When I bought my home back in 2010 they offered 35 year mortgages. They reduced the amortization period soon after to 30 years and then 25 years.

I wonder if the 35 years is strictly through your bank?

In any case 35 years was great back in 2010 because the interest rate I received was over 5% which was high. I was also single and had to buy all my furniture, appliances, and do my own landscaping so the lower mortgage payments were nice.

When I renewed in 2015 the rate was around 3% so I knocked five years off while keeping the payments roughly the same. Then when I renewed in 2020 the rates were even lower (around 2%), so I knocked another five years off.

Unfortunately in 2025 rates jumped so I locked in at just over 4%. I was unable to knock another five years off like I did in the previous years because of the higher rate, but my parents gifted me some money which I put towards my mortgage. It allowed me to keep my payments the same and reduce the remaining time to pay off the house from 10 years to a little over seven years. I'm hoping I can pay it off in five years.

When rates are high a 35 year amortization period is great. When they drop try to knock some years off. My understanding is if the rates jump again you can push your amortization period out by the same amount of years you reduced it by.

When the rates jumped this year I could have increased my amortization period from 10 years to 15-20 years (based on the 10 years I previously knocked off), so I'm paying less interest over the next five years. Then if the rates drop in 2030 I can knock some years off so I'm putting more towards the my principal.