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INGRID C DURDEN's avatar

I am originally from Belgium. Most mortgages there are 20 years. The registration though is 15 years, so after 15 years you have to re-register it. Some will take a loan on 25 or 30 years, but the bank or mortgage co. will advise you not to do this, as the intrest rates will be worse for you. Every mortgage has to be paid off by the time of retirement (so if you are 60 and take a mortgage still, it has to be paid in 7 years). When I came to the US I was disgusted - my almost 80 year old neighbor on a minimum income still was paying off her 30 year mortgage! I could barely believe it.

Al Goodwyn's avatar

But there are positives:

the bank becomes family

at 30 years, they send you a midlife crisis gift basket

at 40 years, they send you a free walker and Life-Alert pendant

IHOP offers a senior’s discount for mortgages past the 45-year mark

upon paying of your 50-year mortgage you get to open the time capsule buried at the mortgage’s beginning

your tombstone is sponsored by the bank

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