50 year mortgages

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

I've seen news about this recently. When we bought our house and property we started with a 30 year, high interest rate at the time. We were paying it of to be done in about 20 years. Eventually we refinanced to a better rate and a 15 year. But I wanted to stay on track to pay it off when I'd originally planned before retiring. We did that and that was great.

Obviously you'd pay a lot more over the course of the loan in interest if you payed it off at the original end date. The 50 year loans would be even far worse. Of course you could still pay it off faster if you want. 

 

The reason I mention this is that over the years I've been surprised at the number of people who just figure they will always have a mortgage. They will never pay it off. Will these people be happy with a 50 year and slightly lower monthly payment?

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It was hard to find a site that would do the math for me without asking for personal info.

 

i went online looking for a hypothetical payment for a half million dollar mortgage at 6% comparing 30 and 50 years.  In reality, I think for 50 years, a bank might want another 1/4 point, so I included that. Basically you start at a $3k monthly payment without taxes and insurance and save no more that $370 a month by going for the longer term.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2025 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Barry Sloe]

I think it is aimed at the younger people. With a longer mortgage they might be able to afford the payments. 

 

BS

[Stump Water]

Baffles me too.

 

At 4% interest.  If a 50 year note goes to term, the interest paid is 131% of the present value.

 

At 5% that jumps to 172%

 

 

 

 

 

[Stump Water]

Loan Calculation.xls

[Rye Miles #13621]

With housing prices so high this may be the only affordable way to buy a home. You can always pay a little more each month to whittle down the principal. You can also refinance down the road when interest rates go down. 

[John Kloehr]

The ultimate limit of these financing methods is the 99 year lease.

[Pb Mark]

 

1 minute ago, John Kloehr said:

The ultimate limit of these financing methods is the 99 year lease.

Might just be smarter to rent from these mortgage companies and skip the ownership risks if unable to afford a conventional loan... because in the end, the lender will probably own the homes financed this way anyway.

 

Been tried already in California.  

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

save no more that $370 a month by going for the longer term.

 

News flash! That's a lot of money.

 

1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

With housing prices so high this may be the only affordable way to buy a home. You can always pay a little more each month to whittle down the principal. You can also refinance down the road when interest rates go down. 

 

Bingo! It's a way of getting the monthly payments down to where more people can afford to buy their first house even if it "only" saves $370 per mensem.  Then, after a few years,  either refinance or sell and trade up. I don't think that there's anyone who seriously expects someone who takes out a 50 year mortgage to not refinance or trade up.

 

I've been seeing listening to the talking heads pontificating about it,  and, of course since it was an idea floated by President Trump they were going on about how evil it is.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

22 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

News flash! That's a lot of money.

 

 

Bingo! It's a way of getting the monthly payments down to where more people can afford to buy their first house even if it "only" saves $370 per mensem.  Then, after a few years,  either refinance or sell and trade up. I don't think that there's anyone who seriously expects someone who takes out a 50 year mortgage to not refinance or trade up.

 

I've been seeing listening to the talking heads pontificating about it,  and, of course since it was an idea floated by President Trump they were going on about how evil it is.

370 out of 3000 though…

 

as Albert said “relativity”

[Subdeacon Joe]

3 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

370 out of 3000 though…

 

as Albert said “relativity”

 

12%.  

[Dantankerous]

If'n I was a young person starting out in life, I think I'd just live in a van down by the river. 

 

I know kids in their mid 20s making 100K/year and they are even wondering how they can afford a home these days. 

[watab kid]

im sorry - those numbers are staggering , i have always understood this mortgage system , but my first house was 35k , my current one was 91k , i cannot fathom a half million dollar mortgage , 

both my kids have more than that in theirs but i just cant wrap my head around these numbers 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

46 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

If'n I was a young person starting out in life, I think I'd just live in a van down by the river. 

 

I know kids in their mid 20s making 100K/year and they are even wondering how they can afford a home these days. 

I do too. However, some of them eat out every night of the week, attend NFL games & Taylor Swift concerts, lease luxury cars and take lavish vacations. I could go on.
 

If they really wanted to buy a home, they could scrimp like my grandparents, my parents, and I did. 
 

************
 

Note: tried to make two unrelated posts in a row. This merge “feature” SUCKS!!

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by Abilene Slim SASS 81783

[Still hand Bill]

24 minutes ago, watab kid said:

im sorry - those numbers are staggering , i have always understood this mortgage system , but my first house was 35k , my current one was 91k , i cannot fathom a half million dollar mortgage , 

both my kids have more than that in theirs but i just cant wrap my head around these numbers 

I recently asked a cousin who bought a house in San Diego, for a 3 bedroom typical suburban house, 2 million. I bet their mortgage is over a million.  500k won’t buy you much in many markets.  In other markets you can still get a house for a couple hundred k, but the jobs won’t pay 6 figures.  
 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

…nor do you need 6 figures in those less expensive markets to have an equivalent standard of living. 
 

I left New York City in 1978 because the cost of living was then and still is, outrageous. I moved to Kansas City where the cost of living  didn’t continually outstrip my paycheck. Why anyone would live in NYC, LA or anywhere else where there is no value for your dollar is beyond me. 

[Pb Mark]

Might want to read about the subprime mortgage crisis around 2007-2009, TARP, ARRA, the collapse of the housing bubble of that time, the collateralized dept obligations, devaluation of housing backed securities, mass foreclosures and the severe recession that housing game created.

 

Think history cannot repeat itself?   

 

Guess as long as I get my $2,000 stimulus check, I'll buy another house too.  Pass that nontransferable-on-death mortgage debt on to the grandkids.

 

 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

https://babylonbee.com/news/banks-now-requiring-your-grandkids-to-co-sign-your-50-year-mortgage
 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

https://babylonbee.com/news/banks-now-requiring-your-grandkids-to-co-sign-your-50-year-mortgage
 

SATIRE!

[watab kid]

1 hour ago, Still hand Bill said:

I recently asked a cousin who bought a house in San Diego, for a 3 bedroom typical suburban house, 2 million. I bet their mortgage is over a million.  500k won’t buy you much in many markets.  In other markets you can still get a house for a couple hundred k, but the jobs won’t pay 6 figures.  
 

exactly what my thinking was , 20 years ago my NIL sold his house in california for over a million dollars - it was a 1200 sf two bedroom bungal , - thats what i bought for 35k in 1974 , granted it was a nice house and it lived well , but i was aghast at the west coast cost 

i bought my current home in 91 for less than market value as the property had just been annexed and was facing a utility and road reconstruction assessment , it only cleared from the tax roles a few years ago and we just this summer had a total utility changeover as well as road replacement , they did replace half of my 60+ year old driveway but im on the hook for extra taxes another 20 years , 

 

both my kids bought 3/4 million dollar homes on very nice property - both have great jobs as well as their spouses , but i just cant imagine the numbers today it would scare me to death , i realize its because i grew up in the 50s-60s and was raised by parents that grew up in the depression then fought a world war , my siblings and i were raised frugally , my wife was a 50s-70s navy brat - she too was raised that way , we still live that way , 

 

my biggest extravagance in my life was a 67 mustang convertible that cost $2500 in that year - brand new off the showroom floor , ive never spent like that since , dont get me wrong , my wife and i dont do without these days but we worked very hard to get here - i just cant imagine buying into a mortgage with those numbers 

[Pb Mark]

On a 50 year over inflated price home loan, are the property taxes and homeowners' insurance for free? 

 

50-year car loans are a great idea though since there are already so many delinquent auto loans floating around out there.  At least a dept relief program for those who bought cars they cannot afford would not be as expensive as a housing mortgage crash.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

I'm about 6 years into a 15 year mortgage. In less than a year I start collecting my pension from the police department (I took an early retirement from there and am working full time in a completely new industry). So the plan is to use the pension payment to double pay on the mortgage. 

 

Debt, in any form, is slavery.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

7 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

SATIRE!

Thank you. I should have mentioned that. I’m surprised how many dot know that. 

[Pb Mark]

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot insure a mortgage that is longer than 30 years, so any 50-year mortgage would be considered a “non-qualifying mortgage” and would be more difficult to sell to investors. Congress would have to amend U.S. financial laws in multiple places to allow for 50-year mortgages, and there seems to be little appetite for Congress to take this on immediately.

 

Supply and demand.  Build more quantity of affordable starter homes.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

14 hours ago, Stump Water said:

Baffles me too.

 

At 4% interest.  If a 50 year note goes to term, the interest paid is 131% of the present value.

 

At 5% that jumps to 172%

 

It's even worse because if a 30 year is at 4%, a 50 yr is likely to be at 4 1/4% or 4 1/2%. banks dont give away long term loans.

[Rye Miles #13621]

16 minutes ago, Pb Mark said:

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot insure a mortgage that is longer than 30 years, so any 50-year mortgage would be considered a “non-qualifying mortgage” and would be more difficult to sell to investors. Congress would have to amend U.S. financial laws in multiple places to allow for 50-year mortgages, and there seems to be little appetite for Congress to take this on immediately.

 

Supply and demand.  Build more quantity of affordable starter homes.

This is just an idea floated by the current administration, I don’t think anyone is giving 50 yr mortgages right now. 
 

 

✅ What

is

happening

 

 

• The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is reportedly exploring a 50-year mortgage option.
• Media articles emphasise this is still a proposal/discussion, not a broadly available product.
• Analysts caution that a 50-year mortgage would reduce monthly payments only modestly while substantially increasing total interest paid.

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by Rye Miles #13621

[Still hand Bill]

7 hours ago, watab kid said:

exactly what my thinking was , 20 years ago my NIL sold his house in california for over a million dollars - it was a 1200 sf two bedroom bungal , - thats what i bought for 35k in 1974 , granted it was a nice house and it lived well , but i was aghast at the west coast cost 

i bought my current home in 91 for less than market value as the property had just been annexed and was facing a utility and road reconstruction assessment , it only cleared from the tax roles a few years ago and we just this summer had a total utility changeover as well as road replacement , they did replace half of my 60+ year old driveway but im on the hook for extra taxes another 20 years , 

 

both my kids bought 3/4 million dollar homes on very nice property - both have great jobs as well as their spouses , but i just cant imagine the numbers today it would scare me to death , i realize its because i grew up in the 50s-60s and was raised by parents that grew up in the depression then fought a world war , my siblings and i were raised frugally , my wife was a 50s-70s navy brat - she too was raised that way , we still live that way , 

 

my biggest extravagance in my life was a 67 mustang convertible that cost $2500 in that year - brand new off the showroom floor , ive never spent like that since , dont get me wrong , my wife and i dont do without these days but we worked very hard to get here - i just cant imagine buying into a mortgage with those numbers 

Times have changed.  My dad’s first house was 25k and he made 3.5k per year.  Our current house cost 2.5 times our yearly income and is taxed value is now 5x.  So in multiples of yearly income it’s similar, just the numbers are much bigger.  Inflation at work.  

[WD Farren]

The real killer is the property taxes.

 

These are the staggering expense of renting your home from the county.

 

When CA takes away our Prop 13 tax protections, our generational family home taxes will be $55,000 per year.

 

We will of course, have to sell the property.

[Stump Water]

12 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

I do too. However, some of them eat out every night of the week, attend NFL games & Taylor Swift concerts, lease luxury cars and take lavish vacations. I could go on.
 

If they really wanted to buy a home, they could scrimp like my grandparents, my parents, and I did. 

 

On various other social media, rants from the post GenX crowd about not being able to afford to buy a house these days are not uncommon.  And of course it's all our fault (Boomers & GenX) - we ruined this country for everyone and we won't sell our houses and move into retirement homes.

 

There is one common thread in the rants though.  The concept of buying a "starter house", building equity and investing sweat equity until you can move up is almost completely lost.  They want their dream home right out of the gate.  

[Cypress Sun]

28 minutes ago, Stump Water said:

 

On various other social media, rants from the post GenX crowd about not being able to afford to buy a house these days are not uncommon.  And of course it's all our fault (Boomers & GenX) - we ruined this country for everyone and we won't sell our houses and move into retirement homes.

 

There is one common thread in the rants though.  The concept of buying a "starter house", building equity and investing sweat equity until you can move up is almost completely lost.  They want their dream home right out of the gate.  

 

That's because they take zero responsibility for any of their actions. Hey It's not their fault...it's their parents fault, societies fault, anybody's fault but theirs. 

Work for it? Not bloody likely.

 

[Eyesa Horg]

42 minutes ago, Stump Water said:

 

On various other social media, rants from the post GenX crowd about not being able to afford to buy a house these days are not uncommon.  And of course it's all our fault (Boomers & GenX) - we ruined this country for everyone and we won't sell our houses and move into retirement homes.

 

There is one common thread in the rants though.  The concept of buying a "starter house", building equity and investing sweat equity until you can move up is almost completely lost.  They want their dream home right out of the gate.  

And they want to blow 50K on the wedding/honeymoon. But can't afford a house!

[Pb Mark]

28 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

And they want to blow 50K on the wedding/honeymoon. But can't afford a house!

 

A good way for them to get back on their feet financially is to just miss two or three car payments.  

[Blackwater 53393]

When we bought our humble domicile, it sold for $38K.  We’ve paid it off once and we’ve taken another mortgage to finance some improvements and build my shop. Altogether, a little over $100K.  That was a little over eight years ago.  
 

It’s now worth more than three times that much and payments are affordable.

 

I look on it as an investment!! My equity keeps increasing, making it worth the payment and offering me some financial freedom.

 

A friend of mine that I worked with, years ago, once said that he expected to be in debt for the rest of his life.  When I asked him about it, he explained that he was a working man and that he had paid his way all his life and he figured that his house was like a private bank that he could get money from to buy and do the things he wanted.

 

I’ve come to the realization that I will probably never live long enough pay off another mortgage, so I plan to do what that gentleman did.  I’ll keep paying on the mortgage and let the equity build and when I want something or want to do something, I’ll take a small note and do it!

[watab kid]

5 hours ago, Still hand Bill said:

Times have changed.  My dad’s first house was 25k and he made 3.5k per year.  Our current house cost 2.5 times our yearly income and is taxed value is now 5x.  So in multiples of yearly income it’s similar, just the numbers are much bigger.  Inflation at work.  

yes , i agree - times have changed - i realize that we cannot compare what things cost today to what our memories remember it costing us , but i still cannot imagine the payments and interest on mortgages and car loans today , they seem unreal to me , 

[Stump Water]

4 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

... he figured that his house was like a private bank that he could get money from to buy and do the things he wanted.

 

Sounds like a candidate for a reverse mortgage.

 

Yeah, y'all can stop throwing the empty beer bottles now.

 

Had an uncle who retired.  He worked for 45 years like the rest us.  But, he was a sub-contractor and got paid in cash... a lot.  So his social security benefit was a pittance.  He was putting annual property taxes and insurance on a credit card, which equals going in the hole.  Reverse mortgage allowed him to live OK off of the equity in his house/property.