We paid off the mortgage yesterday! I don't mean to gloat (especially when the cost of living and interest rates are making things so tough for many at the moment) - we're not telling anyone in real life though, so I just wanted to let some of my excitement out, even if anonymously.
I'm 38, and the only family help was a $5000 loan from the in-laws which we paid back within a year. We bought really young (didn't feel like it at the time, but it was - early/mid 20s), so benefited from much lower prices and interest rates (though the first rate we had was 7.5%, that's also the highest one we had). That first place got earthquaked though and we had to start again from scratch, so it wasn't all smooth sailing.
The house is old and tired, and there's a lot of deferred maintenance (no curtains match anywhere, the carpet is shit, and we still have single glazing), so that'll take up the savings for a good long while. But man, it feels like a weight has been lifted.
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