Opinion: Time to Break the Housing Logjam
Steve Hallstrom
Publisher - McKenzie County Farmer
Okay people, let’s be honest here. The American housing market is broken, and it’s been broken for years. Young families are getting crushed, inventory is frozen tighter than a lake in January, and millions of homeowners are trapped in “golden handcuffs” because they locked in 3 percent rates back in the good old days.
The White House is floating some possible solutions - 50-year mortgages and genuine, full-term portable 30-year loans - and the usual suspects are already wringing their hands. Good. Let them wring - we’ll let FREEDOM ring. These ideas are bold, practical, and exactly the shot in the arm this country needs. Sure there is risk, but we need to let grown up adults make grown up decisions and stop playing nanny.
Start with the 50-year mortgage. The average home price is knocking on $500,000. At today’s rates, a 30-year loan eats roughly 35-40 percent of the typical family’s take-home pay. That’s not a mortgage payment; that’s a lockbox. Stretch that same loan to 50 years and you’re instantly shaving hundreds - sometimes $400-$600-off the monthly bill. That’s real money. That’s the difference between renting forever and actually owning something. That’s the difference between putting $200 of food on your table or watching it vanish into some landlord’s boat payment. Hey, at least it’s an OPTION for free people who want choices.
The hand-wringers will scream, “But you’ll pay more interest over the life of the loan!” Yeah, no kidding. You know what else costs more over the long run? Never owning a home at all. At least with a 50-year mortgage you’re in the game. You’re building equity - slowly at first, sure - but you’re building something. And here’s the part the critics always leave out: nobody has to keep the 50-year forever. Get in the house, let your income grow, let the property appreciate, then refinance into a 30- or 15-year when the numbers make sense. It’s a bridge, not a coffin. I have owned 5 homes in my life and I never made it to year 30.
For the full story, visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today!