I just paid off my mortgage and I'm not sorry I did it

[Marie-therese Tai]

I will start by saying that I know that this is an unpopular position to take. I had been holding on to this money for a couple of years hoping to get a multifamily , but the prices in NYC are just crazy right now, I feel that we're in a bit of a bubble, and it came down to a choice between keeping it in a 1 year CD and generating 4K,or paying off my mortgage and saving 8K/year. I chose the latter. So as of today I am the proud owner of two properties that I own outright. By my calculations I'll make that cash back in a couple of years , and if as I suspect things go south in the interim I intend to take out a HELOC , it will cost me 50 -75 bucks a year plus closing costs, in return I will have the same $200K that I spent at my fingertips . Folks can talk about leveraging and deals and that might be great for some, for me I have a great deal of peace of mind knowing I am not sweating over my mortgages. As for the issue of tax benefits of the mortgage interest, well thats a moot point with the new tax plan, and I am happy to forgo that considering the fact that I saved almost $200K over the life of the loan. So yeah, I paid off my mortgage and I'm not sorry one bit. I just wonder if there are any other 'contrarian' real estate investors out there