The thread topic about 21% of homes w/ paid off mortgages caught my attention this morning. Curious to learn about the profile of owners in this scenario I read the entire thread with great interest.

20% of mortgage free homes is a healthy start, but the article did not expand on the type of owners. My guess is the 20% would be a combination of long term owners paying off their loans, parents buying properties for their kids, prudent Piggs, and possibly the cash purchases from investors we hear about.

Not sure how this applies, what happens when a property is purchased by business entities? Will the associated loans (if any) be visible in public records?

I was also surprised by the percentage of 20-25 year old owners without any mortgages! On the contrary, in my neighborhood the few occasions homes came on the market was because the kids could not agree on who gets the place and/or could not afford to take over the relatively low payments.

It was intriguing to read the discussion about paying off the primary residence. I still have one, only for the sake of potential tax benefits.

If possible I would like to hear about tax strategies used by folks in the forum who have paid off their mortgages? Thanks for sharing.

Personally I fall in the camp ‘it takes money to make money’, and that invariably results in using some form of debt. Fortunately the debt level exposure is dictated by a worst case scenario spreadsheet.

Thanks to all for the engaging conversation so far.