Does your mortgage freak you out ?

[MrDarcysMa]

We are 1 year into a 270k mortgage (25 year term as we are fairly old) I check it online every now and then and man it freaks me out as someone who's never had a lot of debt!

Started overpaying a little to reduce interest and we'd pay it off a whole 2.5 years earlier so obviously we'll increase that as much as we can as and when. Does anybody else get the heebie jeebies when they think about their mortgage ?

No, I just see it as something I need. Rent would be more for the same house also, so I see having a mortgage as a good thing

No, it doesn't freak me out. It only strengthens my resolve to clear before I'm 50 so I overpay when i can.

No it doesn't. I know I can sell at any point and withdraw the cash. That to me is much more secure than renting. I see it as a form of saving, I have a calculator thing on my phone that splits my mortgage payment into equity and interest and how that changes over the term of the loan.
I find it motivating that the equity part is increasing every month and the interest part is reducing. In comparison to rent which is straight into someone else's pocket

I'm lucky enough to have only had a mortgage of £40k when I was on my own and £120k left over of my husband's when I met and married him, which I paid off when I sold my house. But even with the £40k I remember it being a scary document to sign - the only big debt I've ever had. A mortgage of any size is a huge amount of money to owe! Definitely overpay as much as you possibly can. It's such a huge relief when it's gone.

No. I don’t even think if it as a debt to be honest. We owe a lot more than you and over a longer term.

We both have the potential to earn more than we do now in the future, in another 12 years our children will have left home so life will be cheaper and we both have lump sums with our pension which we could use to pay off anything remaining if necessary.

Life is for living!

We’ve always just thought of it as a monthly bill, if you think of it in terms of how much you owe altogether it could easily feel overwhelming. Also we had a mortgage quite young when we just didn’t overthink anything, probably through naivety but we just didn’t worry about anything in our 20s. 😬 I didn’t even used to look much at the annual statements as it just seemed like it was never ending. We’re 40 ish now and the end is in sight, which does feel good.

If we had stayed in our first house we would be mortgage free by now.
2 house moves later, bigger mortgage each time, we now have 19 years to go and are both suffering health wise. I keep praying for a lotto win. It terrifies me when I think about it.

Yes,I am lucky I managed to relay mine early due to redundancy, which made me feel secure as I wouldn’t have mortgage payments to find

A family member has a mtge of £250k and i5 makes me feel ill, but they don’t have a problem with it

Yup. In my early forties with 25 years to go! Yikes.

No. It's 1/4 of the value of the house, we can afford it, we'll pay it off well before retirement. It's also an absolute fraction of what we'd pay in rent for a similar size house.

Like a PP said, the fact that most of our money goes towards renovation is a bit jaw-dropping. But that will end and we'll hopefully be in a good position. I don't see it as debt and I don't have other debts.

Yes. My mortgage payment isn't large but I stopped living there 2 years ago due to domestic abuse and am unable to sell at the moment due to ex husband. About to start court proceedings to force the sale but I can't see an end in sight.

Plus once I eventually buy a new property I'll be in my late 30s so will be paying a mortgage into retirement.

Yes I want ours paid off by 50, so we overpay quite a lot.

I worry about one of us losing our job or becoming ill, so I will feel much more secure when it’s paid off.

I don’t understand why people think their mortgage isn’t a debt?

At the moment, no. I actually just logged into it today and it's in the home straight, going down quickly and will be paid off well before I'm 50.

But our house is on the market and we have the opportunity to buy my late grandmothers home. A valuation was done on it the other day and we're waiting on the word on whether or not we will be able to afford it. DH is waiting on an inheritance, we don't know how much yet but depending on how much it is we might end up with a similar mortgage to what we have now or we might end up with a huge mortgage. At this point I have been fixated on being mortgage free by 50 for so long that the prospect of still paying one off when I'm well into my 50's is giving me palpitations.

I was feeling ok until we got our mortgage statement last week.
We took a 3 month ‘covid’ break last year as I was on maternity leave, then wacked the term up to 35 years as I’ve decided to be a SAHM for a couple of years.
Apparently we paid £2500 off the capital last year (vom not envy).

Obviously the plan is to bring the term way back down once I’m earning again, but it was painful to see in black and white.

Don’t think of it as a debt;
Set up SO to over pay a small amount each month;
Then ignore it and don’t keep looking at it - treat it like rent but just cheaper;
I’ve had a mortgage from age 24. I’m now 55 and have 10 more years to go so will be 40 years when I finish.

What do you mean 25 years because you are fairly old? Isn't 20 years standard? Just getting our first mortgage now, and our broker strongly advised not going over 20.

I was concerned about the amount when we first moved here - plus my parents couldn't believe how much we borrowed and kept referring to the fact their house cost £10k (1974).

But now I'm pleased to see the debt reducing and it will be paid off before I'm 50. I look at it every month once we've overpaid and think what we'll be able to do with the money once we've paid it off.

Your over payments are going to take 10% off your payment term. That's 30 x your monthly payment. That is absolutely nothing to be sniffed at.

I overpaid on mine. I had a reluctant payer in my ex, so when he did pay any maintenance, I chucked it at the mortgage. No point relying on him so it didn't figure in my budget. It helped massively as I repaid the mortgage years early. I have teens, and now have more available to spend on them. If I get the odd maintenance payment, that's a bonus for us all.

We are moving from a house which is mortgage free (well, 100% offset) and taking out a mortgage of £250k on a bigger house (London).
It is 1.25x our joint income but because we have been technically mortgage free for a few years it is freaking us out which is a bit silly.
We will still have savings in ISAs which are more than the mortgage (but are earmarked for retirement) but I still feel uneasy about having this much debt.
However, borrowing money is so cheap at the moment that we didn't see the point in cashing in the s&s ISAs- less than 2% for an offset, my first mortgage was 5.5% 16 years ago!

Yes. I was practically mortgage free in my old house and now I have a mortgage bigger than yours. I only recently moved and have already started overpaying so hoping to get it down quickly.

I alternate between thinking that it’s nothing to be worried about and I’m doing well to looking at the enormous balance owing and hoping my health and job hold up as I’ll be in trouble if they don’t. I’m single, so it’s just me to pay it with no one to fall back on, so it’s all on me (I know lots of couples have only one person working etc. but you know what I mean).

@user686233

What do you mean 25 years because you are fairly old? Isn't 20 years standard? Just getting our first mortgage now, and our broker strongly advised not going over 20.

Your mortgage broker is wrong. Most young people on the SE are getting 35 years because of the price of properties and the wage to mortgage ratio. At the moment it is the cheapest way to borrow money.

We have a large mortgage (about £300k) but aggressively overpaying.

A family house where we are is about £600k, so the plan is to try and get £200k savings / equity.

We could move with a smaller than £200k down payment, but the thought of a mortgage over £400k terrifies me.

I never feel bad when I compare my mortgage debt (NW) with my little sister and her husband's in London. They're far less risk averse than me and on a similar wage, so mine is fine.

Nope we are one year into a 30 year mortgage on what will be our family home until our son and any potential siblings leave home. We have 20% equity after doing up and making a good profit on DH starter home. I was a student when we bought it so when I started working I started saving. We stretched ourselves to get the house as our son was due at the time. Last year I was on maternity leave which has meant our savings have also depleted but I’m back at work now. We aren’t able to make overpayments yet and aren’t saving very much but over the next few years my income will rise significantly as I move up grades and hopefully my DH will get promoted in the next 4 years. We can manage if these things don’t happen, just without nice holidays etc. But for us having a secure home is more important.