10 years, 10 whole years.

tomwaterford wrote: »

didn't want to pay the interest on top of the principal???

I'd rather live and pay some interest. Also unless they where smart and had there money invested it sitting in a bank isn't exactly working for them

SimonLynch wrote: »

Can't really admire them, if they were Irish this would be in the 'stingiest' thread. No benefit to the local/national economy but they have a flat in Ireland. Sorry for being miserable, not usual for me :-)

They contributed when they paid for the house.

10 whole years of self-inflicted impoverishment, what a very sad existence and for what? And the worst thing is, they were 10 of the better years of their lives. As you get older and have a family you don't get the freedom that you had earlier. I lived it up during my 20s and 30s, got to travel and live in various parts of the world before starting a family and buying a house. I may not be mortgage free, but it's just another bill and I can still go on holidays and enjoy life.

Bit of a crazy sacrifice to make, but I also work with a lad Poland who is like that. Doesn't want to take out a mortgage, had built a house back in Poland and travels back regularly to keep tabs on it. Has no life at all, works, brings cheese sandwiches every day and his health is taking a beating. He's the same age as me but looks 15 years older. Wants to retire early and move back. But he'll put himself in an early grave before he can enjoy it if he keeps going the way he is.

For somebody working full time , with no mortgage and mabey no car....saving 100 euro a week shouldn't be a big deal.

If two people could save 200 per week that would add up to 104000 Euro over 10 years.....enough to buy an apartment in north Dublin(late 2013...probably not much longer.....).

If they didn't drink or smoke much they may have had a fairly comfortable life since 2003.

The hard part is not blowing your savings on expensive crap ye don't really need like brand new cars or expensive cameras you'll never use ( what I usually do )

I bought a house in '94 and for the first four years paid the regular monthly mortgage payment. By '98 the economy had taken off and my business was doing extremely well so decided to pay off the mortgage. I still clearly remember the feeling of walking in to the bank in 2001 to make the final payment.

In 2002, having become fed up with creches and childminders, we decided to employ someone to mind our son in our home. She was Polish and had originally come to Ireland on a 90 days visitor's visa so we had to jump through a few hoops to be able to employ her legally. She was brilliant. Even though she had only been employed to mind my son she'd have the house spick and span, laundry done and ironed. Our neighbour noticed how hardworking she was and in the mornings when my son was at school she'd do a few hours a week cleaning for her. In just over year she was in so much demand for house cleaning that when Poland joined the EU in '04 and she was no longer under work permit restrictions, she set up her own house cleaning business. Her husband came over to join her and even though he spoke not a word of English he too became in great demand doing house maintenance work that builders were turning down at the time. They went back to Poland in early '08 having saved enough money to buy an old hunting lodge there that they converted into a nice little hotel.

AlanS181824 wrote: »

That's a crazy way to live. What's the point in living if you're not gonna live to the full!

Have you ever heard of the concept of delayed/deferred gratification? In an economy predicated on relatively easy credit it seems like an old-fashioned idea but it would be unwise to scoff at it.

I'd rather get a mortgage, that way you get the house today instead of dumping money into renting while you're saving.

If they got the mortgage and somehow managed to get a 10 year mortgage it would've cost them less...

Id love to save the money, then invest in a product with a guaranteed return of the mortgage rate +.5%. Take out a mortgage, pay it with the investment return. Then at the end of the mortgage term, still have my capital sum. The day the mortgage ended, you would be mortgage free and would have a large amount of money. This is my dream.

Drakares wrote: »

This.

I don't get the mentality of sinking 300 grand into four walls and then being stuck to them for the rest of your life. Absolute madness in my eyes. I do have a decent job, am getting married next year and have absolutely no intention of moving away from where we're currently living.

I still have absolutely no intention of ever buying a house. I don't see the point, really don't. "Renting is dead Money" doesn't have any place in my view of the world

Who says you're stuck there for life?

You do realise it's possible to sell it and move?