Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you rather be mortgage free…

54 replies

Cantstopeatingpringles · 14/08/2025 23:12

With a modest house

Or

Rent and live in a house in the U.K. and have a holiday house abroad that you rent out and that brings in extra money and you can go and stay at for holidays?

OP posts:
Bimblebombles · 14/08/2025 23:28

The first one. Your own roof over you that no one can take away from you. That piece of mind is priceless.

I also wouldn’t want to feel limited in where I went on holiday, I like going to different places

Vaxtable · 14/08/2025 23:37

Why have you posted twice?

Cantstopeatingpringles · 14/08/2025 23:38

Vaxtable · 14/08/2025 23:37

Why have you posted twice?

By accident, it didn’t seem to load the first time

OP posts:
Bellyblueboy · 14/08/2025 23:46

I couldn’t be annoyed with the hassle and red tape of owning a home in another country and renting it out. I would also get bored going to the same place on holiday every year.

i would rather own my own main home - and be secure knowing I have a rent free home that will see me into my old age. and holiday wherever the mood takes me😊

herbalteabag · 15/08/2025 00:01

Mortgage free, definitely. Then I could use the spare money to go on lots of different holidays.

TheGreatWesternShrew · 15/08/2025 01:55

Mortgage free. DH and I became MF in our 20s (through a series of unfortunate events) and it’s given us so much freedom with how to live our lives. So long as we can pull in £600 a month between us that’s bills and food paid… if we were happy to we could work 2 days a week each and that’s it. Maybe less.

TheGreatWesternShrew · 15/08/2025 01:55

Mortgage free. DH and I became MF in our 20s (through a series of unfortunate events) and it’s given us so much freedom with how to live our lives. So long as we can pull in £600 a month between us that’s bills and food paid… if we were happy to we could work 2 days a week each and that’s it. Maybe less.

Boobyslims · 15/08/2025 02:01

Mortgage free!! Definitely.

Eenameenadeeka · 15/08/2025 05:43

Mortgage free

tilypu · 15/08/2025 05:50

Mortgage free.

The hassle of dealing with a rental in this country would be unappealing, never mind time to deal with it in a different one.

pinkbackground · 15/08/2025 05:52

Mortgage free.

Meredusoleil · 15/08/2025 05:54

As much as the 2nd option would be tempting, I would have to agree with pp that the first option is better.

persianfairyfloss · 15/08/2025 05:55

We're mortgage free and it makes such a difference to how you can live life

clotheslinefiasco · 15/08/2025 06:26

Definitely mortgage free - renting is not fun

Empress13 · 15/08/2025 06:28

Mortgage free every time . I don’t have a mortgage anymore and that removal of stress is immense

KPPlumbing · 15/08/2025 06:29

I'm not exaggerating when I say I'd HATE to own property abroad! It's bad enough getting tradesmen out in the UK! What a palaver.

I also wouldn't like the pressure of having to go on holiday to the same place over and over again. We had a campervan and I felt so guilty whenever we would holiday without it.

And the rental market in the uk is one of the most unethical and overpriced in the world - i wouldnt want anything to do with it.

I'd rather live in a modest home, mortgage free.

GoodPudding · 15/08/2025 06:35

Mortgage-free would be better in almost all respects. Owned a mobile home on a holiday park for a few years while back - was a bind and a money pit. One of worst decisions I made.

Ooodelally · 15/08/2025 06:53

Mortgage free! I have very small repayments and will be mortgage free by my early fifties - as I’ve recently started looking at pension forecasts etc. I’ve really realised what a blessing having my own home, paid off fully, will be.

BlueMum16 · 15/08/2025 06:58

I cannot understand how you will be mortgage free in your scenario?

You will be paying rent in the UK, which tends to be higher than paying a mortgage.

How will you pay for the home overseas? Presumably with a mortgage? Because if you had cash to pay for a holiday home you have cash to pay for a UK home.

healthybychristmas · 15/08/2025 08:00

Presumably she has the cash to buy a house over here or abroad. If she buys one abroad she can rent it out which will bring in money to help her pay her rent here. It was quite clear.

SpanThatWorld · 15/08/2025 08:22

I do despise people who buy up property overseas as a holiday home, driving up housing costs for local people.

You see it here with the Down From London brigade making Cornwall and The Lakes housing deserts for local people on low incomes.

Buy a home and live in it.
Use your spare money to go on holiday.

MamboNumber2 · 15/08/2025 08:23

Would you be relying on the rental income from the house abroad to cover your rent in the UK? I'd want to be very certain that it would do so easily, even taking account of quiet patches, works that need to be done (when the house will need to be empty), tax...I'd also think about what my longer term plans were- if you ultimately want to live in the UK, will the value of the house abroad keep up with the UK market?

thinklagoon · 15/08/2025 08:28

Mortgage-free! I dream of it.

Comedycook · 15/08/2025 08:30

Mortgage free... renting out a house abroad sounds like a logistical pain to me.

Overthebow · 15/08/2025 08:31

Mortgage free. I wouldn’t want to rent and often it’s more expensive then a mortgage.

Swipe left for the next trending thread