They’re spreading like wildfire–interest-only mortgages appear to be the panacea for rising home prices and the incomes that cant quite catch up. You can buy “more house” and have a low mortgage payment and a big tax deduction. Who wouldnt want one, right?
Well, a large number of consumers are getting into these loans when they shouldnt. Interest-only mortgages work well for some individuals and are dangerous for most others, yet the number of interest-only loans is rising rapidly.
Take a look at San Diego. In 2004 almost half of the mortgages required interest-only payments in the first few years according to a study done by LoanPerformance, a San Francisco–based real estate information service. Could this have something to do with the housing market? You bet it does. Are home prices rising faster than salaries and incomes? They sure are. So how is one supposed to afford a house in such an expensive housing market? You guessed it–an interest-only loan.
Interest only-loans were originally aimed at more sophisticated investors who wanted to leverage their income by re-directing what would have been the principal portion...