A proposal for a 50-year mortgage wasn't fully vetted by top Trump administration officials and wasn't ready to be made public, sources told CBS News.
Over the weekend, top federal housing official Bill Pulte floated the idea with President Trump, who then approved a Truth Social post.
Some Trump officials this week vented their frustration with Pulte over the move. One source said Mr. Trump was lukewarm about the suggestion but announced it "to get Pulte to shut up about it."
Another source disputed the characterization of the president as tepid about the mortgage proposal, however, and said 40-year and 50-year mortgages had been discussed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and others in the administration.
Three sources said the Trump administration has been working on other ideas to promote affordability for Americans, including strategies to alleviate the housing crunch.
The internal discussions on the longer-term loans were casual, and no final decisions had been made, the sources said.
The 50-year mortgage idea came about when Pulte spoke to the president at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, two of the sources said. Politico reported earlier that White House officials were upset with Pulte, the head of the independent Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, which are tasked with providing liquidity to member institutions for home financing and community investment.
After Pulte presented the suggestion, a sign was posted to Mr. Trump's Truth account with a banner at the top reading "Great American Presidents" over the portraits of two presidents side by side, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Trump himself. The words "30-year mortgage" appear over Roosevelt, while "50-year mortgage" appears over Trump.
Mr. Trump approved the Truth Social post, and it went up at 1:10 p.m. Saturday. About half an hour later, Pulte shared Mr. Trump's post on X and added that "we are indeed working on The 50 year Mortgage — a complete game changer." He also called it a "potential weapon in a WIDE arsenal of solutions that we are developing right now."
No other details about the proposal have been released.
Pulte didn't immediately comment.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the president is committed to making home ownership easier by eliminating unnecessary red tape, increasing supply, and lowering costs. "The White House and the entire Trump administration are appreciative of Mr. Pulte's efforts, and everyone is working together to implement the President's policies," Ingle said. The president defended the 50-year mortgage idea in an interview Monday night with Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."
"All it means is you pay less per month.You pay it over a longer period of time. It's not like a big factor," Mr. Trump said. "It might help a little bit."
Analysts are still examining whether a 50-year mortgage would make homes more affordable for Americans. Some point out that while borrowers might pay a little less in monthly principal and interest – because the loan's duration is 20 years longer – the total cost for them would be much higher.
"The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be staggering, since even with a low rate, you're looking at 50 years' worth of interest," NerdWallet lending expert Kate Wood told CBS News earlier this week in an email.
At this point, typical homeowners spend 39% of their income on housing, well above the 30% affordability threshold recommended by financial experts, according to Redfin. Mortgage rates have eased this year but are still above 6%, about twice the pandemic-era lows. Home prices averaged $410,800 in the second quarter, about 25% higher than in early 2020, according to Federal Reserve data.
I suppose if it wasn't ready to be made public they should have informed trump before he posted it on Truth Social. But as per usual they just blamed it on someone else.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
It is essentially an interest only loan payment scheme.
Not really.
If it gets people in to a single family dwelling, they still build equity in that property. There are ways to increase equity by throwing $500 here, $500 there towards the principle.
Few people stay in a home for 50 years. I think this is a good way to bring more people in to the housing market because in the end, people want to know what their monthly payments are going to look like. Unlike car payments that now stretch out 60 or more months, a home is generally going to gain value where a car doesn't. After 5-6 years it is near junk value.
This allows young people the ability to build equity for 10 years or more. One also assumes they will start to make more money as they gain experience on the job, get raises/promotions etc. Now they can buy up in to a nicer home or pay that one down quicker by making extra payments every year..
Sure, if a person is looking to stay in the place for 50 years making the minimum payments over the life of the loan, that is a loser mentality/strategy. At that point you are probably going to be 75-80 years old when you make that last payment to the bank.
Good luck with that.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
It also makes every house more expensive, because it gives people more buying power. The only people who profit are those that are selling homes, but not buying a new one (e.g., people selling off their parents homes, or developers making new homes).
It is essentially an interest only loan payment scheme.
Not really.
If it gets people in to a single family dwelling, they still build equity in that property. There are ways to increase equity by throwing $500 here, $500 there towards the principle.
Few people stay in a home for 50 years. I think this is a good way to bring more people in to the housing market because in the end, people want to know what their monthly payments are going to look like. Unlike car payments that now stretch out 60 or more months, a home is generally going to gain value where a car doesn't. After 5-6 years it is near junk value.
This allows young people the ability to build equity for 10 years or more. One also assumes they will start to make more money as they gain experience on the job, get raises/promotions etc. Now they can buy up in to a nicer home or pay that one down quicker by making extra payments every year..
Sure, if a person is looking to stay in the place for 50 years making the minimum payments over the life of the loan, that is a loser mentality/strategy. At that point you are probably going to be 75-80 years old when you make that last payment to the bank.
Good luck with that.
I understand what you're saying, and it's not that I disagree... I just think that it's pretty pathetic that this is the best idea that we could come up with. Yes, they'd be building equity, but EXTREMELY slowly while giving lenders a LOT more in interest payments. I don't see this much differently than the healthcare debate. Normal folks' wallets are getting killed, and instead of actually getting to the root cause and addressing it... we just find ways for normal folks to pay out more money.
As little and as feeble an effort as this is, it's infinitely more than what democrats have put out there as a solution. It's just just kinda depressing that this is what passes for a fix to such a widespread problem these days.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
I get all the arguments, but principal on a home loan is rarely ever lost, and it provides financial leverage. I paid off my wife's student loans and dropped interest by 2/3rd on a refinance because it was the correct thing to do.
I have heard the rationale that you don't want to pay your home down sooner, because of the tax write off. Another BS argument.
If things go to according to plan, I will retire without a house payment.
Think about what that means.
And yes, the value of my house has doubled in the past 9 years. Talk about a return on investment!
Welcome back, Joe, we missed you!…. That did not age well.
I get all the arguments, but principal on a home loan is rarely ever lost, and it provides financial leverage. I paid off my wife's student loans and dropped interest by 2/3rd on a refinance because it was the correct thing to do.
I have heard the rationale that you don't want to pay your home down sooner, because of the tax write off. Another BS argument.
If things go to according to plan, I will retire without a house payment.
Think about what that means.
And yes, the value of my house has doubled in the past 9 years. Talk about a return on investment!
I agree that a home is a good investment. But not as good as some make it seem.
If you add in the cost of home owners insurance verses the cost of renters insurance over a lifetime that's a huge expense. And the higher the value of your home the higher those premiums become.
Then there are property taxes over a lifetime. Once again the higher the value of your home the higher those taxes become.
Then there is the maintenance involved with owning home over a lifetime. Things such as a roof, HVAC, electrical and plumbing costs really add up over time. Not to mention yard maintenance and other smaller expenses.
Between all of those expenses along with what you pay in interest over all of those years, while the value of your home may have doubled, when you deduct all of those expenses your return on total investment did not.
I still think it is a good investment and to some extent I suppose you could consider those expenses somewhat of a savings account but in real world terms you're not making out as well as some make it seem.
The problem with a 50 year mortgage is the older your home becomes the more expensive all of those costs become.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
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