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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2594 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 23, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Here is one for you - what will happen if the Federal Government straight out forbids mortgages longer than 15 years? This question was raised in my head after the consensus about how terrible the Trump idea about 50 year mortgage is. So what happens if we go in the other direction?

You need a higher credit score and a bigger down payment to qualify for one.

Which will lead to prices falling and stabilizing in another point.

In practice, that would just gum up the housing market and prices would ossify at a high level, because noone wants to take a loss.

And yet in all other markets people take losses all the time while still not wanting. And everyone that wants to sell their house can't afford to wait forever. They will break and probably sooner than later. Of course we will also have to keep private equity and some other over capitalized entities out of residential housing, but that is hardly a bad idea anyway.

And yet in all other markets people take losses all the time while still not wanting

Not the same "people". Most individuals that participate in stock market, for example, do that via relatively safe vehicles, or if they don't, it's commonly understood as being a very high-risk activity. Buying a house is understood as a part of being a responsible adult. If that results in massive losses, you'd have a lot of very angry people around who would demand the government to "do something about it" - and since we have a democracy, people usually get what they want, for better or (usually) for worse.

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