We always encourage everyone to build with low cost, local materials and build only what you can afford. Many homeowners who have chosen to get a mortgage are struggling against massive bank fraud, which is now being exposed by bank employees. So again, save yourself a lot of time, grief and money by paying cash. Remember you can always add on later.
“Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees.”
Read more at the source: Paul Kiel, Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees — ProPublica
Perhaps it might be useful to consider the topic from a historical perspective?
Lots of interesting quotable statistics are available in this text.
http://www.randomhistory.com/1-50/037mortgage.html
The focus on the changing mortgage market is due to the startling fact that between 1949 and the turn of the twenty-first century, mortgage debt relative to total income of the average household rose from 20% to 73%, and from 15% to 41% relative to total household assets.
The article doesn’t discuss the point, but I suspect that the rise in Mortgages also coincides nearly point for point with with a trend in people not building their home for themselves.
Imagine how different things might be today, if American War Heros returning home from WWII had been offered a different kind of GI Bill. One that encouraged them to build their own house for themselves instead of getting a mortgage on a tract house in the suburbs?
Owen, thanks for encouraging people to pay cash for their homes. We have gotten to the point where it has seemingly become very rare and we need to be reminded that this option is still on the table!
Paying with cash is difficult, but this is better than being trapped in a mortgage. There are other options. On our homestead we’re upgrading low cost/low value land. Our Natural Building Blog outlines hundreds of ways to build and live affordably and sustainably.