"Harvest Gold" we had that for thirty years.

I was down in Tampa a few weeks ago looking at possible second homes and was amazed at the number of relatively new homes (2000 or more recent) where people are redoing the kitchens and bathrooms, quite an expense and I wonder if they will see a return.

Kitchens and especially bathrooms are expensive. They will not see a return if they go all hog wild with granite, fancy doodads and hi-tech thingamabobs all over the place. Stainless is on the way out. I only do upgrades for personal pleasure and esthetics. If one is very lucky, very conservative and use high quality one can break even on resale. I say CAN, not WILL.

Probably because most new homes are spec homes build with the cheapest possible materials. I'm constantly amazed at the magnitude of crap that is on the market today.

congrats..

my wife has driven that very same lesson home. i only owe on my house. it does feel great.

So true. Though we do have great granite countertops in our current house. For the next one, if I have the money, I want it built exactly like a house in Germany, the kind of house where you can feel how solid it is when you open and close the doors. Probably not even possible in the US.

It's great to not have the burden of debt on your backs.

We're getting ready to dump money into a kitchen remodel. Since it's for our (hopefully) last house, we're not worried about resale. But, we are concerned about the cost since at some point down the road, we're going to fixed income.

It can be done.

Our house had a painted steel front door from the builder. Solid feeling but rather ugly. We hired a real craftsman to install a solid core wood door that we had custom built at a lumber yard that specializes in doors. I was smart enough to know better than trying to hang it myself.

He was cool to watch. He took the old door down and removed the entire frame and sill down to wall studs. Then he used large screws to hang the new frame and put down a new sill.

When he was done the door swings with ease, the door lock fits perfect. We don't have to wiggle the door or push on it to close the deadbolt. That was 4 years ago and it is still perfect. It feels like a bank vault door.

Sure it is. Ask around for who is the best (not the cheapest) homebuilder. They are few and far between but they do exist. Find people that know the difference between crap and quality and ask for their recommendations - other tradesmen, architects, building suppliers, etc. Or just buy a house built about 50 years ago.

Our first house was built in 1961 and more solid than any new house, including our current home built in 1991. It was a custom build, and everything was upsided in the theme being robust. All brick with 4' eaves to protect the windows, which were Pellas that worked like new. The floors were slate and pegged oak hardwood about 1" thick, woodwork was all beautiful Philippine mahogany. It needed some cosmetic updating but was one hell of a house. There were far fewer drywall cracks in it than in my current home, quality of workmanship was evident everywhere.

Leverage! :D

Good on you. I wish there were more responsible citizens like you in the country.

Responsible citizens are suckers, will only end up the bad guy and paying for everyone else. Still, I can't bring myself to behave any other way. I know doing the right thing is really the wrong thing in present society, but it's just the way I'm wired.

Good for you.

I've got 9 years left on my re-fi and the $500/month I saved from the Re-Fi, I'm plowing back into the mortgage to pay it off in six years (just before I "retire"). If you have say six years left on a mortgage and Re-Fi to ten you end up usually paying more in total interest.

No other debts in our house.

Funny you say that. One on our Au Pairs was Austrian and her Fathers brother was a builder.

The family all managed to make it over and the brother loved the way my house was put together (custom build in the late 60's)...but he was amazed when I took him do some sub divisions (he wanted to see how houses were built here) that were in the construction phase.

"Are they kidding?", was the comment I remember the most clearly.

To the OP, well done. I have a little CC debt but nothing else but my mortgage, which ends in three years.

I do recommend you see a certified financial planner to get some advice on how to make your money grow. Good luck!

Isn't leverage debt?

Little/no debt is a good thing, at least for my psyche. Only debt I have is one car payment and I could write a check for that but it would come out of the rainy day fund which I'm hoping to get into 6 figures in a few months (buying basses doesn't help). I'm trying to sock away a fair chunk as I'm not sure how much longer the good ride at work will continue. If push came to shove I think we could live for somewhere between one and two years on savings. If I can stay gainfully employed, the goal is to save enough to be able to buy a small house somewhere cheaper (ie not LA) so I've got someplace to "retire" to. That will take awhile though. I don't even look at the 401ks - those will do what they do and I likely won't touch them for another 15-20 years.

i know a chick about to walk away from her loan..right after she buys her new home for less money, more space, less interest.

in the long run, my gut tells me she will be ahead of me in this game called life. i just can't break my promise on the promissory note.

i keep telling myself.."slow and steady wins the race".. nice going M!! getting out from under crushing debt is no easy feat.

I'm sorely tempted to short sale my rental condo in VA after I refi my primary house in AZ. I'm losing $5k (an active loss, not a passive one) on it this year and it could get a lot worse before it gets better. At some point it just becomes a business decision of which consequences are worse - losing $300 a month when nothing goes wrong or taking a 50-100 pt. hit on my FICO for a year and not being able to get any kind of loan for about that length of time? The latter is quickly starting to look better.

Don't know if this counts but finally refi-ed the house (still have six figures in equity so no we are not upside down thank you very much).

However they are no longer giving money away like ten years ago... for and ordinary white collar guy with a five digit salary even trying to get 50% of the appraised value of the house from the bank was like pulling a porcupine out my a$$ backwards.

Good news is after that exciting experience I have shredded two credit cards and we now only owe on our mortgage, Hyundai, and $3000 on a credit line with USAA that I have put on a $500 a month autopay.

Yep No debt is a great way to live. We have paid off two of our three houses. The last one is now uder 30k and it's a rented. Credit cards get paid to Zero balance each month. and cars are bought cash.

Nice to bring the family to the kart sprint track for the day @ 50 bucks per driver and 100 bucks in truck fuel not batting an eye. We put 15K in savings this year and are looking for our next rental fixer upper.

"My strategery: When in doubt, I keep my money in my pocket. Cash only for EVERYTHING"

I totally agree, I can keep $20 in my wallet for two weeks and still have enough for lunch. I use a credit card for fuel purchases, becuase I have a diesel truck also, but I just don't buy anything for myself. I am amazed at how much co-workers spend on coffee, lunches, game tickets, and beer on a regular basis and then they think i'm rich becuaes I have a Porsche !

It is neat listening to Ramsey and the feel good stories of the callers .......it restores my hope for humanity.