Make debt servitude great again, the eternal debtor, renting (+ paying property taxes & maintenance for the banksters), houses built these days won't last 50 years and more 50-year mortgage memes!
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.
That neighbor must have been bad with money or had gone through a divorce or serious health problem or job lost as I assume this was many years ago when homes were not several hundred thousand or well above people's income... Now though... would not surprise me... you will soon be lucky to not be a renter...
she was poor and had been all of her life. worked for a minimum wage, raised 5 children. Then moved here, where she bought a small doublewide. The house cannot have been more than 35000 but on 450 a month it takes a while to pay off.
These memes perfecly capture how absurd a 50 year mortgage realy is. The eternal debtor concept is wild when you think about it. The point about houses not even lasting 50 years anymore is especially on point, considering how much of new construction uses cheaper materals compared to older homes.
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.
That neighbor must have been bad with money or had gone through a divorce or serious health problem or job lost as I assume this was many years ago when homes were not several hundred thousand or well above people's income... Now though... would not surprise me... you will soon be lucky to not be a renter...
she was poor and had been all of her life. worked for a minimum wage, raised 5 children. Then moved here, where she bought a small doublewide. The house cannot have been more than 35000 but on 450 a month it takes a while to pay off.
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
These memes perfecly capture how absurd a 50 year mortgage realy is. The eternal debtor concept is wild when you think about it. The point about houses not even lasting 50 years anymore is especially on point, considering how much of new construction uses cheaper materals compared to older homes.