Six Fun Facts About Mortgages that May Surprise You

One good way to make conversation is to reveal little-known facts about mortgages to your friends and family. Mortgage facts tend to wow people because while most people end up getting a mortgage at some time or another, many don’t really take the time to think about where the idea came from.

Here are a few facts about mortgages you can use to impress your friends at your next social gathering.

Red Front Door

In Scotland, people paint the front door of their house red once they’ve finally paid off the mortgage. Now, we don’t recommend running around asking any neighbors with red front doors about the status of their mortgage, but it does make you wonder …

From The Old French Word ...

Mortgage derives from the Old French word, mortgage, or “mort Gaige,” which means “dead pledge.” When the mortgage was paid off, it “died.”

Fannie, Meet Freddie

Freddie Mac was created in 1970, just after Fannie Mae became a publicly-traded company. The two entities combine to guarantee about half of all mortgages in the United States.

A Poem About Marriage

The earliest use of the word mortgage (spelled “morgage”) was in the poem “Confessio Amantis,” which was written in the 1300s. However, in that poem, the word was used to describe marriage, not a home loan.

20%

Fixed-rate mortgages were first offered in 1971, at around 7.5% according to Freddie Mac. In 1980, the rates jumped to nearly 20%. Currently, mortgage interest rates are at historical lows. And even though they are expected to climb through the rest of this year and into 2021, it’s still an incredible time to get a mortgage.

88%

According to NAR, 88% of homebuyers rely on a mortgage to finance the purchase of their home. In fact, most buyers finance 90% of the cost of the home, meaning they’re only putting 10% down.

Now, that’s all some fascinating stuff! We hope you enjoyed learning these fun facts as much as we did. Thanks for taking this time with us, and consider yourself well-armed for any future trivia nights that happen to feature mortgage-related questions!