Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrkentutbabi | Hacker News Reader

Umm...30 year mortgage? Some people (like me) don't want a 30 year mortgage. Too much risk. I want 10 years top.

Why do you say a 30 year mortgage carries more risk (as a borrower) than a 10 year? You can always treat the 30 year as a 10 year (by throwing more money at the principle) but you can't do the reverse.

You do get lower interest rates on shorter-term mortgages, though.

30 years is 60% of your career and there's no evidence that the gravy train for software developers is going to last that long or from 2021 or that any particular individual will remain employable 30 years into their career (yes, many do but many also don't if the anecdotes on HN are to be believed).

What exactly is the risk you are worried about?

How is a ten-year mortgage less risky than a 30 year?

With the interest rates of the last couple years, a 30 year mortgage with 20% down is a pretty good use of money.

You will likely move and sell the house before the 30 years are up. The only risk is your home price cratering.

Yup this is the risk.

This is exactly my thought process. If I have to pay a mortgage I know I have to work a much longer to pay off the house. This means I have zero control over what dictates my daily actions in life. Having a mortgage means I’m not free to do whatever I wish; focus on family, start a company, work on passions. The cost of houses/homes are just too high. I don’t want all of my net worth to be in a house either. It’s JUST a house.

The alternative is basically throw money away renting. With a mortgage at least some of it goes back to the you

Yeah but closing costs are lost at time of sale, so for short term situations buying a home isn't a great move.

The other alternative is to just pay for the house cash. Not everyone wants to be beholden to someone (in debt just to live). Sounds awful.

-> This means I have zero control over what dictates my daily actions in life.

OTOH, having a mortgage "locks in" your price of housing for the next ## years. It's perfect for families and startup businesses because it affords some long term stability.

It doesn't sound like you're ready to settle down yet, so buying a SFH probably isn't the best move right now anyway.

This assumes I want to pay for housing over a period of time. I’d love to just pay for it once and never be beholden to anyone ever again. My car was $5000. When something breaks I fix it myself for nothing. I’ve replaced heater core in 1940s furnaces myself, put on new roofs, can drywall anything myself. Houses are cheap to fix and you can find people that do it right for little money if you know your stuff. I’d love to settle down and I’m ready to do that where it makes sense, but where I want but is not affordable. I can rent but then I’m wasting money. Building more housing fixes this problem very easily.

Maintenance isn't that cheap even if you put in a lot of sweat equity. And you have property taxes which can be a fair bit depending on the area.

You absolutely buy yourself a degree of stability and reduced future payments with a house but you're still probably looking at thousands of dollars a year for a standalone house.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com