General Discussion

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(131,065 posts) Sun Nov 16, 2025, 02:18 PM Sunday

Now for Donny's next trick, portable mortgages.

Trump administration is 'evaluating' portable mortgages. What that means for homeowners.

What is a portable mortgage? It's when you sell your house and buy a new place, but you keep your old home loan. If you’ve locked in a low mortgage rate and want to move, imagine the low-rate mortgage moving with you. The big question about portable mortgages is: Are they too good to be true?

Porting a mortgage is a real thing, just not in the U.S. — yet

Porting a mortgage allows you to keep your existing loan terms and interest rate when you buy another house, rather than getting a new loan that may have a higher interest rate. Portable mortgages are available in Canada and the United Kingdom, but not in the U.S.

Canadian and UK borrowers typically have fixed-rate loans with terms lasting only two to five years. That's vastly different from the 15- and 30-year terms in the U.S. At the end of those short-term loans, homeowners in Canada and the UK can either pay off their mortgages in full or renew them and negotiate new terms.

The shorter loan terms in Canada and the UK lend themselves to portability because borrowers can't lock in an interest rate for decades.

https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/mortgages/article/trump-administration-is-evaluating-portable-mortgages-what-that-means-for-homeowners-203106187.html

So, it sounds like you'd need a variable rate mortgage. Are they still a thing? I remember some horror stories about them years ago.

3 replies

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Now for Donny's next trick, portable mortgages. (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Sunday OP

I thought TSF didn't care how other countries did things Deuxcents Sunday #1

Trump doesn't get to dictate things like that. MineralMan Sunday #2

Sounds like a niche product that doesn't solve a lot newdeal2 Sunday #3

Deuxcents

(24,798 posts)

1. I thought TSF didn't care how other countries did things

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Sun Nov 16, 2025, 02:38 PM

Sunday

So now that’s he’s into some of their policies, why not look into their healthcare, violent gun laws.. issues that really matter to us and put those ideas to work

MineralMan

(150,335 posts)

2. Trump doesn't get to dictate things like that.

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Sun Nov 16, 2025, 03:22 PM

Sunday

Lenders are going to decide what to do, based on their own calculations.

Another thing a 50 year mortgage does is keep the homebuyer under water for a longer period. That is not a good thing if you are the lender. Especially if real estate markets take another setback, like they did a few years ago. Banks don't want to foreclose on homes that are have no positive equity. They also won't refinance houses that are underwater. It's not good business.

So, Trump can't tell banks they must make 50 year loans. He can tell them that it's OK to do that, maybe, but not tell them to.

Banks are always skittish about long term-lending. And when banks get skittish, the interest rates go up.

newdeal2

(4,490 posts)

3. Sounds like a niche product that doesn't solve a lot

Reply to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Sun Nov 16, 2025, 03:30 PM

Sunday

It could be helpful for some people in certain situations.

But with current housing prices, the new place you buy is probably more expensive than your locked in mortgage so what happens to the difference? I assume you have to pay in cash or take another loan at current rates.

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