Joe Sangl, financial guru at my church, recently posted advice on paying down your mortgage. I’m sure we’d all like to learn how to work on eliminating this large debt looming over us. It’s a pretty monumental occasion when you buy you first house or any time you buy something that is such a large sum of money.
When Joe set out to buy his first house, it was a bit of a shocker realizing how much it was really going to cost him each month. He says he found that if he paid the scheduled payments for the entire 30-year term, he would pay more in interest than he actually paid for the house.
He looked for ways to eliminate the mortgage as soon as possible so more of his hard-earned money would go toward the principal balance. So, here’s what you can do.
Lower the Interest Rate:
Mortgage rates are still at historic lows, he says. CNNMoney has a great calculator to help you see if refinancing your home makes sense. By lowering the interest rate by even 1 percent on a $100,000 mortgage is nearly $1,000 per year. Check out Joe’s “Early Pay Off Calculator”. It will show you how much more quickly you can pay off your loan if you get a lower interest rate.