Don’t know how I’ll pay our mortgage off

[Dooon]

£358k - we are mid 40s 25 years and 3 months left. Not much left over each month. Will pay off £500 today and look forward to knocking of 20 days or so to the life of the mortgage.

Cheaper than renting and you get a house at the end

What's the loan to value like though? That's a better way to look at it.

We are in almost exactly the same boat as you and it can feel overwhelming but I try and think of it as an investment. At some point we will downsize and paynot off that way, or free up something from our pensions.

Not really, we have just moved and done exactly this.

Is £500 the amount of capital/principal that your balance is reducing by each month, or is it your total monthly payment?

If it's the former, then as PP have commented you'll have paid it off by the end of the term, and each month's payment will be less and less in real terms as inflation reduces the value of each £.

If £500 is your total monthly payment, then you're on a 1.7% interest-only mortgage, and I'm sorry to say stretched massively beyond your means if you have no money left each month. Downsize.

That's how mortgages work

I really wouldn't worry, at least you're paying it off. Mortgages are just a lifelong expense for most people.

It'll be paid off at the end of the 25yrs? Or do you mean early?

I don’t understand you will pay it off in 25 years. Lots have mortgages that long. Normally things get better over years so in a few years you maybe able to overpay

I am jusy going to pay mine until I retire.

@WimbyAcefair enough - when we last moved we stuck to a term which meant paying it off sooner (15 years) so we didn’t have to still be paying it back at almost 70.

Is it a repayment mortgage @Dooon ? Because your monthly repayments are calculated to pay off the mortgage over the term. Obvs this will increase with interest rates and decrease with overpayments. My mortgage company gave us the choice of whether to reduce our term or reduce or monthly payments when we made overpayments.

I get it @Dooon it's depressing to see such a large amount and long time and realise you have little if any chance of retiring early! Let alone going part time.
I think the mortgage is a red herring, it's about the kind of life you envisaged for yourself as you get into your 50s and 60s.
Have you any children who will leave home and your expenses will go down? Or do you have space for a lodger and would consider it? There may be a way to get some of your vision even if it's not perfect.

It is depressing, but press on and one day you can lift your head and say 'oooh, look, nearly paid off'. I am three years from that, and the mortgage is now small and manageable, despite a divorce and issues financially for me. I chose to run older cars and have frugal holidays, and finally at age 53 it will be paid off after 27 years of mortgage...

We could do with more context of the finances: is this a repayment mortgage? What is the LTV? What income(s) do you have and what other big expenditure(s) do you have?

Not sure why you’re surprised it’ll take so long, you took out a 25 yr mortgage.

rather than paying off larger chunks, pay off small amounts on a regular basis. If you pay off £100 a month extra you’ll take approx 2 years off your term and save £22000 in interest.

I am not in the UK so things may be different.

If you are in a fixed rate now, save as much as possible and use it when you come to the end of your rate.

Then, when you come to remortgage, choose a product with no limitations on how much you can overpay. Pay fortnightly rather than monthly. That’s the most efficient method. As interest rates go down, keep paying at the higher rate, if you can afford it. (if you could get by at the higher rate, stay living like that and the extra comes off the principal).

https://www.loans.com.au/home-loans/first-home-buyer/does-paying-your-mortgage-fortnightly-save-money

We paid a 30 year mortgage in 13 years and 11 months.

Agree with this 100%. I’ve rented and it’s soul destroying to think of the dead money spent on paying off someone’s mortgage, with the added worry that you’ll be paying rent til the day you die unless you get on the property ladder. At least if you have a mortgage, one day that monthly payment will stop.

I actually feel sorry for anyone under 50, because I’m pretty sure the retirement age will raise again for state pension. Possibly to 70+. So you won’t even have that to cushion your finances going into the last few years of the mortgage.

Unless you’re interest only, you’ll have paid it off at the end of the term. Like most of us.

Wow that’s a lot. Mine has just fallen under £100k but it’s time to get a new deal so that’s going to hurt a bit as we have a great low interest rate 😫

Yup??????

It'll be paid off in 25 years????

@Dooon you need to come back and clarify if it’s an interest-only mortgage.

Assuming it’s not then you have nothing to worry about - your monthly payments will gradually be paying it off over the course of 25 years. So you’ll have paid it off by the end of the term, and over time those monthly payments will be smaller and more affordable compared to your income (normally).

Obviously as pp have said it also helps if you can overpay here and there, which is increasingly likely as careers progress and cost of bringing up children reduces, if that’s applicable.

Downsize in 15 years and be mortgage free.

If you want some perspective I've rented for the past 15 years and paid £170,000 in rent with nothing to show for it. I finally have a mortgage, for much less than that amount and I'll have paid it off in 27 years time. I'm overjoyed with it. I still can't quite believe my luck that every month's payment goes towards something I own.

How is boasting about your, very fortunate, situation remotely helpful to the op?