Good for you guys :)

However, I think your situation must be the price you pay for such an opportunity.

Living in a different country. And not settling down yet (in terms of location - you've moved 7 times in 6 years).....

I don't know many people who would be prepared to sacrifice not being in this country whilst paying of a mortgage in this country (no, I'm not going to get back into the arguement about getting out of this country).

My situation is that I'm 33, married for 9 yrs with 2 kids. Steady (easy) job. Wife works too. We live in the stereotypical vision of the English Countryside.
Stunning.

However, the price I pay for living with this scenery everyday is that I've got a big 3-bed house (that's been heavily modded - does that apply to houses! :D) that requires a mortgage.

Realistically, I may be able to pay more off in the future, but the hard facts are that the UK isn't the cheapest place to live! For example, as stated in a previous post, my childcare bill per month is nearly as much as my mortgage, and I know that's a pretty usual occurrance (sp?). Without the childcare, yes, I could pay more off, quicker.
But I could then say, if I bought my entire food shop from Lidls, and got my clothes from George/Asda, I could do the same.

It's all about standard of living.

I've always been told that debt is good. There's nothing wrong with debt. It's when you can't manage it, that's when the problems occur. A mortgage is just another debt, albeit longer term :)

But fair play to you (and others) who can afford the income and other sacrifices you've made to get to where you watn to be :) One day, maybe :)

Dan

Its not hard to grasp Akuma. Some people are hugely material and can only have all lifes luxury (and sometimes unecessary) trappings by having a big mortgage. Some are not, to be fair, although everyone seems to want it all, and now, these days.

My advice?

Buy cheap and careful to begin with, interest only mortgage. Ride the crest of the property wave with careful moves and timing. Some people call it hassle, I call it variety.

Do it carefully and you end up with a house worth many, many more times that of your mortgage.

Save and invest the money you would have paid (and lost) on the repayment element of the mortgage more wisely than most and use that to pay off chunks of your mortgage as you go.

In my case, 15 years in and its paid off. "It" being a varaible amount, and up to 3 times the original amount, howeverthe equity gain has far outrun the mortgage increases over the years.

No oppertunity loss, no lost time, no lost holidays, no crappy cars and I've saved ten years of payments unless I decide to borrow further against my house. Which, to be honest, would be done for reasons of excess, not necessity.

It doesn't have to be difficult.

IFA's - don;t make me laugh with your sarcasm and "arn't we a cut above" humour. Its hardly a black art. Only ever used them to source what I decide I want, not what they suggest. They only exist and make good money at it because most people can't think for themselves.

lol.....funny guy.