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PaperclipPerfector  21hr ago (text post)   553 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.

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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.

we will also have to keep private equity and some other over capitalized entities out of residential housing

Or just make local zoning less restrictive so that more housing can be built.

The local zoning codes are as they are not because of some random accident. They are such because usually people want them as they are - or are ok with them as they are. What would make them change their minds? If housing markets suddenly drops - e.g. because it became harder to get a mortgage - then they are unlikely to say "well, let's make it drop even further by increasing supply now!".

I mean to be clear, zoning regulations are almost universally the way they are because people don’t pay attention to them. That’s true both in low-zoning regulation cities like Houston and high-zoning regulation cities.

That could be so, but to change them, you will need to make those people active and on your side. And to make homeowners actively on your side with the message "you home price just dropped, we will make it drop even further!" does not look like a winning strategy.

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