Is 44 years old to old to own a house outright in Auckland?

[Envesty]

Your thoughts on the below will be greatly appreciated:

I have just turned the big 3 0 (30 years old), bought my first house at 29 years old. I am paying more than my min mortgage repayment.

I still owe $347k (Mangere East, Auckland - 3 bedroom), min repayment is $950 fortnightly, I am currently paying $1280 fortnightly @ 5.79% fixed until Oct 2016. Going by this rate i will have the house paid of on or before I turn 44 years old.

Who owns there home outright? if so, how old are you?

[eri]

i remember my parents celebrating when they had finally paid off the mortgage

guess they were in their early 50's?

but yeah

if you take out a 30yr when you're 30

you'll be 60 before it's done

[PTILoveYou]

44 years old with no mortgage on own home is pretty good.

There are two problems I can think off if you are too overly obsessed with paying off your own home:
1) you will probably be over conservative and not invest in other properties (leverage using bank's money is key to wealth through property investment). By the time you realise this, you may miss a few cycles to make you wealthy...
2) divorce will screw you up

A few years ago, I had this story to tell friends:

The modern problem that face everyone today. Imagine if you are 25, you are lucky and smart enough to buy your own home at age 25, then even smarter at managing your finances and pay off your mortgage by age 55... well then you only have 10 years to save your retirement... if all things work out well, you will have an ok retirement (only ok, not even good retirement!)

If you get a divorce during this time? you are screwed. (I use the F word usually)

Also if you do end up living a long live, but your savings run out, you are screwed too.

[genius]

I read a statistic somewhere a while ago that most people only become mortgage free in their very late 50s in Australia and I'm sure NZ isn't very different. So well done!

However, a much faster way to become mortgage free is, as Gary Lin said, to leverage up to buy more IPs (as long as it's in a booming city/right property cycle/right location/yield etc) so that the capital gains on your IPs will pay down your own home quicker.It also depends on your risk profile and personal situation.

I own a few properties in Auckland and if I wanted to, I'd be mortgage free now at age 24 (yeah I started very early but enough about me!).

[lissie]

Yeah or finding a compatible partner can also make you

I was 37 - my partner and I bought together when I was that age - meaning we were mortgage free as we'd both had houses previously (his freehold mine, with a fairly small mortgage). We have subsequently bought investment properties - but I still consider ourselves mortgage free (though the bank wouldn't) -because we've always had far more equity than the house we live in is worth - if that makes sense

[genius]

It's also worth adding that each person has different goals/circumstances. Do you want to be mortgage free in a Herne Bay villa or a Tokorua shack? Some people constantly upgrade their house and take much longer to become mortgage free.
No point comparing “mortgage free age” in my opinion – it’s meaningless. Every individual has his/her own journey.

[Courham]

29 or 30. Went to Japan with no money in 1996, just after we got married. We owned 4 properties including a mortgage free family home by the time we returned to NZ in 1999, never had a mortgage on my own home since though have upgraded it a couple of times.

So went from renting (in NZ) to mortgage free family home in 3 years- through saving rather than capital gain.

Craig

[flyernzl]

The traditional Kiwi passage through life was married in early 20s, rent and have two kids by mid-20s, get a State loan 30 years fixed at 3% (those were the days!) so have house paid off mid-50s, then you have five or ten years of disposable income before going on to the pension at 60 or 65.

This is why no NZ Government can get rid of the government old age pension - for the majority of the elderly it is their lifeline. Without it they would starve.

For the record, I had a house mortgage-free at 34.
(But right now I owe 1.5mil on IPs).

[mortgage broker]

In a world with central bankers obsessed with inflation, debt losses value.

If you are de leveraging then you are potentially subsiding someone else's retirement.

[Leftette]

Free at 32. Take that you bankers.

[Wayne]

Some people constantly upgrade their house and take much longer to become mortgage free.

It was by constantly upgrading our home that we became mortgage free sooner - add value each time.
Mortgage free at 38.

[genius]

It was by constantly upgrading our home that we became mortgage free sooner - add value each time.
Mortgage free at 38.

Sorry I meant "upsizing" rather than "upgrading".

[Wayne]

Sorry I meant "upsizing" rather than "upgrading".

we did that at the same time
110sqm
210sqm
319sqm
309sqm

[damarp]

You took 10 sqm out???

[Leftette]

The valuer told him he's not allowed to count the outhouse or the HQs parked on the lawn.