Interest-Only Or 50 Year Mortgages – Do They Really Make Sense?
With hotspots like Las Vegas, much of California and Florida still enjoying a good real estate market, many banks and mortgage companies are now spreading out payments over 50 years to make them more affordable. Prior to these 50-year mortgages, interest-only mortgages were promoted and sold as the way to go. The real question here is which is better?
Lets first digress on what an interest-only mortgage is. Interest-only home loans or mortgages arent as a general rule permanently interest-only. The bank or mortgage company will normally offer the borrower 2 to 5 years at interest-only; after that they must start paying off the principle. During this time, the principle has grown. A great many borrowers may find themselves unable to pay the higher payments that come at the end of this interest-only period. In this case, interest-only loans are similar to ARMs, and have similar default and foreclosure rates (higher than for regular fixed mortgages where the payment stays the same throughout).
The 50-year mortgage simply spreads your payments out over a longer time period and greatly...