It wouldn't have made much difference in my case. We paid $52,000 for the house we live in and paid 20% down on that. Those west coast/east coast house prices scare the crap out of this country boy. You must invest before trying to pay off those monsters. But hey, our cheap house allows more room in the budget for the tequila I'm drinking.
This is why I don't get too excited either way with paying or not paying off the mortgage. I paid 71,000 for my house eight years ago, 20% down.
I intended to address these two posts when Bateaux's other one cross posted, so I'm writing a completely separate response.
I mentioned upthread, or perhaps on a related thread, that I might approach this topic differently if I lived in a country where mortgage interest is not fixed for up to thirty years or tax advantaged or where housing prices are very low, as the two of you do. You were both smart and bought wisely, at a time when so many others were panic selling, or worse, losing houses they could no longer afford.
If one listens closely, they might hear that boarder42 and I are actually singing in harmony. That is, we're singing the same song two different ways. He is more of a numbers and logic guy. I am a touch less analytical.
For example, Lmoot, I completely agree with your skepticism about (re)borrowing to speculate in say, individual stocks. When I was single and growing my 'stache, earning $35k-$40k/yr, and making mortgage payments that ate up half my take-home pay, I felt the same way. Part of me still does. However, the easy access to super low cost index funds (and the brilliance that is contained in the jlcollinsnh Stock Series) really didn't exist back then. Hell, back then the fees were a secret, buried deep in the prospectus, and the internet didn't exist. Mortgage rates were much higher, too. I remember being thrilled to get a mortgage at "only" 7% (with 20% down and excellent credit). Therefore, I don't really don't advocate that approach.
What I strongly support is the position that it's more advantageous to stuff full every other investment vehicle that's available to you as early as possible. You will amass a 'stache amazingly quickly. From there you can pay that fucking mortgage off in one fell swoop if you want to. But a funny thing happens when you follow this approach. Once you have a big ball 'o money, and inflation has been steadily eating away at the real cost of the mortgage payment, and maybe your income has gone up, that mortgage loses its threat over you. And that's where things really get interesting.
It is amazingly excruciating to hear people say "We killed our mortgage, now we can really start saving for retirement!" Well sure you can, but you've lost years of Roth/401k/403b etc. eligibility, possibly even some of your employer's match, and now you're racing against time. You're going to have to put in a lot more dollars in to get anywhere close to the same amount out as the person who started saving/investing early. In fact, the math says you may never catch up. That, IMO, is the Shockingly Simple Math that too many of the Kill All The Debt types just don't get. Now, if youre earning enough that you can fill all the buckets and pre-pay the mortgage, go right ahead. But even then, it's not the way to get the most bang for your hard-earned buck. And believe me, when your investment accounts start earning more than you do (and with time they will), you're gonna sleep like a rock.
I was never a high income earner. I do not have a professional degree. I married late in life, so I was always expecting to self-fund my retirement. Now I'm married, but DH's job would definitely be considered blue collar. Our income does not exceed $100k, yet we paid shockingly close to $1M cash for our house, and our NW outside our house has two commas. How the fuck did that happen? We started young (-ish), we used mortgages for leverage*, we took advantage of as many tax-advantaged options as we could afford**, we stayed the course when the markets tanked, and we let the twins Time and Compound Interest work their magic.
*Lol, we didn't know we were doing that, but it's the only way to buy real estate sans outside help in a HCOLA.
**Sigh, fucking California. So beautiful, but so, so expensive, especially in the major metros. But this is where our people and the places in our hearts are. The upside is that we've made big, big bucks owning CA real estate over the years.
Also, please note that neither of us ever hit the max limits in tax advantaged accounts. By mustachian standards, our savings rates were unimpressive. When your housing is so damn expensive, there simply aren't enough dollars to go around. Yet, we still got to FI and RE for me. Truly, mustachian principles work anywhere, at any income level.