Just resist the temptation to refinance every two years and roll your credit cards and a new SUV into the deal. Yada, yada. It's not Bush's fault. Greenspan did it.
Don't know whose fault it is, re Greenspan or Bush or Clinton, but we refi'd five years ago to change our adjustable to a fixed and shorten the term by ten years. Didn't take any funds out. Current equity at at least 2.5 times the mortgage balance so we can stand some downward pressure. By the way, we don't use credit cards, period, and we pay cash for our vehicles. Hubby and I are solid on paying off the house asap and resisting temptation to draw on the equity. Hopefully it will pay off in the long run. I know the lack of debt is nice right now. And our lifetstyle isn't spartan by any means. We live in California, by the way, an hour east of San Francisco.