Pay off my house or wait and refinance?

[David Pena Jr]

I’m buying my first home for 80,000 In a neighborhood that could appraise at 140,000. I got very lucky with this deal. My question is should I treat my 30 yr mortgage like a 15 and try to pay off the house as soon as possible or should I relax & pay my normal mortgage save that extra cash and still refinance 5 years later?

[Will Fraser]

Hi @David Pena Jr, welcome to the BiggerPockets forums! 

The real answer to this is going to come down to:  what are your personal goals for real estate investing and life, and which path will best lead to those?

For my money, I want to pay as little extra towards very cheap debt as possible.  So, if I'm looking at debt under 4% I'm going to put $0 additional money towards that loan.  Every dollar I put there is a guaranteed 4% rate of return, or 3%, or 2.75% . . . whatever the interest rate is.  I don't like that rate of return at all, and I don't feel it's wise to trade liquidity for a low rate of return.

That said, IF my goals were aligned with owning my properties free-and-clear more quickly then even with the interest rates being low I'd look to pay off the properties sooner.  So, back to that old "ism":  Know Thyself.