The timeframe involved in a mortgage can be daunting to many buyers. Homeowners who are ready to pay off a mortgage after 30 years of monthly payments would have closed on the property around the time of the Chernobyl disaster. The year 2016 would have seemed an impossibly distant point in the unforeseeable future.

But each time you make a monthly payment, you are taking one step closer to owning the home free and clear. And eventually you'll find yourself ready to make that final payment.

Paying off the mortgage is a time for celebration. Perhaps you'll enjoy some of the traditions that come with this milestone, such as painting the front door red and burning the mortgage document. But you'll also need to take a few steps to transition into this new stage of homeownership.

You'll want to acquire some form of proof that you no longer owe your lender any money. Dan Rafter, writing for the mortgage site HSH, says your lender should send you a copy of your mortgage note within three weeks. If you want to do a mortgage-burning ceremony, it's best to keep the original on file and torch a copy.

Contact the lender to see if you need to take any additional steps to show that you've satisfied your mortgage. You might need to use a special method, such as a cashier's check, if you're paying off the loan early.

You may also need to file a statement at town hall showing satisfaction of the mortgage. Benny Kass, writing for the real estate site Inman News, says the lender may mark your promissory note as paid in full and return it to you. You then need to use this document to release your deed. Lenders often take care of this process for you, and may charge a modest fee for the service.

You don't need to make any additional mortgage payments to your lender, so you should make sure that none will go out by mistake. Rafter says you should cancel any automatic payments to your lender once your mortgage has been paid off.

Borrowers often set up an escrow account, allowing them to include contributions for homeowners insurance and property taxes with their monthly payment. You'll still need to make these payments once your mortgage is paid off, so you should ask your insurer and taxing authority to bill you directly. Ask your lender to return any balance that is left in your escrow account for these expenses.

Make sure the lender is no longer on your insurance policy. Tom Streissguth, writing for SFGate, says it can be harder to file a claim for damages if a lender remains on the policy when they have no right to a payout.

Now that the mortgage is paid off, you can enjoy an elevated level of expendable income each month. Make sure you have enough to pay for insurance and taxes, and put aside a certain amount of money—perhaps 10 percent of your former mortgage payment—to budget for repairs or other unexpected costs.

Decide what you want to do with the income which will no longer be going toward your mortgage. Liz Alterman, writing for the National Association of Realtors, says you can put it into savings or investments to increase the funds available for retirement.

You could also consider using the money to help others. The additional income could go toward a child or grandchild's college fund, or toward a charitable cause. The latter step also benefits you by making you eligible for certain tax benefits.

If you don't mind taking on a new debt, you can purchase another property once you've paid off your own home. You might purchase a vacation home or an investment property, both of which could potentially generate additional income.