First time - very early 2010 to late 2013, so 4 years. Then we moved to a more expensive, but better located house. 2nd time - mid 2014 to mid 2017 - 3 years. 3 cheers for good income in a LCOL area!
If I had it over again, we'd have taken a 30 year mortgage the 2nd time for sure and still be paying it. Probably should refinance and invest, but that is a tougher sell than doing it right in the first place would have been. Can't even get her to successfully transfer an IRA to Vanguard, how can I possibly convince her "learned something new - we should re-mortgage the house and buy stocks?" At least the house is pretty cheap. Plus we don't actually live in the house now - we're temporarily on the west coast and renting, so I kind of just don't want to deal with it. The incoming rent would certainly cover a mortgage payment and then some, so cash out refinance still makes good sense.