To ask about life with no rent or mortgage....

[broadstairs14]

I'm in the fortunate position of being a "homeowner". If I look a little more closely, the bank owns much more of my home than we do. DH and I have had a lot of discussions recently about trying to get our mortgage paid off early and being mortgage free really appeals.

I know two people in real life who inherited/ were gifted money at a young age and owning a house outright seems to have given them a huge amount of freedom and choice.

If you are mortgage free and still on the youngish side, how does this affect your life? Is it worth making sacrifices in other areas and really pushing for this? I'm looking for some inspiration to spur me on but also worry that I might be building it up and maybe it doesn't have such a huge impact all of the time.

I notice that many here who have paid off mortgages have also stayed put in smaller properties to enable them to do that.
I find it liberating to get away from the constant striving to have more material things (space, possessions to fill the space) in favour of more time (not to have to work, to spend time with family, travel etc).

I/we did it the traditional way. Paid mortgage for 25 years until it was paid off. This was over 4 properties, so it was really just coincidence that the length of payment coincided with the terms of my very first mortgage. I was in my mid fifties when it finally went. It was great not to have to fork out each month, but to be honest, it soon becomes the new normal, and the spare cash soon gets hoovered up by other, more pleasurable things, for both of us.

I find it liberating to get away from the constant striving to have more material things

This is very much it for us. Having a modest house means we buy less "stuff" too as there's nowhere to put it! It feels a bit like taking a small stand against capitalism, when there's so much pressure to borrow as much as you can and buy the biggest house you can and drive the fanciest lease car.

My family aren't very supportive of our choices though - as I said above they always did put having a big house, new cars etc top of the priority list and they moan a lot about us living here and my dad especially is always saying things like "you could move to that house that's for sale in X street" even though I keep explaining we are making a choice to prioritise other things in life (time essentially!).

Interesting thread! We looked into doing this but weren't convinced it made sense. We have a small amount free each month but if we put it on the mortgage it would mean no money for holidays (UK, not fancy!) Or for kids to do activities they really enjoy like Scouts and swimming, or to go for a meal out now and again. I know we would save interest but we felt in the end that it was better to have a good quality of life now when the kids are still kids, holidays and days out are some of the best times! So maybe it depends how much spare money you have, if we could do all that and still have money left over then I would overpay the mortgage I think

I have twice as much invested than outstanding on my mortgage by overpaying the latter and bumping up my investments with the difference. It does mean I don’t get to buy designer handbags or replace my wardrobe every year, but it does mean I’m on track for a comfortable retirement.

I notice that many here who have paid off mortgages have also stayed put in smaller properties to enable them to do that.

I love travelling so having no mortgage means I can travel a lot. I have a nice but small house and with it being smaller I can have nicer things in it - my bathroom, for example, only needed 5 tiles to tile the whole floor so I have 5 nicer, more expensive tiles but it cost less than £70 about 5 years ago. I spend less on other things to compensate - we have a second hand sofa and cushions but bought a new rug to go with them, things like that.

I don’t think it’s made much difference to be honest as other bills obviously still need to be paid.

Being mortgage free would make a massive difference to me, I'd have an extra £1.5k a month to spend/save!

I notice that many here who have paid off mortgages have also stayed put in smaller properties to enable them to do that.

Or they bought a long time ago!

We moved from London to Glasgow to get rid of the mortgage and it was pretty transformative for us. Nicer house and more money. Massively made up for the drop in salary. And yes, the extra money got quickly swallowed by other stuff (mostly school fees) but as that stuff would never have been an option before I'm pretty OK with that.

We are currently overpaying our mortgage by quite a decent amount but not enough to compromise our lifestyle much. I would rather be able to enjoy life and not feel like I'm scrimping and saving just to be mortgage free earlier. As it is, we will save a fortune in interest and have it paid off in about 10 years. We could potentially do it in 5 but I like holidays too much...

I started paying a mortgage in 1984 so it's been a long haul. I was scanning my 1980s and 90s diaries recently so that period is now fresh in my mind. We had negative equity in our house, a massive loan and had two what I now call "buy to lose" flats also in negative equity and a fixed at 15% 10 year mortgage deal on the second flat ( so much for those 2 flats going to make our fortune - we sold all 3 properties at big losses in the 1990s). We did however put every last penny into paying down that 15% mortgage as it was so expensive and when we took it out it was about what our house mortgage was but then by about 1992 the rate on that was dropping down to 14% then 13%, then lower still so the 15% was a really bad deal by then particularly as the flats were losing a lot of capital value every year as was our house (these were all in outer London).

So we did pay that loan off entirely and by about 1997 had no mortgage on our house and no loan on either flat, sold all 2 in h 1995/6 and could have stayed in our last house mortgage free - I had been paying a mortgage for 13 years by then for life but I wa always risk taker. i had started to work for myself and the one thing I wanted other than more babies - we had 3 and then we had the other 3 in 98) was a big house to fit all the babies in and to work from home in. So that was that. We sold all 3 properties at a loss and bought this house using the capital from those 3 plus a massive in those days £500k mortgage. Mind you that mortgage grew to £1.3m due to my divorce and was costing me £90,000 a year interest only at one point etc. It's been a very bumpy ride at times.

I got mortgage free for hopefully the last time a couple of years ago in my 50s. How does it feel? The twins cost me £50k a year at university so I think when that stops I will feel more of a difference but it certainly helps having no mortgage. It's a good feeling to have paid it off after decades of debt.

Mine was paid off when I was 42 by doing overpayments.
I only wish I had started with the overpayments a lot sooner. It was a great feeling at first when it was paid off but to be honest now I feel I have to be stricter with regards to saving.
I do put aside what was my mortgage payment as savings but I find it is very tempting now to spend more on all sorts of things I don't really need just because I know I have the extra money available.

@malloo I'd have a look at where else you can cut back to make savings you could then pay a little off and save in interest. MSE is good for things for free for outings, advice on where to cut back. Once you start it's surprising how much nicer life can be for the simple things ( a long walk in wellies & rainsuits is free , an indoor play is pricey), and how much you can save.

My husband and I are mid forties, and have recently paid off our mortgage. Neither of us are in high earning jobs, and we live in London. But by making different choices for the last 20 years than we could have, and with the help of an inheritance (that wasn't enormous, and we'd got the mortgage down to under £40k by that point.. but was the final bit of help we needed). It means that we now have much more freedom financially.. either of us could lose our job and it wouldn't mean it was the end of the world.. we have spare money to put away for nice holidays each year which we didn't before..
Saying that, we were also very lucky to be of the generation that could buy our first home in our early twenties.. We also delayed having children till our mid thirties.

being mortgage free increases your disposable income. Should therefore make life easier.

We bought for cash in 2004. I think house prices are insane, but I don't understand why anyone who bought before that still has a mortgage. Interest rates have never been lower and it'll be the biggest debt you ever have, so get rid of it as quick as you can.
Being mortgage free means you own the house entirely and if you lose your job then you are not going to worry about the roof over your head.

We paid our mortgage off aged 44 due to an unexpected inheritance in tragic circumstances (my DM). DH is a high earner too. We are piling monies into ISA's and pensions and hope to retire (at least from nursing and DH's stressful job) in 8 years at 55. Have also had six foreign holidays this year, but we prioritise this. Would have been unlikely to have done so whilst still paying a mortgage.

We paid a mortgage for 35 years between 1982 and 2017 covering 3 properties. We were ambitous so went quickly from one bed flat to 3 bedroom terrace, and after 15 years in our terraced house bought a 4 bedroom semi. This is decent areas of London so not cheap. We filled the house with a child a dog and a home office. My one regret would be not having another baby, but never seemed to be the right time financially. Last year (both of us 59 years old) we took equity release. I think (still early days) we've done the right thing (for us) but we did have to get used to a new concept. Namely, I guess for 35 years we had both assumed one day we would 100% own our house but now have accepted that this won't happen. Having said that we are both still working and earning so it's nice that all our earnings are ours to spend as we please.

We also paid our mortgage off in tragic circumstances, my lovely mum, but I can’t say I notice it too much.

I thought we would put the mortgage amount into our savings but don’t seem to, the main difference is that all credit cards and bills are now paid and we don’t have to worry about paying them or finding money for Christmas etc.

Can I ask, when you say the term of the mortgage covered 3 properties, what did you do each time you moved? Did you have the same amount owing each time you moved?
Sorry just in first home and planning the next one, hopefully in 3 years.

Beenouted, it just depends on the economic cycle. Eg we bought my first house in 1984 and replaced that with a semi rather than terraced house (although same number of bed rooms) in 1987. The second cost about 33% more than we sold the first for so we increased our repayment mortgage plus I was in the early stages of my (legal) career when wages do tend to rise - 1984 not yet fully qualfied - 1987 just over a year qualified; whereas som jobs you are on the same pay at 18 as you will be at 67 other than inflation rises.

In 1990 we sold the semi and bought a detached. (We also bought 2 flats to let out before then which did very badly) That 1990 move was a very big one for us as ther house we bought was 2.5 times the value of the semi we sold. We managed that again through my career advancement. By then I had been qualified about 5 years. My pay by then was £30k which was about 3x my teacher husband's. It was after that move that we soon were in negative equity

By the time we took on the £500k loan in 1997 I earned a lot more (working for myself by then).

I was moaning abouy 0.5% stamp duty then which I thought was excessive and dreadful. Now it is so much higher a percentage and can be as much as year's full London rent so making the series of moves we made - terraced to semi to detached

I guess it depends if you are in your forever home and how much your mortgage payments are. For me I’m not in my forever home but could never really afford to live to be honest. My mortgage is around £400 per month which would be lovely to save and use for holidays and buying nice things however I’m already living on what I earn without having spare cash so could never afford to overpay. I did come into a could of grand recently and decided to treat myself to something I had wanted for about 10 years and had also become something I needed (well a slightly more expensive version of something I needed) and I’ve decided to upgrade my children’s bedrooms. To me that’s better money spent than putting towards the mortgage I’m currently paying as it would make much difference month to month.
If I came into the £80-100k or so that I would need to pay off my mortgage in full then I’d actually consider using it to help sell up and put towards a better house in a nicer area hopefully for around the same monthly mortgage.

I am of the age where I wonder what age I’d ever retire as I feel like I’d have to work til death the way the current climate is. If I did manage to retire I’d hope to pay off my mortgage then.

There was a TV show a few years back about people going to extreme lengths in order to sink every penny into their mortgage and pay it off very quickly (eg 5 years). I don’t really think a huge amount of sacrifice is worth it, life is for living not being a slave to your mortgage. But we overpaid every month. This helps if interest rates go up, you don’t have to increase your payment and the overpayment just gets a bit less. Building up a buffer of overpayment also acts as an insurance policy against times when you might not be able to make your payment due to illness or unemployment. And ultimately it will reduce the term of your mortgage and hence the amount of interest you pay over the lifetime of the loan.

Having a small mortgage having repaid most of it made it possible to make the career choices we wanted to and never had to work full time just to cover debts. Now in the position we could pay it off (it's a 10yr fix at a low rate and a small amount so the saving is neglible) is a great feeling, looking forward to semi-retirement in 5 yrs time. Never done car finance either, had some amazing cars, but always a bit older so no real depreciation just cost of fuel and servicing.

Mortgage free at 43, no inheritance, just overpayments. It's bloody brilliant. We've both had major rounds of redundancies where we work over the last few years, but it holds no fear when your home can't be taken away from you. I hate paying interest, and working out how much you actually pay back if you repay a mortgage over the standard 25 or 30 years is terrifying.