Mortgage paid off, no regrets

MMAGirl

We were in a 2 bed apartment paying €1000 pm in 1999.We had toyed with the idea of buying for a few years. we wanted a home of our own, that we could alter and stay in, not have to move every few years and settle for someone elses taste in breakaway furniture etc that you get in rentals.
Eventually when the rent was going up again we bought a lovely 3 bed house in Dublin for 250k and were worried for years if we had done the right thing as that house was expensive at the time.
we got a 30 year mortgage but it's all paid off since jan 2011 as we accelerated the payments.
It's great having no mortgage or rent to pay now. Tbh we cant even spend the extra money we have each month now. And with accelerating the payments we were used to higher outgoings than just the normal mortgage would have been. So the extra at the end of the month seems even more to us.


Even though we werent sure at the time we are sure now that we made the right decision in buying the house.
Even though it cost us 250k plus stamp duty and interest we would have paid around €200k by now in rent and moved numerous times I'm sure. We would need to have beEn renting a 3 bed house since 2003 too. mortgage interest relief did play a big part in our decision at the time, as did stamp duty and the cost of rent.
A colleague is renting a house the very same as ours around the corner for €1350 a month at the moment.

Equality

Interesting example.

A three bed house in a 'starter home' estate in Dublin in 1999 cost a little bit over 100K.

You are obviously on excellent salaries, given that you could afford double what the average couple paid in 1999.

Congratulations on paying off the mortgage in 12 years, I think myself that anyone paying less than 100K for a house at present will probably be able to do the same thing, so long as they have a deposit of about 40k saved first.

the_syco

MMAGirl wrote: »

we bought a lovely 3 bed house in Dublin for 250k

Do you know how much you paid in total?

the_syco

the_syco wrote: »

Do you know how much you paid in total?

I haven't done mortgage calcs in a while, but at 1999 rates of 5% on a mortgage of 200k I should imagine nearly double

MMAGirl

Equality wrote: »

Interesting example.

A three bed house in a 'starter home' estate in Dublin in 1999 cost a little bit over 100K.

You are obviously on excellent salaries, given that you could afford double what the average couple paid in 1999.

Congratulations on paying off the mortgage in 12 years, I think myself that anyone paying less than 100K for a house at present will probably be able to do the same thing, so long as they have a deposit of about 40k saved first.

I didnt start this thread.
I dont know how this got into start another thread. I know how sensitive people get about the subject.
That was a reply to someone in a thread about what difference mortgage interest relief makes to a decision to buy.

The house was a little better than the average starter home. And 3-bed starter homes cost £150k + at the time. Close enough to €200k. There was no Euro then. Sure a 1 bed apartment cost £120k at the time, so I dont know where you got €100k for a house from. There were houses no houses then for €100k that I know of that even a horse would live in.

We could hardly afford it and had to rent a room for 4 years, but we were sick of living in rented accommodation and all that it entails. But we earned more money as we got older. Got to more senior positions and changed jobs for more salary etc over the years. The usual career progression. I only do 3 days a week now. Jobsharing.
The no rent/mortgage life has let me do that and still be very comfortable. I could give up my job altogether and still be very comfortable but i would crack up.

In hindsight, buying the house has definitely been a good option for us, but it was a hard decision at the time. But everyone will be different.
And dont forget there is maintenance and a price for the freedom of having to pick your own appliances, furniture etc. I kept good notes and it averages to just about €1000 a year for maintenance/furniture etc over the time we've had the house. Some years its higher. Some years its nearly zero.

the_syco wrote: »

Do you know how much you paid in total?

Interest rates went up and down over the years.
But as far as I remember when we cleared it off finally we got a statement.
I remember my husband working it out including deposit, stamp duty, solicitors, MIR, etc and I think it came in at a total of just north of €300K in total.

Anyway, I didnt even start this thread. I'm not hear to justify our decision. It was just a reply to tell the people in the other thread that MIR does influence your decision to buy and can tip your decision either way easily.

murphaph

MMAGirl wrote: »

Interest rates went up and down over the years.
But as far as I remember when we cleared it off finally we got a statement.
I remember my husband working it out including deposit, stamp duty, solicitors, MIR, etc and I think it came in at a total of just north of €300K in total.

I think his question was more related to what you've paid in total including interest.

Even though you didn't start the thread, I still think it's a pretty good one. It's interesting to hear of people clearing their mortgages early and so on.

I would agree with you that there were no 3 bed starter homes in Dublin to be had for 100k in 1999. They had already become more expensive at that stage.

MMAGirl

murphaph wrote: »

I think his question was more related to what you've paid in total including interest.

Even though you didn't start the thread, I still think it's a pretty good one. It's interesting to hear of people clearing their mortgages early and so on.

I would agree with you that there were no 3 bed starter homes in Dublin to be had for 100k in 1999. They had already become more expensive at that stage.

Interest was just over €50k

StillWaters

murphaph wrote: »

I would agree with you that there were no 3 bed starter homes in Dublin to be had for 100k in 1999. They had already become more expensive at that stage.

Had they? I think I consideried the gallops in Leopardstown at £86k in 98. Memory could be hazy though.

The problem was getting a mortgage. It was so hard. stricter even than now.

Slydice

Congratulations. Just cos you can't spend your money at the moment doesn't mean that you don't have ways to spend it.

You could try investing in some Irish business or spend it in the local economy if you wanna try help out the country in it's current situation.

MMAGirl

Slydice wrote: »

Congratulations. Just cos you can't spend your money at the moment doesn't mean that you don't have ways to spend it.

You could try investing in some Irish business or spend it in the local economy if you wanna try help out the country in it's current situation.

LOL. Theres always one. Probably more.
I knew this would happen with someone making a thread out of the post.
Goodbye.

StillWaters

MMAGirl wrote: »

LOL. Theres always one. Probably more.
I knew this would happen with someone making a thread out of the post.
Goodbye.

In fairness, this is to be expected. Those that bought pre bubble have benefitted greatly, low interest rates, trackers if we switched, cheap housing, stable employment. I don't blame those coming up behind us for being rightly p***ed off tbh. The anger is misdirected in this thread, but I can understand it.

riclad

Most people who bought after 2003 ,are in negative equity
,cant afford to pay loan off early.
There,s some people who could benefit ,by paying say an extra 20- 30 per cent per month, above the standard payment.That way you pay mortgage early and save on interset payments.
if you borrow 100k, it,ll cost you at least 200k to pay it back,over 25 years.

murphaph

StillWaters wrote: »

Had they? I think I consideried the gallops in Leopardstown at £86k in 98. Memory could be hazy though.

The problem was getting a mortgage. It was so hard. stricter even than now.

Hmmm, I'm just going by a 3 bed semi-d house I bought in D15 in Jan 2000 and it cost over 100k (EURO). 86k pounds is also over €100k isn't it? (not by much, I'll grant you).

I suppose it depends on what one considers a starter home anyway :pac:

Icepick

No penalties for paying off early?

murphaph

Icepick wrote: »

No penalties for paying off early?

Such penalties would be pretty unusual on a typical repayment mortgage.

Duckjob

Icepick wrote: »

No penalties for paying off early?

AFAIK penalties normally only apply on where fixed rate/term has been agreed. On variable/tracker rates you can generally pay off extra amounts anytime you want without restriction.

NIMAN

You paid off a 30yr mortgage in 12yrs - congrats thats some going.

I would say that you have now reached the utopia that many of us aim for - to be mortgage free.

I recently sold a rental property, made a small profit and paid that off my home mortgage, and can now see light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest, I was so happy to get rid of the rental. Having a 2nd property in this country at present is a dodgy enough thing imho, and now just concentrating on getting my main mortgage cleared.

Villa05

MMAGirl wrote: »

We were in a 2 bed apartment paying €1000 pm in 1999.We had toyed with the idea of buying for a few years. we wanted a home of our own, that we could alter and stay in, not have to move every few years and settle for someone elses taste in breakaway furniture etc that you get in rentals.
Eventually when the rent was going up again we bought a lovely 3 bed house in Dublin for 250k and were worried for years if we had done the right thing as that house was expensive at the time.
we got a 30 year mortgage but it's all paid off since jan 2011 as we accelerated the payments.
It's great having no mortgage or rent to pay now. Tbh we cant even spend the extra money we have each month now. And with accelerating the payments we were used to higher outgoings than just the normal mortgage would have been. So the extra at the end of the month seems even more to us.


Even though we werent sure at the time we are sure now that we made the right decision in buying the house.
Even though it cost us 250k plus stamp duty and interest we would have paid around €200k by now in rent and moved numerous times I'm sure. We would need to have beEn renting a 3 bed house since 2003 too. mortgage interest relief did play a big part in our decision at the time, as did stamp duty and the cost of rent.
A colleague is renting a house the very same as ours around the corner for €1350 a month at the moment.

Can I ask what is the point of this post?
Is it
Rent is dead money?

riclad

i presume you mean its a good idea pay off mortgage ,early if you can ,as you ,ll save a large amount of interest payments,
good idea if you have the money to do so.
theres people out there on high wages ,could afford to pay off the loan ten years early if the wished.

StillWaters

Villa05 wrote: »

Can I ask what is the point of this post?
Is it
Rent is dead money?

I think it is much more complex than that. OP bought way back when Ireland had a properly functioning Market. Treated their home like a home, did not sell up when stupid money was offered, poured every cent back into the mortgage, and is now facing middle age with disposable income and is beholden to not landlord or bank.

Economically not the smartest move, could have sold, rented and bought again now. But to me it's an important lesson in ignoring peaks and troughs and seeing a property purchase as a home purchase. It's about priorities, prudence and forward planning.

Villa05

StillWaters wrote: »

I think it is much more complex than that. OP bought way back when Ireland had a properly functioning Market. Treated their home like a home, did not sell up when stupid money was offered, poured every cent back into the mortgage, and is now facing middle age with disposable income and is beholden to not landlord or bank.

Economically not the smartest move, could have sold, rented and bought again now. But to me it's an important lesson in ignoring peaks and troughs and seeing a property purchase as a home purchase. It's about priorities, prudence and forward planning.

Completely agree hence the ? after the statement, I still would love to know what the OP point is.

MIR is mentioned which entry to same, coincidentally ends soon
Is it to reassure people who are worried about taking the plunge now?

Jumpaddict

Villa05 wrote: »

Completely agree hence the ? after the statement, I still would love to know what the OP point is.

MIR is mentioned which entry to same, coincidentally ends soon
Is it to reassure people who are worried about taking the plunge now?

read the thread, the post is explained

martingriff

Icepick wrote: »

No penalties for paying off early?

Only on fixed not on variable I would say. Though if you tried to pay a hugh blaock in one go they might penalise you. A little extra every few months I say not.