Mortgage
 

Anyone with a mortgage who does not have an escrow account who pays their taxes and insurance yearly. I am thinking I could put the escrow amount onto the mortgage principle every month and then just pay the taxes and insurance when they are due, thus paying the mortgage off in just a few years. Any comments? Thanks

We paid off our bond and left our monthly mortgage payment the same. Thus, we were putting approximately $100 extra per month on our principal. When I did the new amortization schedule, I was amazed at how much it was positively affected. I would definitely recommend doing what you are suggesting.

I basically did that with another property in Florida. I originally had a 30 yr mortgage and reduced it to 22 years by paying an extra 100 per month whenever I could. Well worth it to have it paid off early!

In most cases, you have to have an 80% or less LTV (loan to value ratio) for the mortgage company to let you pay taxes and insurance separately on your own.

we use what rent we get for our home to pay down the mortgage, so far so good

I think it depends on your goals and also can you earn I better return on your money elsewhere? For example if you are paying 4% interest on your mortgage do you have an investment that pays you more than 4%? if you do it may make a better investment choice to invest in the higher rate of return. Will you need access in the future to the extra cash you are investing in your home? if so you will either need to re-fi, take a second or sell to increase your liquidity. Of course you have to take your goals, tax impact, cash flow and liquidity needs in mind. Only you know whats best for you