[Finance] How much left on your mortgage?

[Gwylan]

My last payment was last month - I got the "you are now mortgage free" letter last month.

Sadly, the news was overshadowed by my mum dying - she'd have been pleased and relieved that it was all cleared. I didn't really feel like celebrating, although I probably will in a couple of weeks when I don't have a monthly payment ... for the first time in 28 years.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Tail and business end of the mortgage now, eating away at the last 40k should be done in 2-3years.

Oh & then we can start saving for the daughters university fees.

Hopefully she will join the Navy.

 

[Mortdecai]

We have just under 150k to repay which we could probably repay tomorrow. However, it would wipe out almost all our current investments.

 

[BLOCK F]

My first mortgage was 48 years ago and was for about £8000, I think.
All was fine until my then wife and I split up and I had to pay her a share of the equity and make the mortgage repayments on my own. A bit scary, but luckily I got a decent pay rise a year later and things got easier.
Paid off my last mortgage in 1996, when we sold the company of which I was a director. Yes, a great feeling, but we have always lived modestly within our means, so it didn’t really change our lifestyle so much as give us the opportunity to take life a bit easier and for me to work part time and eventually retire at 55.
I feel very sorry for younger bods today, they have it really hard with regards to getting on the housing ladder.

 

[southstandandy]

Wife and I overpaid on our mortgage for years and managed to clear it in our early 40's. Sacrificed several years of holidays and luxuries but think it was worth the struggle for those years.

 

[Marshy]

Renting so don't have one.

Gotta to start all over again at the age of 50... this will be fun....

 

[zefarelly]

Neil, neil......orange peel....
We were in a similar position we considered upgrading about 6 years ago, but decided not to.....because we hate spending!!
There are times we wished we had, but we are not materialistic at all and I in particular hate to follow trends!

If I was a young as you, I would have probably done it too.

You can always flog it and downsize, if it added value. I have seen too much of late that doesn't want me to push my family to our financial limits.
So steady as she goes for me ATM.

We'vre kind of the same, don't mind spending wisely, but do not follow trends. A considered detailed loft conversion that looks like it was always there has probably added more value than it cost. Kitchen wasn't cheap but its not a fashion choice and is made of genuine tree wood.

And yes, downsizing and/or a slight relocation would put us well clear already, but we like where we live.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

"Lost everything" a few years back so no longer have one. Luckily it wasn't actually everything and I still have a decent pension pot which I can draw down from next year.

Realistically, any future property ownership for me is now only possible through an inheritance.

 

[Official Old Man]

My dream is to be mortgage-free. I'm overpaying at the moment in order to get rid of it as fast as possible.

To those who have no mortgage, and this is a genuine question, does life change all that much when you clear it off - and if it does, in what ways have you noticed?

Bank balance. Suddenly it's higher

 

[BigBod]

My dream is to be mortgage-free. I'm overpaying at the moment in order to get rid of it as fast as possible.

To those who have no mortgage, and this is a genuine question, does life change all that much when you clear it off - and if it does, in what ways have you noticed?

Paying off the mortgage is life changing. With a lot of hard work and a bit of luck along the way we paid ours off by the time I was 40... Means I can do a lesser paid job that I love and the Mrs is part time. Work/life balance is so much better. That peace of mind feeling that no matter what happens we will have a roof over our heads...

 

[Normal Rob]

254k left, and 16 years in which to pay it...

 

[nwgull]

I could pay down my mortgage significantly every month, but the rates I have (fixed for another 4 years) are so low that it's not worth it. I don't get the obsession with paying off mortgages these days. In some cases it doesn't make sense. For example: I know people that obsessively overpay on their mortgage but then take out a loan to buy a car.

 

[nail-Z]

I lucked out big time through sheer laziness when I remortgaged in 2008. I can't be arsed with remortgaging each time a fixed rate deal comes to an end, so just went with a lifetime tracker at .49% above base. Rates were over 5% at the time, and payments over £1200 a month. This halved within a couple of years as rates were continually cut.

I started overpaying when I had a bit of spare cash, and my bank don't recalibrate my monthly payment amount until the base rate changes. Because they stayed historically low for so long, I continued paying the same amount which didn't take into account overpayments. When the base rate finally went up in 2016 I found myself with a monthly mortgage payment of £70.

I've stopped overpaying now as it's better to have a morgage for the credit score. Plus, the last 0.25% increase in interest rates pushed my repayment up 44p a month. I have about 4 years left for the mortgage to run the full term.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I think most people who have a flat or house would have taken out what to them, was a horrendous Mortgage amount at some time in their life. When we took out ours 30+ years ago, we had just lost approx 25% on our existing property as a result of the property prices crash, however the same crash bought our current house into our range.

A the time, I had a very good job and Mrs Wz was well paid and owned a significant part of her company, so the repayments looked reasonable. Then Mrs Wz got pregnant twice in two years (no idea how?), decided to give up work and sold her share in the company (used to lessen the mortgage) and we were down to one income for the next 15 years, albeit one that rose significantly. But during that time, we overpaid on the mortgage with every bonus and pay off going towards to the mortgage. We still managed to do a fair bit of work on the house, including a couple of extensions without increasing the mortgage and used a couple of long standing endowments from our early mortgages to finally pay off the seriously reduced balance nearly 20 years ago.

What appears to be a horrendous sum of money can be managed as long as you take a sensible long term view on it. We managed to pay off ours far quicker than I had thought, but I think that was more down to Mrs Wz's financial acumen, switching mortgage lenders frequently.

It is a great feeling when it goes, but it is hard work

 

[Springal]

I lucked out big time through sheer laziness when I remortgaged in 2008. I can't be arsed with remortgaging each time a fixed rate deal comes to an end, so just went with a lifetime tracker at .49% above base. Rates were over 5% at the time, and payments over £1200 a month. This halved within a couple of years as rates were continually cut.

Similar thing - ended up on a base rate tracker 0.5% above base rate and mortgage when from £480 to £95 ish over night. For the 3 years I left my payments at £480 and made a nice dent + sufficient equity to move up the ladder

 

[zefarelly]

I could pay down my mortgage significantly every month, but the rates I have (fixed for another 4 years) are so low that it's not worth it. I don't get the obsession with paying off mortgages these days. In some cases it doesn't make sense. For example: I know people that obsessively overpay on their mortgage but then take out a loan to buy a car.

A few years ago I worked out I could sell my toys and pay off my mortgage . .then I realised I'd have no toys to play with, and the toys are appreciating faster than the interest on the mortgage. That is still the case . . .

 

[WATFORD zero]

A few years ago I worked out I could sell my toys and pay off my mortgage . .then I realised I'd have no toys to play with, and the toys are appreciating faster than the interest on the mortgage. That is still the case . . .

If you collect the right toys. I have a soft spot for these badges, you can find them stuck on all sorts of things

 

[zefarelly]

If you collect the right toys. I have a soft spot for these badges, you can find them stuck on all sorts of things

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similarly

 

[PTC Gull]

Happily now mortgage free. I was lucky with timing. Just before we left the UK in 2007 bought a property for rent which had a 15 year interest only. Sold that last year for double what I paid for it and thus made a shed load whilst clearing that one. When we arrived here in the USA, got a 30 year mortgage (I was 50 so bit of a shock, here they mortgage the property not the person so you can be out of work but still make payments and are ok). At the time it was almost $2 to the pound so got a large property for my money than I would have had in UK. Moved 3 years ago to Texas and the combination of over paying and rise in property values enabled me to clear the mortgage and pay cash for the current abode. To answer Knocky's question, you suddenly find you have funds to do things you would not normally be able to do. And no worries.
When I got my first flat in "Hove actually" around 1981 the interest rate was 18%. When rates went down I continued overpaying. Would highly recommend doing that as soon as you can.

 

[Weststander]

I lucked out big time through sheer laziness when I remortgaged in 2008. I can't be arsed with remortgaging each time a fixed rate deal comes to an end, so just went with a lifetime tracker at .49% above base. Rates were over 5% at the time, and payments over £1200 a month. This halved within a couple of years as rates were continually cut.

I started overpaying when I had a bit of spare cash, and my bank don't recalibrate my monthly payment amount until the base rate changes. Because they stayed historically low for so long, I continued paying the same amount which didn't take into account overpayments. When the base rate finally went up in 2016 I found myself with a monthly mortgage payment of £70.

I've stopped overpaying now as it's better to have a morgage for the credit score. Plus, the last 0.25% increase in interest rates pushed my repayment up 44p a month. I have about 4 years left for the mortgage to run the full term.

Ditto, not by design, it was only meant to be a stopgap - a friend got me a mortgage deal very similar to yours at that time. Directly linked to BoE base rates so no opportunity for Lloyds C&G to use a higher base. I’ve been paying bugger all interest for 14 years.