Podcast weighs pros, cons of reported Trump administration plan
Is a half-century investment in owning your home worth it?
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced this week that the Trump administration is working on a novel approach to the home affordability crisis: a 50-year mortgage.
The still-unofficial proposal builds off of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s introduction of the 30-year mortgage under the New Deal and could offer more homebuyers the opportunity to qualify for financing.
Still, critics point out that given the average U.S. life expectancy of 78.4 years, the average 32-year-old homebuyer is more likely to leave the mortgage for their children to pay off than to leave them a home free and clear.
Pastor Mark Driscoll, senior pastor of Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, took on the topic in a Nov. 11 episode of his podcast titled “Trump 50-Year Mortgage is a GREAT Idea,” in which Driscoll and Landon Chase, real estate agent and CEO of Driscoll’s Real Faith Ministries, talked about the merits of such a proposal.
Chase acknowledged that while 50 years does extend the life and amount of interest paid on the loan, borrowers can choose to pay it off before the loan ends. “You can pay it off very quickly. You can refinance it down the road,” he said. “I think when interest rates are high, something like this makes a lot of sense to me.”
He said that while borrowers “do have to be wise,” they can always choose to take their savings to pay down their principal more quickly. “If you’re a smart steward and you’re a godly man and you do something like a 50-year mortgage and you take the extra money and you invest it or pay down your house faster, you’re going to be in a great position in 10, 15, 20 years,” he said.
Utilizing federal programs to assist with homebuying can also help, said Chase, who noted the government offers as much as $30,000 to first-time homebuyers who stay in their house for a minimum of three years. But “as young Christian men and women, we need to be good stewards and smart in these decisions we’re making.”
Driscoll, however, seemed ambivalent about the trend and cited from the book of Proverbs to support his concerns.
“A wise man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children. That’s Proverbs,” he said. “And so, the goal is to pass on to your children and grandchildren as much money, as much blessing, as much wisdom, as much support as you possibly can.”
Noting there are “two kinds of children,” bad stewards and good stewards, Driscoll said it’s important to first train your children to become good stewards.
“Give everything you can after you’ve trained your child to be a good steward,” he added. “My thing with all of our kids was like, get married, buy a house, have kids. If you can do it in that order, statistically, you’re gonna win.”
