The whole generational wealth thing is the Achilles heel of the economically repressed and in particular, the black and brown of this country. Unknowingly, or at least through willful ignorance, the 50-year mortgage suggestion from the White House this past November 2025 is actually a ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’ for reparations in an antithetical type of way. Which objectively speaking is a good thing for the United States since it provides the opportunity for home ownership, which historically speaking has always been one of the most powerful drivers of wealth. Although this writer does not support reparations in the traditional sense, in that black Americans be awarded money in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, I am fully onboard – as are many Think Tanks, politicians of the left and right, and a motley crew of social commentators – in that like kind entitlements are beneficial to society as a whole, which includes free college education and preferred financing for home purchases.
Home Mortgages and Race
Home ownership assistance programs in the United States have a long and proud history. The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) provides choice terms and conditions for home loans in rural communities, which primarily benefits white farmers. It’s not a racially biased program per se, since historically speaking there has been a precipitous decline of black farmers – despite their collective proficiency in agrimony techniques over the past 300+ years – but there hasn’t been much of an appetite for this profession since the whole ‘40 acres and a mule’ fiasco after the American Civil War ended in 1865.
Other government programs, though not necessarily based on race, but rather as a group of people that are in need of a helping hand, have long been fashioned under the auspicious to ‘level the playing field’ so to speak. This includes home loans provided by the VA (Veteran Administration), which give preferential terms to military veterans. In addition to other programs specifically constructed to help American Indians, include the HUD Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program for homeownership, the Native American Direct Loan (NADL) for veterans, and the Indian Loan Guarantee and Insurance Program (ILGP) for business loans. Least one not forget about the GI Bill, enacted in 1944 and a godsend for those in need of an educational lift, irrespective of race, color or creed.
On a comical note, and in connection to the unattended positive consequences of 50-year mortgages as a de facto form of reparations – and not as a newly re-imagined loan product that has the blessing of private markets – about the only issue to be resolved is what type of calculator to use for loan approval. Unlike a mortgage calculator which is predicated on pure numbers, agreeing to a DNA based mortgage calculator that factors in continent of origin in determining a person’s ethnic blackness for purposes of reparation qualification, could perhaps be ball parked at 3/5th, given that was the bench mark apportioned in the US Constitution for voter representation. More particularly, it was known as the Three-Fifths Compromise (Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3), which counted three-fifths of each state’s slave population toward that state’s total population for the sole purpose of allocating the US House of Representatives. Undoubtably, the “One-Drop Rule” to determine Black ancestry will not play a factor, since inclusion of that trope will open the flood gates for a global pay day in America.
And according to one Think Tank, “….with the median net worth of a White household being nearly 10 times that of a Black household in 2021. Data from the Pew Research Center and the Brookings Institute show that White households consistently hold more wealth, which can be attributed to a variety of factors including historical discrimination, unequal access to opportunities, and differences in homeownership and income.”
Why the 50-year Mortgage Makes Sense and Political Discretion
This particular US Administration has a penchant in throwing out trial ballons to the public to ascertain a government programs’ viability, before moving forward. However, and objectively speaking, the current President is likely too dense or morally repressed to even realize this unattended consequence, and could be why the political Alt-right proletariat voting bloc in the United States is so disgusted by the very prospect of helping black Americans seize home ownership – and are thus willing to say no to a 50-year mortgage, despite the many superlatives for its own constituents. Even political progressives have something bad to say about the 50-year mortgage, which incidentally, its little brother, the 40-year mortgage is alive and well and carried by a handful of major banks. Ironically, that 480-month version is used to keep people in their homes and payments on time when they’ve experienced a bit of a hiccup, and is not meant as a malicious form of mortgage indentureship to dispossess the mortgagor out of home ownership.
The same concept extends to the 50-year mortgage, but on a grander scale, but with an affordable monthly note. The new mantra for the extreme right or fiscally ignorant, should be Make America Cheap Again (MACA) or as an alternative, Make America Reasonable Again (MARA). This means that more people, from the black and brown to the dispossessed, disenfranchised, and disengaged poverty-stricken white folk, will now be able to leverage into pretty new tract homes. The new homes of course, built by Bill Pulte of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who recently tweeted his approval of the 50-year deal. Or if not a tract home, then possibly a double wide trailer registered with the DMV, that another billionaire, Warren Buffett, builds by the thousands via Clayton Homes despite the company’s reputation in praying upon the poor. Either way, and no matter your political stripes, the normalization of 50 or 40-year mortgages will substantially help the housing crisis. A more affordable note results in more residual income for the homeowner which in turn increases reserves for the household. The savings rate in the US is at an all-time low, which is never a good harbinger. Additionally, a higher savings rate in American households will undoubtably result in the paydown of credit card debt. The aggregate credit card debt is at a new all-time high of $1.23 trillion as of 3Q 2025, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Another all-time stat that is sobering – but in a bad way, is that the average age for a first-time homebuyer has reached 40 years old, which according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), makes it a record all-time high. Even more alarming and from the same source, the median age of homebuyers hit an all-time high of 56 this year, up from 49 in 2023 — and 31 in 1981. Remember, this statistic is slightly different, since the former is for first time home buyers and the latter is for home buyers in general.
The 30-year mortgage vs. the 50-year mortgage
To be clear, the 30-year mortgage is one of the few win-win situations in Western capitalism. And in perspective and in reference to its populism, the 50-year mortgage is for the “baker, the butcher, and the candle stick maker”. Sadley, it’s a mortgage whose time has come, given the rut America has put itself through in terms of declining home ownership rates, raising interest rates, and the actual age of first-time buyers reaching 40 years old, wherein previous decades it had been in the late 20’s. Which is to say, in terms of this country’s capitalistic proclivities, getting a home mortgage is about as American as apple pie and Chevrolet. In addition, one of the reasons the traditional 30-year mortgage exits – which is the mortgage of choice 90% of the time for Americans, is because of its affordability. And especially so in comparison to the 15-year and 20-year mortgage. Most folks cannot afford to double up on mortgage payments despite what real estate news columnists and personal finance gurus shame people into thinking.
Other experts agree on the viability of the 50-year mortgage. “Honestly, I kind of think it’s a fine idea,” says Eric Zwick, an economist at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “It’s not obviously so different from a 30-year fixed mortgage.” And even the Ivy Leagues have a word or two on the matter. “It’s not quite as outlandish as it sounds,” says John Campbell, an economist at Harvard University.
Campbell further explained, “Proposals to help home buyers — whether it’s this 50-year mortgage or whether it’s Kamala Harris’s proposal in her presidential campaign to give money to first time homebuyers — the main beneficiaries are actually the people selling houses,” Campbell says. Those selling the homes, are primarily white people. Hence, this is one of the few political proposals that should motivate politicians to cross party lines, and hastily. In a different time and different place, quite possibly in the Ford or Carter administrations, both Republicans and Democrats respectively, bipartisanship would have been the chosen path. Ironically, the organization that Carter heralded for many years, Habitat for Humanity, that in the past has hosted events at both the Democratic and Republication National Conventions has fallen to the wayside of the RNC given recent attacks from the current American administration.
As a mortgage operations professional and having worked nationwide for major banks and Big 4 accounting firms, the proliferation of 40-year mortgages and Non-QM mortgages is real, and yet the world has not crashed. (Yet, at least). If popularized and rolled out correctly for mass production, adding the 50-year mortgage to Americas’ housing tool box will not be harmful. The lessons from the real estate implosion of 2008, which I wrote about extensively in my first book, The Flip (Tate Publishing, 2010), chronicles the safe guards put into place after the subprime crises. And so far, so good. Henceforth, the same prudence will be necessary for the 50-year mortgage as well.Word to the wise! Given the degree of hot air being hyped about its deleterious effects, don’t believe what you think – or what you don’t think.
Anytime you have extreme politicians to the left and right agree on the same topic matter, this signifies that their position is most likely compromised and based upon a deep seeded hatred of their political opponent, so much so, that they’re willing to “cut one’s nose to spite one’s face”, even if the policy change benefits one’s own constituents. These types of leaders would find fault in a new born baby. Clearly, this is an irrational self-destructive disposition when pursuing revenge against your opponent. This is not good political leadership or temperament, but rather a petty discombobulated discourse that serves no one but their own disenchanted and embittered followers. If you plan revenge, be certain to dig two graves. You will not be alone.
Appreciate the Appreciation
If a 50-year mortgage were to become standardized, it would have to be backed with the blessing of the major GSE’s, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, USDA, and the VA. If this were to occur, the 50-year mortgage would be considered a qualified mortgage (or QM). For purposes of clarification, that simply means the DTI (or Debt to Income) ratio is 43% or less, which is considered the prudent and reasonable ratio that a homeowner can sustain ownership without defaulting on the loan. Mortgages that exceed this ratio are considered Non-QM, which is a huge multibillion dollar industry in the United States. Those loans are risker, where comparatively speaking the default percentage hovers around 3.8%, whilst the QM market, often referred to as conventional loans – which are blessed by the major GSE’s as described above, hover at about 2.6% based on a recent study conducted in Q2 2025 by KCRA (Kroll Bond Rating Agency).
What’s been bandied about by media, is that although there is a monthly savings for the homeowner with a 50-year mortgage, the total amount of interest paid over its lifetime is substantially more. Albeit that’s true, that would also be a good argument to banish 30-year mortgages. The 50-year mortgage has also been unfairly compared to new auto loans that have inched up to 7-to-9-year amortization schedules, wherein traditionally they have been in the 3-to-5-year mark. The glaring distinction here and nearly without exception, is that cars do not appreciate, as homes do – nearly without exception. Homes are in fact investments, cars are not, and as a result the argument that extending the amortization schedule of homes, either it be 15 years to 30 years, or 30 years to 50 years is a BAD for America, is simply not true.
And even more radically, this writer would support an adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM version of the 50-year mortgage, so long as negative amortization is absent, since that only brings back the ghosts of the subprime crisis of the lates 2000’s. According to Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, who recently discussed the potential impact of a widespread 50-year mortgage, also noted the attributes of adjustable-rate mortgages. “If everyone had an adjustable-rate mortgage, the Fed could maybe more easily juice the economy by lowering people’s monthly payments, nudging them to spend more in the economy.” And as Mrs. Fairweather furthered explained, “Right now, I think it does make more sense for people to get an adjustable-rate mortgage.”
Years ago, in order to help the purchase of a home, I took out a medium-term car loan of $10,000 on my free and clear ‘note free’ car that was payable over an 8-year term. As an installment contract (and per California law), if I choose to maintain the car loan to maturity, the total repayment would have been over $48,000! Those terms and conditions are nearly criminal. But I needed the money to close a property wherein I stood to make $40,000 plus on a flip. In the end, I took the loan and paid back the loan within 4 months, which was about $10K plus some change, given the interest was for only 4 months, not 96 months.
However, the real gem of the 50-year mortgage and glaringly absent from all the hoopla bandied about in media as of recent, is the appreciation variable. This writer did do his own homework and yet despite the differential in mortgage payments over the first 10 years in the life of the loan, that’s a small price to pay when one factors in the upside. Comments from well-known people like Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame, recently blasted the 50-year mortgage and warned that you’ll be ‘friggin’ dead before its paid, is childlike and a nearly fraudulent statement, if not an outright mischaracterization of this innovative home loan product. It nearly reminds one of the once ghoulish reputation that life insurance policies had in this country. They are now a mainstay and considered a necessity in a family’s personal finance decisions.
One of the positive arguments absent from this debate can be highlighted in the graph below. Simply stated, leveraging into a home and enjoying the appreciation over a 10-year period is an outcome most prospective homeowners can appreciate. The average yearly home appreciation per the NAR is approximately 5% to 7%.
Given that the median home sale price in the United States is $420,800 as of January 2024, the graph below highlights the appreciation arc between that of a 30-year mortgage and 50-year mortgage, respectively. The link below can be used to run your own mortgage calculation. Keep in mind, the monthly amount is only for the principal and interest and does not include taxes, PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance), property insurance or HOA fees. It also does not include fees rolled up into the loan, which may effectively increase the overall interest rate, in what is known as the APR, or actual percentage rate.
For illustration purposes, a flat $400,000 loan amount is used for simplicity since down payment amounts vary. In reality, approximately 10% to 15% of home purchases are at zero percent down like the example given. Loan programs at zero percent are offered by the VA, USDA and the FHA (when grants or second mortgages from state, local, or private lenders provide the gap to cover the required down payment). And oft times conventional lenders will provide 100% financing when bridge loans are used and/or the gap is covered by down payment assistance programs, which results in zero percent down. Per online sources, a new report by Bankrate found that 81% of would-be buyers say that down payment and closing costs are obstacles toward owning a home.
30-year: 120 payments (10 years x $2,398) = $287,760
50-year: 120 payments (10 years x $2,105) = $252,600
Difference in payments b/t 30-year and 50-year = $35,160
30-year: $400,000 home appreciates 6% per annum @ 10 years = $640,000-$287,760 in loan payments.
50-year: $400,000 home appreciates 6% per annum @ 10 years = $640,000-$252,600 in loan payments.
50-Year Mortgage Calculator: https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/calcs/50-year.php.
30-Year Mortgage Calculator: https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/calculators/mortgage-payment-calculator.php
The home appreciation is not compounded per annum, but is based on a flat 6% x $400,000 over 10 years, equals $240,000, or 60% increase in value, which is a more conservative estimate in appreciation.
Given the difference in total mortgage payments over a 10-year period is $35,160, but with the resulting net appreciation of $240,000 through either mortgage product, it’s an acceptable sacrifice for the homeowner who chooses the 50-year mortgage, even though an additional $35,160 in mortgage payments will have been paid over the subject 10-year period. A small price to pay for so much upside! Stuffing $205K in your pocket versus $240K is not going to produce sour grapes. There’s a lot of takers out there for that calculus. In the long run, this will help the black and brown of America, but also its underrepresented poverty-stricken white underclass brethren, who are so often forgotten by their white male political representatives in the US Congress. As such and at the end of the day, America is a white Christian nation, and as such it will do what’s best for its majority irrespective of what the minority wants, even at the expense of symbolic tokenisms. In terms of the calculus and reckoning to be dealt with 100 years from now based on current political trends, who knows?
Notwithstanding the pros and cons between the 50-year and 30-year mortgage, it is hopeful that a civil and reasonable debate will occur within the halls of Congress as to the sustainability and crises solving utility of this pioneering mortgage product. This can happen through the interdiction of major GSE’s such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This remediation will help solve part of the housing crises that now grips a wide swath of the American public – many of whom are ready, willing and able to buy a home – but lack one or more of the critical factors for complete loan qualification to get the deal done. In football parlay, moving the goal posts in this instance is a good thing. (3,133 words)
[The End]
https://www.potterequities.com/
Author Bio: (Other photos are available, and/or no need to use Arthur picture. Not a big deal)
Real estate writer D. Sidney Potter, based in Southern California, is shown here last year on his day off on real estate holiday in front of La Sabana Aeropuerto, Costa Rica’s first International Airport whilst on safari in the capital city, San Juan. He has a PhD (ABD) from the University of Arizona, a law degree (Juris Master) from Florida State University College of Law and a bachelor’s degree (BA) from Cal Poly Pomona in political science.
Arthur Long Bio: (not for publication)
Mr. Potter has worked in the real estate and mortgage industry since 1992 and is a former member of the National Association of Home Builders, International Council of Shopping Centers, and a present member of the National Association of Realtors. He has extensive experience in both commercial and residential real estate in California, Nevada, and Arizona and has consulted investors and the media throughout the United States.
In addition, Mr. Potter has been a contributing writer to several of the following periodicals: American Thinker, CounterPunch.com, Inman Real Estate, Enter Stage Right, iReport (CNN), Dissident Voice, Newsvine.com (apart of MSNBC), and The Huffington Post.
- Sidney Potter’s first book, released in 2011, entitled The Flip: The True Life Story of How a Successful New Tract Home Investor Went from Zero to Hero, Back to Zero, received critical acclaim from New York Times best sellers, PhD’s to HGTV hosts. His second book, published in 2017, entitled The Essayist: Reflections from a Real Estate Survivor, was a Jack Kerouac style book wherein he traveled the country for 5 years from 2011 to 2016 and worked as a mortgage operations professional for such companies as Accenture, Deloitte & Touché and Bank of America. His most recent effort, The Broker: Deals, Steals and Moving Forward, published in December 2020, recounts Mr. Potter’s meteoric rise at Marcus & Millichap in the late 1990’s, a national commercial real estate brokerage and the race relation issues he observed in a masculine and capitalistic industry.
Metatags: 2025 real estate, D. Sidney Potter, real estate broker, 50-year mortgage, race relations, housing, economics.
