• M0oP0o
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    23 days ago

    I am not sure you understand how a mortgage works. Why would I have $375,000 on a mortgage for a house I bought for $185,000 over a decade ago?

    The bank “owns” only what is owning on the mortgage with the property and buildings on it as collateral. Even if I stopped paying all together (for some reason) the bank does not want the house, they want the money and will force a sale though foreclosure.

    The issue is that we now have two “classes” of non rich people, those that spend money on rent (a cost without equity) and those like me ether old enough or lucky enough to have a mortgage where the money we spend on a mortgage (reducing that debit) is not wasted and the value of our homes keeps going up.

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      Wasn’t speaking to your specific home value. I was adding to the point that every homeowner is not a millionaire.

      If someone has a house worth $350,000 but they’ve only paid off $50,000 from the principal, then they aren’t worth $350,000. I’d argue they’re not even worth $300,000.

      Miss a few payments, and they lose the house plus whatever payments they’d already made. That’s not personal wealth. We’re just living in the bank’s house until it’s paid off and the deed gets transferred.