PHOENIX – The next time you sign up for a mortgage, you might be committing to a 50-year loan.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director, William J. Pulte, called the president’s plan a “complete game changer,” but does it do the trick?
What we know:
With a 50-year mortgage, it will take a long, long time before the payments make a dent into the principal. But, if lower monthly payments are what you’re after, this could be the solution.
When asked about the new proposal, many college students hoping for a bright future weighed in.
“I don’t know… it’s my dream,” student Nicole Macias said. “I don’t care if it’s really small, like a casita.”
Nationally there’s a lot of reasons many are not buying homes, including high upfront costs, interest rates, and wages. Now, President Donald Trump has floated a 50-year mortgage as a way to bring buyers in.
When presented with the trade-off—a lot more interest for a lower monthly payment—Macias replied, “Girl, bye.”
The other side:
While Pulte called it a game changer, many industry analysts disagree.
Joel Berner, a Senior Economist at Realtor.com said it may not bring in more buyers.
“I don’t think there are a ton of people who for the the difference between buying a home and not buying a home is the $200 a month they would save,” Berner said.
Local perspective:
At the state level, Sindy Ready, President of the Arizona Association of Realtors at her listing in the Meridian at Biltmore Estates — a two-bed, two-bath. Finding cheaper homes is just hard for a first time buyer, so a 50-year mortgage might help some.
“It could be an option and it could be a piece of the puzzle. It may not be the ultimate solution,” Ready said. “It’s difficult for a first-time homebuyer or someone to get into that to look for a lower price point.”
By the numbers:
The preliminary numbers for a $400,000 mortgage show that interests rates can change, as can a down payment, but on average. you’d pay $230 less a month. But in the end, you’d pay an extra $425,000 in interest.
“If you look at the numbers and you really want to sit down with a professional lender and take a look at those numbers… it’s really a small amount per month you’ll be saving.”
Berner believes the impact will be limited.
“The 50-year mortgage serves a very small sliver of the buying population. I think the effect would be really small,” Berner said.
What we don’t know:
What is not yet clear is the interest rate on a 50-year mortgage. Presumably, it would be higher than a 30-year loan, but by how much? If the interest is too high, it might wipe out any gains from a lower monthly payment.
The Source: This information was gathered by FOX 10’s Steve Nielsen who spoke with the President of the Arizona Association of Realtors and a senior economist at Realtor.com.