quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Now enjoy the peace of mind that comes from not living in the bank's house.

It is certainly a good position to be in. The only problem is that now you get to rent your home from the county.

huh? property taxes? He was paying them before?

5. Take your spouse or good friends (or both) out to a NICE dinner to celebrate.

Not all banks send the release to the county.

Some send it to you and you have to file it.

Sometimes the current people have a problem sending the release because the loan has been sold many times.

Easy to collect money, harder to send a clean title release.

Sometimes it is painless, sometimes not so much.

Stay on it until either you or the county has the release.

Depending on where you live and the lending institution, it varies. Just give them a call to coordinate.
Otherwise, it feels great to know you don’t have a house payment anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Okay:

1. Stop auto payments (I thought that this would be automatic since there is no balance left; I'll look into it. It's checking and mortgage linked accounts in the same bank.).

Hopefully you're not counting on your regular mortgage payment, from your checking account, to pay off your mortgage.

I usually paid my mortgages electronically, but Chase doe not allow the payoff to be paid this way

You need to determine the exact amount of your payoff, including additional fees, on an exact date. That amount can be hand delivered, cashier's check, or wired to the bank by that date. Interest is compounded daily, so you don't want to accrue additional fees with delayed delivery. When I paid off my house earlier this year, I determined the correct amount...on their website, got the check, and walked it over to the a different back. They teller verified the amount and accepted the check

quote:

4. Release of Lien and/or Deed of Reconveyance from Clerk of Court

I got an email the next day that my load was paid off and received a letter confirming same a few days later.

I checked with the Accessors office to verified the correct papers were filed.

Invite all your family and friends over for a mortgage burning party!

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:
Hopefully you're not counting on your regular mortgage payment, from your checking account, to pay off your mortgage.

I usually paid my mortgages electronically, but Chase doe not allow the payoff to be paid this way

You need to determine the exact amount of your payoff, including additional fees, on an exact date. That amount can be hand delivered, cashier's check, or wired to the bank by that date. Interest is compounded daily, so you don't want to accrue additional fees with delayed delivery. When I paid off my house earlier this year, I determined the correct amount...on their website, got the check, and walked it over to the a different back. They teller verified the amount and accepted the check

Why? The mortgage has been automatically drawn from my checking for years now. The last payment is coming up - the balance is less than usual payment amount. I'm assuming that the payment (hopefully just the balance due) will be paid automatically as usual. If not, I guess I'll call the bank. And if they overdraw, I'll call the bank as well. Although it's pretty stupid for SW not to handle such a simple exception. Billion dollar company can't handle last payment correctly - kinda scary.

Stuff like this - seems like it would be better communicated by lenders re: what to expect / do and so forth. Rather than try to learn via word of mouth from others.

I'm sure there is some variation between how banks handle mortgage payoffs...it should all be spelled out on their web site.

Chase has it under the tab, "Payoff amount" or some such.

I mentioned it to my real estate buddy and he confirmed that it cannot be done via automatic withdrawal...without causing delays and penalties.

I was lucky because Chase, my mortgage lender, had a local branch across the parking lot from my Credit Union

Took about six weeks for my actual title to arrive stamped paid in full.

I cancelled autopay a few months earlier and made the payments manually.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:
I'm sure there is some variation between how banks handle mortgage payoffs...it should all be spelled out on their web site.

Chase has it under the tab, "Payoff amount" or some such.

I mentioned it to my real estate buddy and he confirmed that it cannot be done via automatic withdrawal...without causing delays and penalties.

I was lucky because Chase, my mortgage lender, had a local branch across the parking lot from my Credit Union

Grrrr. Okay, I looked up Payoff for my mortgage. You're right, it seems that the last payment can not be made online and automatic payments are cancelled. I need to go into the lender to make the final payment.

Nice of them to give me a heads-up. How the hell was I supposed to find out? When the payment is late?

Oh well. Live and learn. At least this chapter is finally coming to a close, just a little dramatic twist at the end.

Thanks.

I have nothing to add but Congratulations!!!

quote:

Originally posted by UTsig:
I have nothing to add but Congratulations!!!

Thanks! Really looking forward to it. Hope all is well in air down country.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Grrrr. Okay, I looked up Payoff for my mortgage. You're right, it seems that the last payment can not be made online and automatic payments are cancelled. I need to go into the lender to make the final payment.

Since it is at the same banking institution, at least it's an easy transfer of funds

Folks who want to pay by check are in for a rude surprise. That is why it is usually paid off via a wire transfer...or cashier's check if you can walk into the office

quote:

Nice of them to give me a heads-up. How the hell was I supposed to find out? When the payment is late?

Mortgage companies aren't really set up for mortgages being paid off my the homeowner. The vast majority of mortgages are paid off by finance companies when houses are sold...they just call the lender, get the pay off amount and wire over funds.

I've always known because I was looking for the Pay Off amount and clicked on the procedure out of curiosity

They want a cashier's check. Go figure. Still dunno why this can't be handled automatically or at least electronically. Lender, Checking - same company. It is what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
They want a cashier's check. Go figure. Still dunno why this can't be handled automatically or at least electronically. Lender, Checking - same company. It is what it is.

Since it is at the same bank, you might be able to directly transfer funds...but you might not.

It can't be handled electronically because there is a delay between when you make the payment and when they withdraw your monies

It can't be handled automatically because they are different divisions of the company and they don't want to take out more than you need to pay off you loan and then have to refund you the funds.
Plus they'd still have to figure out how much extra interest to charge you for the difference between when they took your funds and when they credited you account...they don't want to have to get into a discussion with you about that timing.

By having you pay an exact verified amount on a date certain, that does away with any misunderstandings

You know that they charge a processing fee for the change of title, right?...it's usually less than $200

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
If you had an escrow account you’ll want to know the balance and find out how soon you can expect your money to be returned to you.

Some mortgage companies take their sweet time with this so you’ll want to stay on top of it.

Yes, there may be a balance in your escrow account so be sure to check. We had a balance, not a whole lot, but enough to make it worthwhile to get it.

About "renting from the county/township"
You've been paying them all along, so nothing new there. You want the fire department to show up if (heaven forbid) you need them, right?

Should have instructions online, you can get a payoff letter that way as well.

If they want a cashier check, go to the counter, withdraw the amount in cash, then, ask them to convert it to a cashiers check made out to them for the mortgage payout, then hand them the same check you got from them to pay it off. LOL.

It's nice to have it paid off, we did that a few years back. But yes now we rent the house from the county, DeSantis and the FL congress are looking at eliminating property taxes, the rise in tax rates in Fl has been unprecedented.

All the people moving here are driving up home values, and at the same time, increasing the governments work load on infrastructure to keep up with the growth.

Time to Hijack this thread.

I have had my house paid off for a few years now. I was talking to my Father about it and he recommended (and does this on his property) to open a line of credit against the house. He said it was recommended to him by his adviser as the best way to prevent title fraud. He doesnt use the line of credit, just keeps it open and pays the bank of few hundred a year for the service.

What are the group's thoughts on this?

quote:

He said it was recommended to him by his adviser as the best way to prevent title fraud.

But could someone hack into the bank and tap into the line of credit, somehow? They seem to do it to everything else these days.

How is title fraud committed? And to what end?

Knowing the process for committing title fraud may help identify weak links and preventative measures.

BTW: being retired and w/o income may pose challenges to opening a HELOC.

Curious.