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Originally posted by DanS


Flubber: 30-year is a standard time period here in the States. Fannie Mae purchases loans like these that conform to certain criteria, thereby guaranteeing a market for loan originators and lowering prices to a reasonable premium.

In any event, in truth, a 100-year or interest-only loan would make sense if you put 20% down. This is a somewhat advanced and theoretical discussion though. On the investment side I can see a lot of merit in longer terms if the assumption is that you will earn more than your mortgage rate of interest on your investments (pretty good assumption in the long term based on market history). But we are pretty risk adverse when it comes to our home (we don`t view it strictly or even mainly as an investment and plan to be here for 20 years plus) . We take a lot of comfort and security from the fact that our home equity currently exceeds what we owe by a wide margin.