This is a personal and also a financial decision. If you are sure you will stay in your home 5 years or more then pay it off. You will recoup about 50% of the value when you sell. The best way to pay it off if you can't come up with the money is to use home equity. This way you move from not having tax deductible to tax deductible interest. In the math I have done, 5 years seems to be the break even considering the high interest rate, not being tax deductible and recoup % on selling and that the first few years are almost all interest.
Check your own personal situation, but about 5 years worked for me using my bond interest rate, amount I would pay over the next 5 years, (from 2009 as that's when I did mine), ROI I could make on the money if I kept it, and assuming a 50% value if I sold. I paid mine off in 2009 and we are still in the same house, (although we are looking), so by next year I will be about even.
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