To think this is a shit mortgage situation at age 40?

[Greenredbluena]

I really don’t know if this is life for most people or I’m surrounded by people who are mortgage free or owe very little.

I am on my own with a 7 year old so there’s no fall back here. I turn 40 next week and my re mortgage is due the month after. I’ve started looking at options today and it’s bleak even thinking that im in this situation.

House has been valued at 520k at a push, probably more like 500k. I owe 190. I’ve been trying for the last two years to get this down by overpaying around 400 extra a month and I feel like I’m just being ran into the ground trying to pay it off when realistically it’s still a shit situation. I’ve shared these concerns with my parents and they were adamant that id have enough inheritance to pay it off and more but of course I can’t rely on that and i certainly don’t want that that to happen so I hope it’s a long long way off when it does.

I just suddenly feel so alone and very much like it’s me and DD against the world. I feel ashamed I am in this situation when everyone around me is counting down to mortgage free and will be around their 40th. Just having a low moment and probably not helping that I have a ‘big’ birthday coming up

She’s worried, she’s not moaning. .

We are 41 and are applying for our first mortgage on a 30 year term.

If you can afford to overpay, and have a life then I don't see why there needs to be a 'huge stress' not over money anyway.

I wouldn't overpay a penny, I'd save or invest it instead, you should be able to match the interest rate on savings and any money invested is likely to grow at a rate well in excess of your mortgage over time, so offsets the money the mortgage is costing you.

But it will also serve as an emergency fund, meaning you'll have money to fall back on if you can't pay your mortgage for whatever reason. Do you also have income protection insurance? Work sick pay? Any redundancy entitlement.

I feel ashamed I am in this situation when everyone around me is counting down to mortgage free and will be around their 40th.

I feel your pain. I. 48, recently divorced and now with a 26 yr mortgage. Essentially starting again.

No I’m not on my own but it is still a large amount of money and I don’t have the LTV that you do. I’m aware that as my kids get older I can overpay with money I currently spend on their childcare and ultimately I could downsize if it ever felt too oppressive. I don’t have any money from family and never will do. I took this on knowing what it would mean and I’m pretty at peace with it. I just want to reduce the term so rather than paying til I’m 67, I want to reduce it to 60 so I can afford to go part time at work as I get older.

with your LTV, why don’t you downsize if it’s stressing you out so much?

A lot of kids growing up today will be lucky to even set foot on the housing ladder. You should feel extremely grateful to be in the position you are OP.

If it makes you feel less alone, I am 43, house is worth 325k mortgage 285k with 32 years left. I am single and there is absolutely no inheritance comming my way.

It is a lot of pressure so completely understand your post, but we just need to keep plugging away.💐

You have £300k equity? Just sell and buy a 300k house, and don't have a mortgage.

What on earth are you doing in a 500k house if on your own and struggling?!

Have you posted this before OP?

I don’t think you’re in a bad spot and echo the PP that I don’t know ANYONE alone or in a couple who has paid off their mortgage.

I can understand the feeling of it being your burden alone but genuinely find think this is a terrible financial situation

You and your friends really aren't the norm. I'm late 30s and absolutely NO ONE I know is anywhere near close to paying off their mortgage and at least not for a few decades yet. My parents are boomers and even none of their friends had their mortgage paid off in their 40s. Especially on a 500k house!

Do you have any idea how privileged you are? You have £310k equity. You could buy a house outright, right now. Ok, it may not be massive, or in exactly the area you'd like, but you could buy a two or three bedroom house in many, many places.

I'm very unlikely to be a homeowner. No property ladder. I'm very grateful that we have a lifetime tenancy with the Council and that they rehoused us when DD1's disability made our rented home unsafe, but there will be nothing to pass on to our children.

I’ve just looked up the statistics. Around 46% of 40 year olds own their own home (with a mortgage) and only 4% own their home outright. The other 50% of 40 year olds either rent or live with family.

The vast majority of 40 year olds in the UK can’t scrape together enough for a deposit let alone receive a £200k inheritance like you say you’re going to receive to pay it off.

You’re having extreme anxiety and upset over being in a better position than 96% of the population? Paying off a mortgage by 40 is almost unheard of because it is very hard to achieve for most people. You’re in a bubble.

The average age of first time buyers is 34.

So it’s very unusual to be mortgage free by 40

You have another 30 years of working, OP.

Erm, you could be renting and paying the same amount in rent which is pissed up the wall?

I got my first mortgage at 41, borrowing over £200k and I was delighted. Comparison is the thief of joy. Just because you know some people who are mortgage free (probably from inheritance surely at that age?) doesn't mean your situation is bad.

Look at it the other way. Well done for haing 300k of equity! When your child is older you can downsize move etc.
Extend your mortgage to 67 and enjoy life

This^

You have 300k equity.

Me and my partner, and our 3 kids between us are looking to downsize and go mortgage free. We’re in the south of England, but outside the London bubble this is quite easily achievable.

I took out a mortgage of 250k to buy ex DP out of property when I was in my 40s, I’m now 62 and nearly paid off, but that’s by overpaying as much as I can
I remained single with 2 DC, who are now adults - it’s been a struggle but I had no other options and will not get any inheritance

You've got, what, 60% equity in a house worth 500k+, are able to afford to overpay your mortgage by the amount some people have simply to live on from month to month and parents who have enough wealth to pass down to you to pay it off?

Yeah, you're fine, and doing way better than the majority. Stop comparing yourself to the 1% who are mortgage free at your age.

You’re absolutely fine OP. How long is the term and where do you live?

Im in London and everyone I know is mortgaged to the eyeballs. The only couple I know who were mortgage free due to inheritance have just bought a massive renovation project and are taking out a huge mortgage to pay for it (not what I’d have done).

I’m also 39 and have 15 years left on my mortgage (many times the size of yours) but will need to probably double the term when we renew this year as we’ve been on a low fix that’s due to expire. It is what it is.

If the worst happened and you lost your job or something you could stop overpaying and ultimately sell. You would be fine.

I had no idea I was supposed to feel ashamed at not being mortgage free at 40.

I was quite pleased with our £125000ish remaining lol.

Some people live on a different planet to me I'm sure.

Honestly, I think that’s quite good. 🤷🏻‍♀️ We have an £800k house with about £400k maybe bit less to pay on the mortgage. I’m 46 with likely incurable cancer and I can’t get life insurance, so if I die, it doesn’t even help Dh any. He is fully insured, though hopefully he won’t die first because then dc will be super screwed. Apart from the likely to die early thing, I think having half my mortgage paid off in my 40s is great. My mum still had a mortgage in her early 70s, so we are in a much better position. We could only buy our first house at 40.

This probably is not helpful and in someway I was lucky buying at the right time in the right place. I was mortgage free at 39 and thank good I was as DH dropped down dead a few months later and pensions etc refused to pay out and then it was a single income for me and DC.

However, we bought a cheap house in a cheap area and never overstretched. We took out the mortgage over the shortest time possible and lived very frugally. I know I am lucky but it is a dated house in an 'okay' area of our city. Most of the furniture is knackered and second hand, the 30 year old kitchen only got updated last year and this was only becaue of a massive leak under the floorboards, insurance only paid a tiny part of it. We have lived with plug in oil radiators bought off gumtree for a while because I could not afford a new boiler straight away. I get it, it is shite, but better than paying the massive costs for rental. My DC is at uni and paying £900 a month for an attic room in a shared terrace house.

Housing in the UK is very broken