Is 30 years too long for a home mortgage?

Question

Is 30 years too long for paying off a home mortgage loan?

I want to buy a home soon and the 30 year mortgage term has the cheapest payments. And the 15 year mortgage loan has higher payments.

Is 30 years too long to pay off a mortgage? Should I go with a 30 year mortgage or a 15 year mortgage?

I'm 40 years old now so I will be 70 years old when I pay off the 30 year mortgage.

Answer 1

30 years is a long time to pay off a mortgage. I wouldn't want to be paying off a mortgage until I turned 70.

I'd recommend going for the 15 year mortgage if you can afford the higher payments.

Although you can pay more per month if possible and knock the 30 year mortgage down sooner.

I've read of people paying off a 30 year mortgage in 10 years and sometimes even 5 years but you'd need to make a huge payment each month.

Answer 2

I haven't even lived yet for 30 years so to me yes 30 years is a long time to pay off a mortgage.

If my parents had gotten a 30 year mortgage in March 1988 "the year I was born" they would still have 7 months to pay on it.

My dad was 40 when I was born and my mom was 33 so my dad would be 70 years old before his house was paid off. And my mom would be 63.

The house they had when I was born had a 10 year loan on it and had 2 years left when It burned down. They bought it in 1986 a few years before I was born and I was 6 when it got burnt down in 1994 due to Arson.

So if they had a 30 year loan on that house starting in 1986 they would have only had it paid off for 1 year starting this year.

I'd try to go for the 15 year mortgage is possible.

My house I don't have a mortgage on but am just buying from the owner by making monthly payments without interest to them.

I'll have it paid for in 7 years as of December of 2017.

December 2024 will be my payoff date. And I will be glad when the last payment is made.