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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you own your home outright, how much is it worth?

107 replies

Ujjj · 07/07/2024 20:59

I’m trying to work out whether we are being idiots by not just downsizing to be mortgage free. DH seems to think mortgage free means settling for less in most cases as you could just go on and on borrowing for bigger. I like having a reasonably big house but with that comes a hefty 250k mortgage. Are those mortgage free usually owning less than 500k homes? We are in our thirties for context.

OP posts:
Weegieunicorn · 07/07/2024 21:03

225k. Paid off £65k mortgage through inheritance aged 50. Small 2 bedroomed house which I'd love to be bigger but I like having no debt.

Pigeonqueen · 07/07/2024 21:04

We are mortgage free and in our early 40s and our home is worth about 350k (Norfolk). Yep we could keep borrowing and buy a larger home but why would we? It’s big enough for our needs, we’ve been here for 15 years so made it our own and we like the area. We just spend the money we’d spend on a mortgage on days out / holidays / fun stuff.

llamadrama16 · 07/07/2024 21:04

Why would you expect to be mortgage free in your thirties? That’s quite uncommon.

We could be mortgage free but we wouldn’t want to live somewhere we could afford to buy outright. Instead we have a big house in an area we love, but we owe the bank £470k. Even with the extra £££ per month we’d have for being mortgage free, I can’t imagine we’d have a better quality of life for that. And isn’t that the point?

fiskal · 07/07/2024 21:07

I was mortgage free at 40 and then borrowed £250k to get a bigger house next to fantastic school. In my view it's all about weighing up what is important to you. At different life stages you want and need different things.

In my 30s I didn't need so much space but I was in zone 1 because I wanted to be out a lot and close to work. In my 40s with kids I want space and location.

In my 50s / 60s it may all change again. Theres not really a right or wrong answer just priorities.

Bjorkdidit · 07/07/2024 21:08

Too many variables to answer. Where in country do you live, what house size do you need vs how big could you go, how will being mortgage free change your life?

We're mortgage free but our house is only worth £200k at most. Technically it's big enough for us - a couple in an extended 2 bed and it does suit us in some ways, but there's also some downsides but we're too lazy to move

But being mortgage free hasn't really changed our life/disposable income as our mortgage payment was less than 10% of our income for the last few years we had it.

But if being mortgage free would make life a lot more affordable for you, eg you're struggling with increased payments against a backdrop of other increases in costs and downsizing would ease that while still remaining in a home that's big enough, it could be a sensible move.

SweetChilliGirl · 07/07/2024 21:08

We didn't even buy our house until our mid thirties so certainly weren't mortgage free at that age. We're now early fifties and have paid off the mortgage by overpaying as much as we could. Worth about 600-700k. Have paid it off just in time to use the money we would have been spending on the mortgage, putting first one, then the next child through university.

Original poster
Ujjj · 07/07/2024 21:08

Yeah I guess it depends very much on personal context! I love the idea of being mortgage free but we would have to be somewhere much smaller round here or move somewhere less desirable for the same size house

OP posts:
lostinabook · 07/07/2024 21:09

Likely to be MF in 3 years. House currently 400k + value

AuditAngel · 07/07/2024 21:13

We are not yet mortgage free. We owe £97k against a house just valued at £1.1-1.2m, despite it needing work done. Having just been made redundant, we are using the money to fix the leaky roof (value was based on having a leaky roof).

Createausername1970 · 07/07/2024 21:15

Valued at around £400K and mortgage free, but only because we are ancient and original mortgage was taken out years ago when properties were sensible prices, and it was paid off a while ago.

JacquesHarlow · 07/07/2024 21:16

These threads are so awful, because if someone like me posts the truth, I get flamed for the amount of money my house is worth, and where I live.

Just do you!

Arewealljustloosingtheplot · 07/07/2024 21:18

Could be mortgage free if we downsized a bit and moved about 5 miles but I like my house all the space and the outstanding school and location so I happily pay my hefty mortgage and focus on the now.

( we’d need about 600k to get what we’d need at least )

Pixiedust49 · 07/07/2024 21:19

Mortgage free more by luck than judgment. Rural cottage with a fair bit of land. It’s not that big but family growing up and probably just be the two of us soon so why move …

LoreleiG · 07/07/2024 21:19

It really doesn’t matter how much anyone else’s house is worth! Do you love your house? If so, there is nothing wrong with having a mortgage in your 30s. Most people have one til decades later.

Stillthewrongsideof40 · 07/07/2024 21:20

Mortgage free, house is a large 4 bed in a sought after area. It is worth approximately £420000. Paid off with an inheritance and a large bonuses that DH earned. I am early 40s DH is mid 50s.
Plan at the moment is to continue living here until both kids move out so will probably be here for another 15 years or so then we will downsize.
Hopefully we should be able to help the kids financially with the sale of this house.

Bettergetthebunker · 07/07/2024 21:23

In my 30’s. Not mortgage free currently because we are on a low rate but have the liquid assets to pay once that ends and that is I think the plan unless interest rates go down. Worth around 1.2m or so.

ToBoneOrNotToBone · 07/07/2024 21:23

Mortgage free in mid 30s, house worth about £260k in Scotland, 3 bedroom detached new build. Some days I wish we'd bought the larger house style but not enough to actually move as we love the house, the area and our neighbours.

HalfwayToHell · 07/07/2024 21:24

Being mortgage free in your 30s isn't common ime.

We are mid 40s and own 2 houses. We've paid off the mortgage on one recently and have 4 years left on the other. 10 years ago we had 2 mortgages, it never crossed our minds to be mortgage free in our 30s as it would have meant selling one house and possibly moving to a smaller house. The mortgages are just bills that we didn't give much thought to, they just needed paying. Houses are worth more than 500k and I'm glad we kept going.

We have no intention of downsizing, even when the kids move out, we like to have space.

Overtheatlantic · 07/07/2024 21:25

Worth £674k owe £45k, age 56.

RaininSummer · 07/07/2024 21:26

About 220 I think. Mortgage free at 59.

KevinDeBrioche · 07/07/2024 21:27

Worth around £900k, we owe £25k . We are mid-late forties though

Shizzlestix · 07/07/2024 21:28

Early 50s, mortgage will be paid off this month. House 8s approximately worth £550K, possibly more. We’re intending to move in a couple of years to an equivalent size house in a different area.

SilverSilos · 07/07/2024 21:30

Hi OP,

Mortgage free at 43, 46 now. House worth about 220k. It is tiny and terraced and I LOVE it. No one can take it off me unless I do something really stupid. It is a fab feeling and I recommend it. If you decide to go down that route just remember to insure it.

tennisfann · 07/07/2024 21:31

We became mortgage free when we were 52 and 55 (a couple of years ago) and out house is worth 725k. I also own half a 300k flat which is mortgage free.
I was never in a rush to pay off the mortgage and concentrated on paying into pensions instead.

BondStreet · 07/07/2024 21:31

We will be mortgage free next year. Early 40s. House valued at £500k.