Starting the long road to mortgage freedom

mr_rush

There are some amazing stories out there.

I bought our house in London in February this year. Not a fan of debt.

Mortgage is huge £379000 on a house valued at £465000.

Mortgage payment breaks down as £1800 = £1000 interest + £800 repayment.

From month one started overpaying: £500 per month.

Now increased to £750 per month.

Aim is to get £79000 paid off in 3 years and then switch from tracker to long term fixed.

Overall aim is to be mortgage free in 10-12 years. The amount seems huge but luckily both the missus and I are in relatively stable jobs.

So far £10K has been paid from the capital amount. It 'only' reduces the interest by £20 per month! Still as Tesco tells us, every little helps!

bugslet

Good luck Mr Rush!

There are some great stories on here and you have done really well so far - that's a heck of a lot to overypay. My own repayments are fa more modest, but it's creeping slowly forward all the time.

GreenNinja

Hi Mr Rush,

Wow! thats a big amount on a mortgage! Wishing you the very best in your quest, you seem focussed and determined so am sure you can do it! Good luck.

:hello:

mr_rush

thanks for the encouragement.

It is a lot to overpay - basically my entire salary post-tax gets eaten up by mortgage payments + bills.

But I'm hoping that some short term sacrifice gives us a debt free life in a few years.

We are not killing all luxuries - holidays remain a must - but we are trying to save on other areas - taking lunch into work. grocery shopping from larger Tesco rather than Sainsbury local etc etc...

superwoman247

Just subscribed to your post mr rush. I look forward to following it, mine is half the size of yours but I am sure you will be a great inspiration:)

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi mr rush, I am subscribing to your thread as I understand the pain of the big mortgage but looks like you are being really focussed in your approach. My DH works from home so that's one lunch taken care of and I tend to heat up soup etc in the office and have found that saves a fortune plus stops me buying crisps, chocs etc

Good luck in your quest and I will check in regularly

NewLeaf_2

similar positions; london house value £475,000 owe £300,000 i am subscribing! good luck

Jazzie99

I'm subscribing ... we are about to go down the road of having a big mortgage too. We're in the process of buying at the moment, hopefully we will be in before the end of the year!

London house too, value is £420,000 and start mortgage will be £281,000... yikes !

We've already got organised with our budgets. We will be overpaying but we wont be entire slaves to our mortgage. Holidays and little luxuries are a must !

black_taxi_2

goodluck mr. rush

main thing is---dont take on new debt

if you have to miss an o/p its ok

if you put to much stress on yourself you will burn-out give up

mr_rush

Hello all

My thread is going to be so boring compared to others.

Increased mortgage overpayments today from £750 to £825. We have paid off £16K in 10 months, only £363K to go!

I guess it's not bad in the first year of owning a place - have had a lot of additional expenses which will not be repeated next year. Interest-free payments for furniture will stop early next year so that will be another £300 in the pocket. Also repaying underpaid income tax (Boo!) to HMRC although that will go on for over 12 months. Had a bit of a bonus, unexpected letter from HMRC re: overpaid tax for another financial year - sent me a £500 cheque which was very nice!

Need to buy a new (2nd hand) car in the New Year. Also need a holiday. Luckily have been saving up money for both - nearly got the cash for a Golf or Audi A3 or similar, holiday is mainly booked.

Economy looks rubbish and I don't think we will see interest rate rises for another 18-24 months minimum really.

Have been doing some sums in my head. Aim is to get mortgage down to £290K when the 3 year period is over.

Will increase overpayment to £900 in the Spring (I hope).

GLA

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Mr Rush, I do know how frustrating it is to have a mortgage beginning with 3, but to be able to get it down to under £300k in 3 years is excellent and you are living a life at the same time.

I know with me and DH, a lot of the OP stuff is also down to being more savvy - its easy to just keep spending on stuff, but when you stop, you recognise the waste and can reprioritise where it's spent. However my OPs don't hit the mortgage yet due to the torture involved in trying to overpay with the 'Spanish' bank.

Good luck to you. Best wishes Tilly