What age were you when you became mortgage free?

TheToothfairy_3

I was mortgage free at 27 and dh at 32. The laughable thing is that we REALLY need a bigger house - and to be able to take that next leap would require us to get another mortgage!
We are saving really hard but the jump between a 3 bed mid terrace and a four bed mid/end terrace is too much. The more we save, the more they keep going up.
The downside to being mortgage free is that you get used to it - and the mere thought of taking on another just fills us with dread!

Caixta

TheToothfairy wrote:

I was mortgage free at 27 and dh at 32. The laughable thing is that we REALLY need a bigger house - and to be able to take that next leap would require us to get another mortgage!
We are saving really hard but the jump between a 3 bed mid terrace and a four bed mid/end terrace is too much. The more we save, the more they keep going up.
The downside to being mortgage free is that you get used to it - and the mere thought of taking on another just fills us with dread!

Don't know your circumstances but would it be worth considering a loft conversion? We did this - moving to a four bedroomed house was out of our range, but adding a fourth bedroom with ensuite in the loft worked out well for us.

TheToothfairy_3

Caixta, this is something we have looked into but dh would also like to have a driveway as the parking around here is an absolute nightmare. Because of the position of our current house, we are unable to put in a driveway and he feels that it may be silly to spend on a loft conversion when we would still need to look for another house anyway.

ktee_uk

Hi everyone...... this is my first post here and have found the site v.usefull.

We paid our mortgage off 3 years ago (about 10 years early) but to be honest we could have done it a good 5 years before that. It seemed to be such a big step to make that final payment and be without a savings pot for a while. But the sums just added up.

We were 23 and 29 when we took out our £42k interest only mortgage and it was then 3x our joint earnings. Interest rates also climbed up to 15%

I would recommend anyone to try and pay off their mortgage as early as they can. I was made redundant from a well paid job 2 months ago and am really thankfull that I can live debt free and not worry about losing the house and also take my time finding a new job.

btw, we kept our endowment policies running and this will top up our savings when they mature (all be it at a less than expected amount) and also provides us with some life assurance.

regards to all.

corris3

we are 45 and 52 having just achieved mortgage free status a few days before Christmas ( see my post "mortgage free 7 years early should we spend or save").

We have had no inheritance, in fact all we have ever inherited between us is £250 plus we have both had previous marriages so have had to start again on the housing ladder.

Sheer hard work and being careful with money has achieved our mortgage free status which is a detached 5 bed house in the UK plus a lovely holiday home with outbuildings for renovation in France... now all paid for.
We have made overpayments in that when the interest rate went down we just kept paying the same, plus last year we both agreed to pay an extra £3k each ( 250 per month) which we managed. I do wonder what we were spending it on before!

If we sound loaded or wealthy please be assured we really aren't... we both have public sector jobs...but we work hard and only spend on what we need not what we want. If we can't afford if we don't have it.

We are very proud of our achievement and would encourage anyone else to really go for it.

Kaz2904

Well I feel I have to jump in and answer for the earlier poster who felt it wasn't possible. I am 28 and DH is 30 (1 wk ago he'd make me say!). I got my first mortgage at 23, got married 11 wks before and had DD 12 wks and 1 kitchen after! DS arrived 2yrs 4wks after DD. When we bought we had a 95% mortgage and a 5% loan from Northern Rock (Hiss I know but give them their due they help a lot of my family and others like myself onto the housing ladder) We sold our flat 3yrs &4 months after we bought it for double (99500) but spent 12000 ish on it (I think I included mortgage, selling, paying and living costs in this amount) 4k was windows which we could have had on 3 or 4 years interest free credit and I wanted 3yrs. The guy was like "Oh do you not have the deposit it's just that it's a lot for the loan and they may not approve you and could't understand me saying no I just want to move within a few years and don't want to pay it forever.
Anyway, we only started overpaying 1 year ago and we are not on great incomes. I get £1750 after tax and DH gets £850 after tax but we have no child care costs because I have been lucky enough to have no sleep for the last 2 years! I think I and DH And the DC have earnes it (Big Time) my DCh won't remember this horrific period when they are older but we will and we are only doing it to pay for their college!

Kaz2904

Sorry meant to say that we pay 1103.50 each month on the mortgage!

Kaz2904

Oh and again hope to be mortgage free when I am 35- disjointed thinking you can either blame on the nhs 3 nights in a row or MR Tesco 1500 points on wine!!!!