I was 35. I bought my first house with ex for £53k about 20 years ago. Sold it for £120k odd just 3.5 years later & bought another for £135k which needed a lot of work. Ex & I then split but stayed in house, then now dh bought him out for his half-paid cash from inheritance. I kept my small amount of mortgage & brought the years right down so I was massively overpaying. Then after we had dd a few years later, moved to my hometown & fil gifted us the difference to buy our now home for £200k. I'm grateful every day that we have no mortgage, since leaving the city we were in, have taken massive pay cuts so we're somewhat asset rich, cash poor but life is great & mortgage is one less worry. Still plenty of other bills to pay, but I'd always advise overpay as much as you can, it makes a massive difference.