So we've been talking about taking
your 30-year mortgage down to a 15
and some of you are thinking, "That's impossible, Rachel."
And I'm here to tell you, anything's possible
if you believe, you guys! (laughing)
So, I brought in Cole here to share her story
because she did this, she's like a true-life example
of going from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage,
and you did it, didn't you?
- Yes.
- And I'd like to point out, too,
you got a little bump— (laughing)
a little baby bump. - Yes.
- She's pregnant! We like babies around here.
Okay how far along are you?
- 36 weeks.
- 36 weeks. Is it your first?
- Yes.
- First.
- First, first little one. - Yes.
- So fun, which makes this whole story
I think even better because— - Exactly.
- This baby's gonna experience a 15-year mortgage house
and not a 30-year, so. (laughing)
- Exactly. (laughing)
- Okay, so talk to me about your home-buying process.
- Okay. - When was it
that you first bought your home, what was your situation,
were you single, married? Tell me everything.
- I purchased my home in August of 2005.
- Okay.
- I closed on my house two weeks before
I graduated from college, had roommates
who helped pay my mortgage and everything.
- So what made you buy a house in college? I'm curious.
- I didn't want to rent and, you know,
I had the down payment sitting there.
- Yes. - 'Cause I worked
full time the entire time I was in college
and just kind of wanted that freedom
away from home, away from renting.
Like I said— - You had money
saved up for a down payment already.
So what percentage, how much did you have down?
- I had five.
- And you said okay, I'm 22, I'm gonna buy a house.
So you bought the house, and you put it
on a 30-year. - It was a 30-year.
- 30-year, okay.
And so tell me about the time when you looked up
and you said, "Oh, I wanna do something different,
I really wanna refinance and change to a 15-year."
- After the real estate market crashed
and all the interest rates went down so significantly
and everybody was refinancing.
Your interest rate will drop, refinance.
So I thought, "Okay, why not?"
Looked into it and said, hey, you know,
what could I get, just at a lower rate?
- Right. - And she said,
"Well, we can do a 15 at 2.3% of 2.5%.
- 2.5% interest on 15-year.
What was your 30-year?
My 30-year was right at 7%.
So almost a 5% difference you guys in interest.
I mean that's amazing. - It is.
- That really is, and that may not be the case for everyone,
but you guys, if you do refinance, your 15-year mortgage
will have a lower interest rate than your 30,
maybe not 5%, but that's amazing.
- Right (laughing). - That's like
Jesus is like, I'm gonna bless you today.
- Exactly! - That's amazing. So great.
- Exactly, so we went through the process
and she said you know your payment's gonna be less
and we're gonna escrow your taxes and insurance
that way you don't have to worry about paying those.
- So having an escrow account it's like a third party
holding some of that in that. Yeah, so you didn't have that.
- So the first seven years
that I lived there-- - Yeah.
- I was having to pay the higher mortgage payment,
that none of it was going to principal,
plus the insurance, plus the taxes out of pocket.
- (laughing) Oh yes. - So now I'm going
to a lower payment and all of it's together.
- So once you got to that 15-year,
you were so motivated, right?
- Exactly. - I mean, you were like:
"I can pay this, I can pay this quickly."
Especially since the payment was lower
than your 30-year, which may not happen, again,
but still, (laughing), I mean that's part of the story
which is just amazing.
- Even if it's a little more, you're paying
a lot less in interest over the time.
If I had paid it, just the payment over the 30 years,
my house that I paid I think $116,000 for
would have cost $240-something thousand dollars.
I paid it off in $124,000 I think.
- So you paid it off? - In that 15-year.
- Catch that you guys. You what?
- Yes paid my house off, paid my mortgage off.
- (laughing) You have no payments at all?
- No payments at all.
- And how old are you?
- I'm 35.
- 35 years old! You guys, that's,
(laughing) I mean seriously that's amazing.
At 22, that 30-year, if you just stuck with it,
you would have been 52 years old
when your house was paid for,
but not only did you refinance, get a lower interest rate,
get a lower payment, but you kept paying aggressively on it,
you paid it off by the time you were, you're how old again?
- 35.
Well Cole thank you so much for sharing your story,
seriously, it's so inspiring you guys
because it's like okay, you can do this.
You can go refinance your house,
get it down to that 15-year mortgage,
and, just like what Cole was saying,
you get 15 and you're like,
well what if I pay it off sooner? And you keep being aggressive,
pay it off where you have zero payments
and your house is yours.
So, I hope you guys are motivated by Cole's story
'cause I think it's absolutely amazing
and such a testament that you can do this
if you just decide to, so. - Absolutely.
- So congrats girl. - Thank you (laughing).
- So proud of you. That's awesome, so awesome.
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