Paying off the loan is fine if you have plenty of money. But if you will then have to go get even a partial loan to put up your shop it is a bad idea. The interest rate on a new loan will be higher than you are currently paying unless you have a bad deal on your mortgage. Not to mention the fees that go along with the new loan and the hassle of going through the process of getting the new loan.

I can pay cash for a shop, which is great.

That seems to make more sense to me than paying it off just to go back and borrow the money again.
Unless you could somehow work out a better deal than you currently have. Which in this environment is highly unlikely.

to revisit the comments about creditors... when people are talking about not paying off your home in case of creditors they aren't talking about loans where payments are current. They are talking about getting sued, maybe a horrific car accident, something like that. If the judgment exceeds the insurance they can go after your other assets. Retirement accounts are protected from these sorts of things.

Depending on your interest rate, I’d invest the money and keep paying off the mortgage as others have said. A retirement Roth IRA or 401k is best.

Thus is why my farm is in a trust. The trust owns it I don't look up assets or property search and it won't show my name . When I die my wife become controler of the true and no probate. If she is able deadvat that point the kids become c ontrolers of the trust. May have been better approaches or options but it's what I did after thinking I would have to go bankrupt on medical bills from a car wreck. The guy didn't have enough insurance.

I didn't have to go bankrupt but I learned a lesson. I don't want to be in that spot again. On paper I don't want to own anything worth anything.

Pay it off!

100% of foreclosures happen to homeowners with a mortgage....nothing emotional about that.

Pay your house off. Never, ever talked to a single person that payed their house off early that said they regretted it. Have talked with several that did not pay off early when they had the chance only to unexpectedly lose a job or sustain a serious health problem that forced them out of a job. Those are real risks and that is what the other folks never add into their equations. They like to use straight math, but never figure in risk.

Pay your house off.

What can you invest in that guarantee More than 3.5% ? If he pays it off NO monthly payment is guaranteed plus mortgages aren’t compounded like interest paid to you . Pull up the loan and look at the amortization table it’s sickening what a 90,000 loan at 4% ends up costing over 25-30 years

Based on this going to cost you 134,280 bucks Up or down based on amount borrowed

Pull up the loan and look at the amortization table it’s sickening what a 90,000 loan at 4% ends up costing over 25-30 years

Which is why we chose to invest and be the earner of interest, gains and dividends. Amazing what a couple hundred per month adds up to in assets over 30 years. If lenders can make money at 4%, so can I.
Roughly you can take about half the rate paid over the length of the loan and multiply that by the principal amount. If one uses even 2.25% that is about $2100 per year or roughly 50-62K depending upon the length of the term.
Putting $200 away per month for 30 years is $72K with no return. At even 4% return that would well over 100K . Infact infation probably increases the equity in your home faster than prepaying debt if you invest even with average returns.
Bryce

If you invest in the stock market you likely own some mortgages.
Hope everyone keeps paying once the rates go up soon.

I am in the pay it off group. As mentioned by others, pay off other debts first with high interest rates and save paying the mortgage off last. Once you have absolutely no debt you can really get serious about your other financial goals. Once your final debt is paid don't borrow any more money, ever, for anything.

Financial security is knowing that everything you have is yours and no matter what you will have a place to live.

When I moved in to my house one of my goals was to have it paid off by the time I 50 .It took some determination .It required me to not have or wait for some things I would have liked to have / My thought at 50 I was still young enough to have many years left to treat ourselves to the things we wanted . I ended up being about 6 months short of my goal Sounds good except the company I was working went out of business right before I made my last payment .So after 33 years there I was now unemployed .Good news bad news No house payment to make .But no income .I was able to find another job .But at a lower wage and greater travel time . After about 2 years there things got slow and I was unemployed again That was during the Too Big To Fail Bank Crisis. Jobs where hard to find at he time .So I was unemployed for a long time .Once I got another job after about 6 months there I had a serious medical issue. So if I had not had my house paid off it would have been very difficult to get through the paying the bills and making house payments also . My idea of having money to spend to enjoy some of the nicer things in life did not work like I was planning . But I still am glad I was done with not owning my home free from any mortgage payment

Add me to this group. other than taxes, utility bills, yearly medical copays, haven't had a debt in over 25+ years. I struggled with buying a Kubota tractor, loader backhoe this spring. Couldn't decide, pay cash or zero % interest loan. The tractor cash was making money where it was sitting.

If you think you own your home free and clear, try not paying your property taxes every year.

Pay the home loan off. That way you can focus on other things. I'm not a financial expert.

I could not agree more All you do is rent the property you have paid off from the school district and any other government agency This country was established as a result of no taxation without representation .And it is supposed to be the government of the people for the people by the people .It has evolved into a government for the government of the government by the government

Always a great feeling not to be a slave to debt.

So bbw your saying instead of putting extra towards the principal to pay off early invest it somewhere? That’s crazy ! You want to get a retuning you money how’s this in 1996 we paid 84,000 fir our house interest was 7% ( no the world didn’t end) Paid 150 per month extra until we refinance at 4% anyway paid the house off in 12 years Now our house was appraised for 315,000 How’s that for an investment Plus no longer have a 800 bucks a month house payment Instead of putting money some where you hope is going to get 4 percent return why not pay off a loan that YOU KNOW is costing you interest Any interest you pay is wasted money When the crash hits and it’s coming those people that ran out a mortgage a paid for home and stuck it in a over inflated stock market or Bitcoin are going to be sorry 2008 all over again High fuel was the trigger then Now we have high everything