Several items pertaining to the perennially sunny real estate market came across my desk yesterday, reminding me of why we should always take the stock market's innate inability to sniff out recession/depression with a grain of salt, if not a dose of humor. Indeed, so vast is the chasm that separates Wall Street from Main Street in the way each interprets the news that I hesitate to spin 50-year mortgages as other than a fabulous idea, lest some of you think me churlish. But there are nonetheless still a few of us left who would say that the very notion of a 50-year mortgage -- like reality TV, deep-fried Oreo cookies, time-shares and Paris Hilton -- is evidence of civilization's steep decline. (Click on image to imbibe its true grandeur) Why 50-year-mortgages? Our friend Steven brings just the right amount of cynicism to bear on this question. He writes as follows: 'Read an article this week that indicated 'they' are looking for people for 50-year, fixed- rate loans/mortgages for housing. Sounds like a Fed deal to try to let the air out of the housing bubble slowly by getting more unqualified buyers ready to buy the ARMS that will go bust soon. Who Cares? 'A person I know said, 'Who cares? People only hold onto their places for five years.' Someone should care. I'd not like to be holding a $200,000 note for fifty years when said 'value' drops to 100,000 credit clicks and I'm stuck for fifty years with no buyer to bail me out. That is, even if I bought the distressed bankruptcy bargain 'note' for 125,000 credit clicks. 'Can you see what is coming, Rick? Someone is 30 years old and ties into a 50-year note at 200k clicks and then 'gets stuck' in the mortgage until
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