We did the same thing but when we were younger we were able to pay off our mortgage in 7 years. We made a lot of sacrifices though. Was it worth it? Completely worth it. Only thing I would add to Heidi's advice is this - Once you pay off your mortgage either upgrade to a more superior location or invest the mortgage payment money. It's really easy to just fritter it away. We upgraded and invested so wisely that now in retirement we are self funded retirees living the life we always dreamed of. Mind you, we still usually spend wisely and take a thermos instead of going to the coffee shop when we are out. You just have to get more creative on where you drink your cuppa from the thermos. Our all time best cuppas have been with family and friends on the banks of the local river. Our best occasional splurge was in the Alps in Norway, eating the biggest, best, chocolate dipped icecream ever.

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Great story, CJ, and what an amazing splurge!

We hope it was all the sweeter for knowing how hard you had worked.

- Money team

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Your thermos made me laugh, CJ, because we do the same thing. We sit on the beach watching the waves and know we haven't missed out at all. We just got better seats than any cafe I've ever been to. Enjoy your retirement! (-:

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Hey Heidi. Congratulations on your excellent achievement. I have some questions and if you'd be ab;e to answer, it would be greatly appreciated. What loan amount was your mortgage from 2008 on a house at Engadine? How does it compare to what people are forced to borrow today for a Sydney property ($800,000+)? And based on your current repayment rate, how long would it actually take to repay today's mortgage amount?

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This is amazing!! Any chance of some statistics, like what the purchase price was, what the property value was at purchase and then at completion of mortgage repayments?

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Hi Connie. We paid market value for it in 2008 which was $410,000. It's now worth around $900,000. Hope that helps. xx

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Thanks Stu!
We paid $410,000 but had saved a 20% deposit. An $800,000 mortgage would have taken us almost the full 30 years as we couldn't have made the extra repayments we did. If I had to rebuy from scratch now I wouldn't buy into this market. I would buy elsewhere as an investment, rent it out and make extra payments as well and rent where I wanted to live. Then when I could afford to make extra repayments I would tackle the Sydney mortgage. Hope this helps, Heidi xx

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