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Original poster

If you've paid your mortgage off how old were you when you did it and how?

151 replies

Tulipsy272 · 12/03/2021 15:57

Just daydreaming about being mortgage free. I've just turned 40 and would like to do it by the time I'm 50. It's doable but it would take a huge amount of budgeting. I think it would be worth it in the long term though. I think we'd have to over pay as much as we could each month.

How old were you?

OP posts:

NeedToGetOuttaHere · 12/03/2021 16:43

Ours will be paid off in the summer when my DH retires at 55. We’ve never tried to pay off the mortgage as have such a low interest rate, instead spare money has been paid into pensions.

SpringisSpinning · 12/03/2021 16:43

Mr mustard

We don't know what's around the corner.. What if interests rate rise they were 17% at one point?

Surely better to pay off now while so incredibly low? Then it's yours and no one can take it away..

AndyBarbersIntern · 12/03/2021 16:43

I think people reading this thread need to realise it is not usual to pay off a mortgage early and you’re not an abject failure if you can’t

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General money

DeeCeeCherry · 12/03/2021 16:43

But I bought in 1989.

I do think young people reading this thread and knowing it's so hard out there for them, will feel sad.

DD stayed here for 6 years after leaving Uni. Her DP too. They've amassed a large sum in savings and are currently searching for a property just outside London.

I encouraged her to stay as I wanted her to have a chance of what I had - property ownership before she was 30, and not spend years paying rent. & That's done now.

caringcarer · 12/03/2021 16:45

I had mortgage with first husband and when we only had 5 years left to pay it off and I was 42 he cheated on me and I divorced him. I had to start all over again. I remarried and we got a mortgage. I paid my money into our deposit and he put my name on deeds to his house and we let it out as too small to house both of us and my 2 sons. We took mortgage over 20 years and we have overpaid whilst interest rates low and now we have 3 years and 2 months left. Yes I am counting down the months now. I am 59 and DH is 56. We will have repaid off this mortgage over 15 years.

ExConstance · 12/03/2021 17:00

We bought the house when we were early 40's. It is very nice having lots of cash left over at the end of the month. We will be downsizing at some point so no temptation to go and get a more expensive house now.

bobby81 · 12/03/2021 17:02

About 34. A combination of over paying and inheritance. Also renovating houses helped us to move up the property ladder, which took hard work & a lot of luck.

Chasingsquirrels · 12/03/2021 17:05

Mid-30's.
Combination of things, a lot of which come down to luck and circumstances.

zighead · 12/03/2021 17:07

I've been overpaying for years and have approximately 18 months left. Will be 45 when it's done with and looking forward to it. I will then start concentrating on building up my pension fund.

missbridgerton · 12/03/2021 17:07

DH was early 50s, I was early 40s. Partly buying well, partly via saving hard and partly by unexpected inheritance. We're also mortgage free on our business property.

CeibaTree · 12/03/2021 17:07

41 but only because of an inheritance- I'd rather have my parents back and a huge mortgage though!

Hidinginstaircupboard · 12/03/2021 17:11

I'm planning to downsize when most of my DC leave home, as I'm a lone parent, and buy a house mortgage free, so by 54 maybe?

I paid extra off mortgage instead of big holidays or new cars, when I was getting child maintanenece (he then disappeared and hasn't paid for 3 years) but my plan always had been to pay off mortgage early by extra couple hundred each month as it builds up saves you loads of future mortgage payments and meant I could give my children a bit of a deposit if I sold my bigger house and went to a small 2-3 bed

Hidinginstaircupboard · 12/03/2021 17:12

It didn't work out that way but I'm so glad I made those extra £150-200 month payments on my mortgage as it's much smaller for me not being extravagant in our lines. Children have done every activity they wanted it's me that tightened my belt,

ilikebungalows · 12/03/2021 17:15

At 47. I'd bought the house when I was 33 but that was in 1988 when houses were affordable. Balanced against affordability though was much higher int rates than today. I had worked full time since being 16 and had saved a lot. I had an unhappy childhood and felt an almost visceral need for a home of my own so that's why I paid off the mortgage asap.

Pleaseaddcaffine · 12/03/2021 17:18

35 and post divorce, bought outright. It's cheaper end but security means world too me esp as I have a toddler.

Oblomov21 · 12/03/2021 17:20

I am very shocked by all the low ages on this thread. This is not normal. Paying it off early is quite a new phenomenon and most people years ago paid it off just before retirement.

Plus I don't mind a bit of budget and sacrifice but some of the martyrish posts of 'we never had a foreign holiday all my life' /our life was so miserable, then one has to question where the balance is.

Chewbecca · 12/03/2021 17:20

By increasing my overpayment every time I got a pay rise, then wiped a couple of years out due to redundancy.

Ragwort · 12/03/2021 17:21

Early 40s - both DH and I were home owners when we met which helped - we then bought a place together ... a combination of being fairly frugal, staying in a 'smallish' house when many of our friends bought much larger, impressive houses ... and deliberately not having a DC until I was 42 !

ZenNudist · 12/03/2021 17:23

Purchased at 28 paid off about a decade later. Inheritance. Should have bought another property really.

Carolina24 · 12/03/2021 17:23

the idea of guzzling a daily expensive coffee was ludicrous and so on.

Yes, this. If I only stopped guzzling coffee I could pay off my mortgage in ooohhhh... 230 years.

AintPageantMaterial · 12/03/2021 17:24

46, DH 53
He worked really hard. It’s his own business. I think I only worked fairly hard tbh. All done through earned income though.

blue25 · 12/03/2021 17:25

@Oblomov21

I am very shocked by all the low ages on this thread. This is not normal. Paying it off early is quite a new phenomenon and most people years ago paid it off just before retirement.

I think you’d be surprised. People just tend not to go round telling everyone they’ve paid it off.

Stuffin · 12/03/2021 17:28

When I was younger it was typically to just keep paying it or extending to get a bigger house.

Combination getting older with better pay and two full time wages with no DC meant we could still have luxuries and overpay.

Just having the knowledge that we can survive redundancies or ill health by not having a mortgage is priceless and now means we can look at retiring early,

AllDoneIn · 12/03/2021 17:30

I would recommend it if possible because it helps give you freedom if your circumstances change or you want a career change.

Devlesko · 12/03/2021 17:31

Paid it off by investing in auction houses. Did them up and then sold and invested again.
Our kids own their own homes too 29 and 25.
Dd has got one for when she needs it currently 17.

It was a priority for us as we only have one small wage coming in, as we seem to value other things than normal people.

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