants since January 2013, covering the mortgage repayments, which allowed us the option to move back to the city if things didn’t work out but after 18 months living in Ballan we have both realised how much we LOVE our life here. 😀 Moving back was not going to happen and so, after much discussion about our options we decided to sell our city house.
The discussion revolved around keeping an investment property with mortgage covered by rent versus being debt free. Both are without debt in a way, one based upon assets equalling more than our debt, the other being without any debt but less assets. In a society coming perilously close to economic collapse (growth cannot continue forever) we felt that perpetuating growth, even if only with a single investment property, wasn’t right for us. We liked the idea of owning 100% of our semi rural property and saying that enough is indeed enough. Our little slice of paradise is enough for us. :). In addition the rental property was forever requiring maintenance which reduced rental income and was a nuisance too.
The house went on the market for auction but an offer was made and accepted and the house was sold. 😀 After a few frustrating but unavoidable delays we settled on the sale on June 30th. 🙂
We’ve ended up with a little extra cash in the bank account which is a real blessing and we are using this money to invest further into our property with solar panels and water tanks as well as the deck and orchard. I feel extremely blessed. 🙂
Rabid Little Hippy 
Jessie that is wonderful – congratulations!
We too have a rental property plus the one we live in and our debts for both properties sit uneasily with me so I can really appreciate what a relief it must be to not have to worry about ‘what ifs’.
At the moment I am trying to get hubby totally on board with a drastic debt reduction drive but given he has just spent the weekend away at a school reunion i dont need to tell you how well that is going 😉
It took me a fair bit of time to convince Martin, much of that time taken to work out exactly what it was that drove MY need to sell the other house. It wasn’t until I worked out that I was against a growth based economy yet I was in a growth cycle with our income and properties that I was able to pin it down. We could have said we were debt free before as our assets were worth more than our debt but now we are more asset poor with only 1 we have access to. It’s a matter of perspective I guess. Good luck convincing your hubby. 🙂
Yes, well done indeed!! A load off your minds and knowing that you can go ahead where you are and make it your lifeboat. I’m so chuffed for you.
It’s years since I had a mortgage (I’m nearly 71 after all 😦 ) and in those days it wasn’t very big (although salaries weren’t then, either!), but I remember the feelings of joy when I finally paid it off. Like being freed from prison.
It is a load off. We are free. 🙂
Hi- I’ve been reading your blog for a while now but finally got the courage to comment :).
Congratulations on the mortgage(s). My partner and I are currently on our first but planning and saving towards making a shift to rural living as soon as possible. We’d considered just selling our current house outright, but you’ve given me some ideas here!
We were fortunate that we had some equity we could borrow against. It was a good back up and allowed us to suck it and see. The maintenance on 2 properties was frustrating though.
And welcome and thanks heaps for commenting. 🙂
Awesome! congratulations.
Thanks! 😀
That is truly fantastic!! How we would love to get rid of ours. Well done to you both, what joy!
Excellent Ms Twinn…and now for stage 2…Ballan the magnificent SHALL go to the ball! 🙂
Congratulations, Jessie! How good that must feel! Looking forward to hearing (and seeing pics of) your next stages . . . ~ Linne
This was a nice post to come to for my first visit 🙂 Congratulations on both counts – no mortgage and the moral fibre to know that one property is enough!
Thanks Pauline! And welcome. 🙂
Thats fantastic!! Can imagine the joy it brings & relief of knowing you own what you own wholeheartedly. Keep living the dream & making it real. Xxx
Relief! A LOT of relief. 🙂 Thanks Miss A.
Congratulations!!! How exciting. You’re right, it’s so hard to get out of a growth mindset when you live in a society that is so propelled by that way of thinking. I am constantly having to “check back in” with my priorities in life, to avoid unwittingly being swept away by societal values and expectations.
Here to a mind free of all the worry that is attached to having debts!
Society can catch us so unawares sometimes. I was stunned to realise we were actively pursuing exactly what I was actively working against. 😦 I’d been trying to explain my main reason for wanting to sell the house but I couldn’t articulate it. I didn’t really know it myself but my instincts knew. When I realised that we were keeping alive the myth of growth being acceptable I had my reason and it made total sense to Martin too. It was a real eye-opening moment. 🙂
Being debt free is slowly sinking in. 🙂
Hurray, at last! I can yell it from the mountain top. You have finally announced it and i can breathe out. Im not good with secrets. I want the world to marvel at how clever my dear friend and hubby are and of course my good fortune (cause its all about me) to be in their close circle. Yeah!!!! Im so happy to room has no roof, and im clapping because happiness is the truth.
Lol, you’re a card! But yep, that song fits nicely. 😀
Oh my goodness, i just posted a comment on this. I didnt see your post until just now in amoung a thousand electronic sales emails and ebay items for robert.
So Happy!!!
Liberation!
Indeed! 😀
Holy Guacamole…that must feel good! My husband was talking about getting an investment property if we ever paid this one off early, and I felt uncomfortable with the idea too. If we couldn’t say no to having more than our share – then who would?
He may have talked me around however, if was a house for the kids to get them started. But who knows? Our kids may not want to live where we could afford to buy a second house. Safe to talk about while its not actually a reality though. Because I think if we could free ourselves of this debt, I wouldn’t want to get into more.
I know I would never be in a hurry to go into debt again. I would never say never but it would have to be an exceptional reason. As you say though, talk is safe. 🙂
Well done…….. I wish I could do the same, but we’ll have to sell to achieve that. Then we’ll start again in Tassie debt free this time.
We should have been debt free, but the stupid building boom that started ~2012 made the cost of everything rise to ludicrous heights, with things like concrete and steel and timber doubling in price while I was [owner] building…… we were so lucky to get our land for a song before the madness started….
Hi rabidlittlehippy. Well done – an excellent achievement and you’re in good company too. What a lovely blog. Keep up the good work.