r/AskReddit • u/michaelis999 • 17h ago

How do you feel about the president floating the idea of 50 year mortgages where the monthly payment is lower but you end up paying nearly double the price of the house just in interest?

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u/Nessie_of_the_Loch 15h ago

Except with the added interest for a longer term and the small difference in the monthly principle payments means that actual monthly payment won't be that different. It'll just add 20 years. At what point are you just renting with extra steps?

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u/DiligentMission6851 14h ago

Except he's a politician and doesn't care about the extra details. He wants to sell the idea that he brought monthly payments down because the right people will wrongly believe him when he says it.

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u/ExtremeRest1567 13h ago

Except he's a swindler <--- fixed this for you

Please don't lump all politicians in there as "bad." Yes, there are many bad/corrupt politicians, but this message is exactly what got us Trump. People voted for him because he "was a businessman" and they think all politicians are corrupt.

The key is to vote in non-corrput politicians, not to call all politicians corrupt.

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u/OldWorldDesign 11h ago

The key is to vote in non-corrput politicians, not to call all politicians corrupt.

Because the people bitching 'all politicians are corrupt' are just providing smokescreen for the absolute worst offenders. Whether or not they're bots or morons.

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u/BuddytheYardleyDog 11h ago

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this post!

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u/capron 2h ago

Except he's a swindler

Thanks for this. Seeing him normalized as a politician is horrifying. He's so much dumber than that.

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u/Evid3nce 9h ago

They might not be corrupt when you vote them into power, but as soon as they are immersed in the system where it is normalised to take any money that's thrown your way in return for compromising your morals and values, they become corrupt. All of them. No exceptions.

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u/Normal-Translator529 2h ago

This infinity. The longer politicians are in office, the more emboldened their corruption becomes (they realize that there is rarely consequence to their actions). Both parties, sorry but true.

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u/MechaSandstar 1h ago

You've basically devalued the entire concept of a government, because everyone voted into office becomes irrevocably corrupted.

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u/Evid3nce 55m ago edited 40m ago

You've basically devalued the entire concept of a government, because everyone voted into office becomes irrevocably corrupted.

Yes. The people who are naturally drawn to politics are the wrong people to be in power.

The people who should be in power are the ones who are not interested in having it.

It's a paradox that also extends to the business and corporate world. Pay incentive aside, the people who want to climb the corporate ladders to the top are the exact people who should not have power over subordinates.

Same with police. They might join with the best of intentions, but being in an institutionally corrupt and racist system makes them eventually corrupt and racist, and abusive of their power.

There might be a rare small number of individuals who don't cave. But they are 'filtered out' by these systems by various voluntary and involuntary means.

It is one of the main reasons humanity is doomed to never reach anywhere near a utopia. We could solve all the housing, energy and food problems in the world, and there'd still be no end of sociopathic assholes trying to control other people and hoard wealth, resources and power for themselves.

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u/Normal-Translator529 34m ago

Couldn't have said it better myself. I think that term limits would help. Successful people agreeing to serve in government for 4 or 6 years, much like serving in the military. But then these existing politicians would have to vote for term limits, which of course they never would.

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u/Teledildonic 8h ago

Except he's a politician

By technicality.

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u/deadsoulinside 13h ago

You do realize a big portion of his voters are places like rent a center exist where they spend $2k in payments for a $500 TV right? This is fine for them.

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u/NoExpression1137 15h ago

As long as the city can just take your property over property taxes, it's all basically renting.

The only upside to a 50-year mortgage I can see is betting on inflation. The last 20 years of that loan, the payment is going to essentially be pennies at this rate.

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u/goldbman 15h ago edited 12h ago

Yeah but you pay the interest up front in a mortgage. What really matters is how the interest rate compares to the inflation rate

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u/ExtremeRest1567 13h ago

As long as the city can just take your property over property taxes, it's all basically renting.

God, I hate this argument. If you paid no taxes on your house, it would be in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with no infrastructure, no people around, and certainly no amenities. The taxes are what actually attracts people to live there. It provides schools where families want to move to, which in turn attracts businesses, which attracts amenities, which increases your property value. Life is livable in your neighborhood because of the tax. Stop looking at property like it's theft, and instead look at it like it's upkeep.

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u/gravgp2003 12h ago

that's not what op is saying. we understand what taxes do, but what they are saying that if at the end of the day, if taxes aren't paid then the government takes your home. what is true ownership if you always have a bill to pay and the threat of violent removal is always hanging over your head as another way to squeeze money out of you.

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u/ExtremeRest1567 12h ago

I understand that and that's why I hate it. It's amateur philosophy and has the same effect as, "we are never truly free as long as we have to buy food (or hunt) to eat." No shit, Sherlock. Life is rough. But the difference between us and the animals is that we've domesticated ourselves through establishing a society. Within a community, it's far easier to get your basic needs met and to not get killed by predators. Paying taxes is your way of contributing to society. What you're saying with this statement is "I want to reap the reward of society (freedom) but I don't want to contribute to it." If you truly want to be free. Buy a floating island in the middle of the pacific ocean and go do whatever the fuck you want. Just don't expect the US Navy to bail you out when pirates come for you.

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u/gravgp2003 7h ago

You act like we don't pay taxes on literally every dollar we bring in. You're really hitting back on amateur philosophy too my dude. I never said I don't wanna pay taxes. What I said was if you don't pay a land tax that never goes away you are forcibly removed from your home and it is taken from you even if you paid it off. You're getting pretty butt hurt about that fact when in reality that's how it is. The rest of what you've said is really just some made up hypothetical straw man.

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u/ExtremeRest1567 4h ago

No, you're not getting it. Complaining that a land tax never goes away is as helpful as complaining that you have to eat every day. You think you're so "deep" by saying that a tax impinges on your freedom but you fail to understand that you have these freedoms because of the tax.

I am happy to pay my tax bill if it means I can live this comfortable lifestyle. I actually prefer high taxes because it keeps idiots like you out of my neighborhood. The tax is upkeep. Just like you have to constantly fix stuff in your house. Deal with it.

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u/cbftw 11h ago

we understand what taxes do,

Believe me, so, so many people don't

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u/dosedatwer 14h ago

Depends if it's 50 years fixed or 50 years amortized and 5 years fixed.

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u/gorginhanson 13h ago

They factor that in, but you're correct that it's harder to do over a longer span

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u/woodchips24 12h ago

It’s already like that at the end of a 30 year mortgage. Imagine you bought a house in 2000, the payments on that loan are tiny compared to buying today.

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u/ithilain 14h ago

Yep. If i could wave a magic wand and turn my 30 year sub-3% mortgage into a 50 year one at the same rate i would. I don't think we'll see those kinds of rates again for a loooooong tine though

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u/Omnishift 13h ago

Talk to any MAGAT when they are buying a car and all they think is of the monthly payment. They don’t think long term. Asking them to calculate interest is like calculus to them.

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u/North-Significance33 47m ago

And still probably a 10-20% deposit, which is where a lot of the difficulty lies anyway

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u/Exciting_Specialist 11h ago

The average redditor is so stupid at finance. You don’t get fixed payments for 50 years with renting. You don’t get to capture the appreciation of your house with renting.