>> Can you actually do that?
>>
>> Obviously, I've never had a mortgage. But from other loans I've had, if
>> you try to pay back more money or pay it off early, they charge you very
>> steep penalty fines.
>
> Once you're out of any special offer or fixed period usually you only
> pay a very minor early repayment charge (like under £100) to pay it off
> completely. If you are moving to a new provider often they will pay that
> fee for you.
>
> Also a lot of mortgages allow you to pay back extra up to a certain
> amount (it's £500/month on mine) without any fees, even during the fixed
> period. It's surprising how just doing that for a few months can take a
> year off the length of the mortgage!

OK, that's interesting.

>> I had assumed that the value of a property can only go down, never up.
>
>
http://www.moneyweek.com/~/media/MoneyWeek/2009/090309/09-03-11-MM2.ashx?w=450&h=362&as=1

So, prices rising approximately in line with inflation. Except for that 
bit in the middle where prices drastically fell.

Besides, this is the average rate for *all* properties. I'm sure buying 
new properties gradually gets more expensive. What about the ones that 
are already built?

>> I mean, think about it. The longer I have the property, the older and
>> therefore less desirable it becomes. The green fields around it get
>> built on, reducing the value. The surrounding properties get cheaper so
>> the wrong sort of people start moving in and making the neighbourhood
>> undesirable. And so on.
>
> If you really do believe that then surely *buying* a property rather
> than renting one is a very stupid thing to do?

If you rent something, you must pay rent for the rest of your life. If 
you mortgage something, then (hypothetically) you will eventually *own* 
it, and then you don't have to pay any more money.

Sadly, because I've started so late in life, I will never actually pay 
the whole of the mortgage off. And even if I do, I'll still be renting 
the other 70% of the property. But hey, it's all I could afford.

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