Dear Mortgage, The House is Mine!

by Melanie

Hey debt fighters! Today we get to share in a celebration as Steve Stewart writes a Dear Debt letter to his mortgage. Steve is a fellow debt hater turned Financial Coach over at SteveStewart.me and is about to launch a new podcast about how to have “No Debt, No Credit, and No Problems”.

Dear Mortgage,

I remember meeting you in September 1999. I thought I understood you and all your tricks. What I didn’t understand was what you would become when you matured: Part of the 5/1 ARM Club.

It wasn’t until 2003 that I woke up and learned what was going on. The 5/1 ARM Club was a temporary thing, a fad – wasn’t it? That’s why my wife and I worked so hard to convert you into something more traditional – a fixed rate mortgage. BTW: Thanks for losing rate! It helped a lot!

As I learned more and more about money, I realized your friends were thieves! The car loan and credit cards were stealing our wealth. It was too easy to swipe for anything I wanted without stopping to think if it was actually in our budget. And the car loan never made sense to me either. I was just so stupid back then and thought debt was the only way to buy a car. #dumb

You weren’t happy when we banished them from our lives, especially since it allowed us to pay cash for the kitchen remodel and new windows instead of getting you a life partner: the HELOC and I just couldn’t hit it off!

Now it’s time for us to say goodbye. I know you didn’t do anything wrong – you stayed predictable and dependable the entire time. But the house will be so much brighter without a cloud of debt hanging over it. You want the best for us, right?

What? Wait. Hold on…stop it…STOP IT! I won’t listen to your excuses anymore!

  • No, we won’t keep you around for the mortgage interest deduction. That’s just bad math.
  • Emergencies? Seriously, you don’t think we’ve thought of that already?
  • Oh no you did NOT just throw the “You could borrow at low rates to invest for higher returns” argument at me! There will be more money to invest when my wife and I are the only stakeholders in the ownership of this house!

Look, nobody is blaming you – it’s me.

I think I told you: I’m a saver, not a debtor.

The house is mine

The doggone house is mine

Don’t waste your time

Because the doggone house is mine

Sincerely,

Steve Stewart

Melanie
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9 comments

Liz December 18, 2015 - 7:38 am

Love it! Congrats to Steve! Loving all the debt free stories on here lately. #motivationstation

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Melanie December 18, 2015 - 7:55 pm

Ha, I know, right? It just worked out that way, too!

Reply
Roz December 18, 2015 - 11:19 am

CONGRATS TO STEVE + FAMILY!!
#debtsucks

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Melanie December 18, 2015 - 7:54 pm

Woo hoo!

Reply
Rob @ MoneyNomad December 20, 2015 - 6:22 am

Congrats on taking out that mortgage! Eliminating debt comes with a tremendous feeling of freedom. Good luck starting with the podcast!

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ElleX December 20, 2015 - 7:49 am

CONGRATULATIONS on paying off the mortgage!!!!! (As a HUGE Michael Jackson fan, I caught the take off of “The Girl is Mine” at the end..love it!!! Lol)

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Natalie @ Financegirl December 21, 2015 - 5:29 am

Congratulations!! This is awesome! I am so far in law school debt that owning a home seems like a million years away. It’s pretty interesting to read your debt letter – way to go!!

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Kalie @ Pretend to Be Poor December 21, 2015 - 11:24 am

I love this! We are getting close to paying off our mortgage–about 9 months to go I hope. We definitely hear and read a lot about why we should keep it around, and I agree it could make sense from a purely mathematical standpoint to invest the money. But it feels like that money isn’t really ours if we owe it elsewhere, and we just want to be done with debt. Great job, Stephen!

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Preston December 22, 2015 - 12:03 pm

#someday sigh..

Reply

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