At what age do you want/envisage to be mortgage free?

Now/55

Currently overpaying by £250/month which should take 9yrs off it. We’d be paying off more but have a wedding to pay for next yr, then it’ll be new kitchen, plus front & back gardens need some proper attention. Oh and the bloke who looked at our leaky garage roof the other day reckons it’s a right old bodge (i tend to agree with him) and will need replacing…..never stops, does it?!

Current repayments are £223 a month, but that would take me 15 years to pay so I just pay what I can (around £1k)

Then take it out again to pay the visa bill my wife racks up.

I’ll be 50 but I don’t owe a great deal as it is. I could be mortgage free a lot sooner, but I’m having an early mid life crisis with trips to Aus, and lots of other experiences before we have kids and become social lepers. When we knock one out and loose our free time, social life and freedom, we will have a little more money for early mortgage payments. Fingers crossed I’m shooting blanks. We will get a trail dog instead 🙂

Kids? Social lepers?

We fly to LA for Christmas and New Year with two young kids (3 yrs old).

I do cringe at the cost though.

Wally – Member
With a 25 year mortgage you would hope, most would be free before 50.
But it is my view that 30+ is becoming the norm to buy a house.

Truth spoken here. I’m 31, I have no debt other than some student loan. I live frugally, have good degrees in a good strong technical subject, a reasonable deposit, stable job not well paid but not bread lien either but have no chance of getting a mortgage on even a modest place until I have about £50k deposit. I’m in a fortunate position and still can’t buy.

I bought in 2002 at 26, having been working for a year (spent 5 years in higher education).

Moved 3 years later. Then again in 2011. Not planning on moving again. Just as well, as this house cost 380k and that’s plenty on our salaries!

Bought my house in ’97, paid off mortgage in 2009 (age 38). All thanks to an offset mortgage with Egg…

I empathise with TheBrick, 29, two degrees, no debt whatsoever, good job and salary.

I have concluded: Why cripple myself to buy a suburban box or a ‘characterful’ (read Victorian) flat in a dubious area and forgo the benefits of renting. I pay a relatively small amount to live hassle free in a Georgian flat overlooking the sea in a fantastic area, the sort of place I could never buy.

A genuine question because I’m open to different opinions – Why do people buy houses?

Currently another 6 years (when I’m 53), however about to add c.£20k to the mortgage to fund a large extension (& extras such as complete new roof, boiler, large block paved driveway etc so c.£75k). Will overpay by about £300 a month and I can get a staff mortgage at base rate (i.e. 0.5% at the mo) so shouldn’t end up extending the term by much, if at all.

Just got my first mortgage at 32, so I’ll be 57 when its paid off. That’s assuming of course we don’t move, which we will and the house doesn’t increase in value, which it probably won’t. Pretty f*****ed really. Doubt it will ever be paid off tbh.

Druidh speaks the most sense,pay all but £100 on the mortgage and the bank will keep your deeds for you. That said I should be down to my last £100 at 51. I could just about clear it just now (46) but will probably move soon and want to move without borrowing more.

A genuine question because I’m open to different opinions – Why do people buy houses?

I bought my first house for £40000 in 99 cheaper than renting at the time, I wouldn’t do it now.

timc – Member
Anyone prepared to add some figures?

sold my place in London for 565k last month. Bought in Yorkshire for 435k. That did help!

Deeds only exist in Scotland. Haven’t had them in England and Wales since 1925….

bank will keep your deeds for you.

“As Land Registry now holds all registers electronically, the possession of title deeds is no longer required to prove ownership. Instead, we issue official copies of the title register and title plan. You may apply for these at any time – see ‘How can I prove that I own a property?'”

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs/where-are-my-deeds-kept

Mine are in a cupboard upstairs somewhere – very dull, not even original Victorian, just a 70s solicitors document.

Paid of my third and final mortgage 4 years ago at age 65–now Mrs Busydog has let the “let’s look around for something smaller” comment slip.

A genuine question because I’m open to different opinions – Why do people buy houses?

I bought mine as a student house full of students. Their rent covered 85% of the mortgage, so I pretty much got the house for free (other than the deposit I paid). I spent their rent on doing it up eg new roof, kitchen, etc and one by one didn’t replace them as they left – ended up with a refurbished house for very little cost (to me).

60, no seriously. Now 39 and got a long long way to go.

Didn’t start my career til I was 35 so am waayy behind most people my age.

I’m not losing any sleep over it though.

I bought mine as a student house full of students. Their rent covered 85% of the mortgage, so I pretty much got the house for free (other than the deposit I paid). I spent their rent on doing it up eg new roof, kitchen, etc and one by one didn’t replace them as they left – ended up with a refurbished house for very little cost (to me).

A good move on your behalf, but not a massively viable option today for any number of reasons. Ho Hum. 🙁

A good move on your behalf, but not a massively viable option today for any number of reasons.

I’m not sure if I could buy a house or flat now with the the current mortgage requirements. I took out my first mortgage at 22 because it was cheaper than renting and I only needed a 5% deposit. At the time people were getting 110% mortgages which is unthinkable now.

42 (4 years ago).
Single here so wanted it paid off asap as there’s no 2nd income to fall back on if I ended up unemployed.

This month we reach the point of having enough savings to pay off the mortgage if we wanted. Being self employed we need to keep a reasonable float. We are both 47 and due to the low interest rates have taken 6 years to pay our 20 year mortgage.
Very happy and very lucky.

I’m 32, the OH is 30, I just posed this question to her (as she deals with everything to do with the house) and the answer………..never!

Well that’s certainly something to look forward to! 🙁

mrben100 – Member
I’m 32, the OH is 30, I just posed this question to her (as she deals with everything to do with the house) and the answer………..never!

Well that’s certainly something to look forward to!

How to speak without speaking, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels your pain…

47 now. 20 years left on mortgage. I will not be extending this any further – in fact, if I remortgage when the fixed rate on this one expires, I might consider reducing that to 18. Or maybe even overpaying to reduce it even further.

OK, I guess I’m going to be working to 68, but I don’t want to have to work beyond 70. scarily close 😯

john_drummer – Member
47 now. 20 years left on mortgage.

Thank god I’m not the only one, 43 with 22 years left to run. 😯
If I’m lucky then some over paying may be done along the way.

john-drummer and seadog101 you are not alone i share your pain!

Live in a tiny house in the Lakes at the mo – 720sqft and recently valued at £240,000. Got two young daughters and we need more space so have been looking at a house move. The house we’ve seen will mean upping mortgage from c. £55k to around £200,000. That’ll mean a new 25yr term and I’m 43 now with two weddings to pay for at some point

5th October 2032…

interesting, just turned 31 and about to get my first on my own, so looking at 60 odd

Should be in about 8 years for the UK house but if I buy in HK as well, as the wife wants, I should be mortgage free when my coffin finaly comes to rest 6ft under and they start shoveling soil on top.

Final payment is currently due the day after my 50th birthday but I’m hoping to accelerate the process a bit at some point.

When I’m 63. If I’d not divorced it would have been paid four years ago. But paying £130 a month doesn’t bother me.
Otherwise totally debt free.

Without wanting to start a shit fight this puts the “stw view” on my gold plated public sector pension into perspective. I presume those all done paying so early are not putting money into a frankly shit private pension scheme? I’ll be 65 before mines paid.

Took out a 30yr mortgage at 28 in 1998 and luckily we sold in 2007. Will enter the market again in 18 months time with the plan to mortgage for 15yrs until I’m 58.

Never.

In Switzerland it is advantageous from a tax perspective to have the biggest mortgage possible. You pay tax on the assumed rental income of your property and off set it against interest payments on your loan. The vast majority of people maintain a 60-80% mortgage their whole lives.

Very surprised at the amount of people who are mortgage free or close to finishing, my wife explained it with the statement that most on STW are sad loners who live with their parents and by default it’s their parents who paid the mortgage off 😀

I should hopefully be in the postion to pay of mine in the next 3-4 years (now 31) but why would I do a silly thing like pay it off? I’ll just take all the money out of the offset and buy/build another property.

It was going to be age 60, with 8 1/2 years to go. but impending divorce means that it will be sooner as we cash up and move on. But I’ll have to work till older than planned… So good news and bad news really. That’s life.

Renting now (although partly from my self…) and wondering if buying will ever again be the licence to print money it has been at home, and for business that it has been in the past.