Best 40 Year Mortgage

40 Year Mortgages - The Truth!

Ok, I have something to say about 40 year mortgages.  There is so much bad press about a 40 year mortgage and 40 year mortgage rates being high.  They tell us that very little of our monthly premium is paying down the principle and so much is paying for interest for a very long time.  Some conventional lender is touting his wares by trying to convince us that 30 year mortgage rates help you pay down your balance so much more quickly.  Well, I’ve got news for you Mr. Banker.  At the moment I can’t qualify for one of your “more appealing home mortgage loans” and I would much rather pay a few dollars every month for ten of those 40 years on a home of my own than to pay a landlord $1000 a month for something I will never own.  Furthermore, I will never have a prayer of owning ANYTHING if I keep paying the mortgage for someone else.  A 40 year mortgage gives ME the opportunity to own MY own home NOW even if I don’t make enough money to qualify for a loan at 30 year mortgage rates.

Take a look at these figures and see if you don’t think a 40 year mortgage is a good thing.  I’m going to go conservative and say a house sells for $100,000.  Let’s say you can put 10% down and current mortgage rates are 6.5 %.  If you run the figures at these conventional 30 year mortgage rates you come up with mortgage monthly payments of $710.  Remember, you don’t qualify for 30 year mortgage rates.  This is hypothetically what your landlord is paying.  So you are giving him a monthly profit of $290.  This is money YOU could be putting in YOUR pocket.  Now let’s look at the loan you are able to qualify for offered by 40 year mortgage lenders.  Taking the same figures and adjusting them accordingly for 40 year mortgage rates.  We are talking about the same $100,000 home but you can realistically only put down $5,000.  (Usually you need at least 10 or 20 percent but I am assuming you can’t come up with that amount.)  Remember the interest rates are higher on a 40 year mortgage so we will go with 7%.  Now if you run the 40 year mortgage calculator you would be paying $690 a month.  That means that you will realize a difference of $310 per month below what you are paying your landlord.

Think about it!  You can own your own home and pay the electric and maybe the other utilities as well with what you are now paying your landlord to rent his home.  This is all possible because of an entity called a 40 year mortgage.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather pay a higher interest rate and a few dollars a month on the principle of my own home than to pay a thousand dollars a month to rent a home that will never be mine.  I guess Mr. Banker took his bonus we paid him with our tax dollars to figure out a way to keep the rest of us down.  I think I’ll stick with my 40 year mortgage, thank you very much.  (And btw, in a few years when I have been able to save some money I will refinance at 30 year mortgage rates.  Let’s see who’s laughing now, Mr. Banker.  I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.  I can assure you it WON’T be yours!)

Your Introduction to a 40 Year Mortgage

The economy stinks and you just had to take a significant cut in pay or lose your job altogether.  Your boss assures you that as soon as things pick up around the office you will probably go back to your old salary.  If things improve enough he may even give you a raise above that to compensate for what you are sacrificing now.  You are not at all happy with the situation but you grin and bear it.  After all, things are so bad out there you may not get another job quickly.

If that isn’t bad enough you have just found the house of your dreams and it has been reduced for quick sale.  The original asking price was $158,500 but it is now listed at $135,000.  You contact a mortgage broker who runs the figures and even with your savings, after closing costs and her 3 point commission you would still have to finance $121,000.  That does not seem like very much but unfortunately, with your current lower wages, you do not qualify for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.  You need to find something cheaper, and in those cases, 40 year mortgages tend to come up! So she does some checking and finagling and comes up with one of a few 40 year mortgage lenders.

40 Year Mortgage Rates: Are you for real?

When you first contacted this broker you were looking at a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.  The calculations she provided for you show a loan amount of $121,000 over a 360 month term and carrying a 6.25% interest rate.  The monthly payment would be $745.02 but unfortunately you were unable to qualify for that amount based on your current income, assets and outstanding debt.  With the new calculations she ran after finding a lender who is willing to offer a 40 year mortgage you now qualify, but only just.  Based on a 40 year mortgage calculator, the amount of $121,000 being financed over a 480 month term with a 6.5% interest rate your monthly payments would be $708.40.   Even though it doesn’t seem like a lot, that $36.62 difference in monthly payment made all the difference in the world.

At first it seems like a dream come true, but then you notice the percentage rate is higher and wonder what’s up with that?  The broker explains that a 40 year mortgage is considered a high risk mortgage and most lenders will not finance them.  In order to compensate for the amount of risk they are taking, they raise the percentage rate.  Ok, you understand that but when you get home you compare the two loans.  You notice that the total amount you would have been paying for the 30 year mortgage would have been $268,207.  If you take the 40 year mortgage, and pay it to term, you will be paying $340,032.  That is a HUGE difference!  She is talking about $71,825.  That is over half the asking price of the house.

The Dilemma: Take the 40 Year Mortgage or Wait Until the Market Stabilizes

You understand that the lender will be taking a risk, so 40 year mortgage rates are higher.  You also understand that without the monthly payments being lower you will not qualify.  So what should you do?  You can always wait until the economy bounces back and try again for that 30 year term, or you can take this 40 year mortgage and try to refinance later.  If you’re a gambler, go for it.   If not, remember the old adage, “When in doubt, don’t.”