The Federal Housing Finance Agency director caused outrage in the White House after making a presentation at President Trump’s private golf club in Palm Beach calling for ’50 year mortgages’ – an proposal experts believe would tank the housing market.
Pulte arrived at Trump International Golf Club carrying what one onlooker described as a school-project-style display titled ‘Great American Presidents.’
At its center was a photo of Franklin D. Roosevelt labeled ’30-year mortgage’, besides a picture of Donald Trump with ’50-year mortgage’ scrawled underneath.
About ten minutes later, Trump shared a photo of the board on Truth Social, instantly setting off a storm of angry calls to aides from supporters and housing-market watchers warning the it could drive up costs in an already unaffordable market.
‘He just sold POTUS a bill of goods that wasn’t necessarily accurate,’ a person who was with the president told Politico.
‘He said ‘FDR did it, you can do it, it’s gonna be a big thing.’ But he didn’t tell him about all the unintended consequences.’
Housing market experts calling the idea a ‘bandaid solution’ to affordability, mentioning that there would be more interest payments overtime, and not set them up for financial success in their lifetimes.
‘It would lead to buyers building equity in their homes more slowly. At the beginning of the mortgage, more of those payments tend to be interest,’ said Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities.
Pulte arrived with a school project-type poster board with the headline ‘Great American Presidents’ up top, Politico reported. The main centerpiece of the board featured a photo of former President Franklin Roosevelt and the words ’30-year-mortgage.’ There was also a photo of Trump, with ’50-year-mortgage’ etched underneath
Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill back in late February
Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, reportedly made a visit to President Trump’s Golf Club in Palm Beach that ruffled feathers among White House staff and Americans alike, speaking with people who were there
Complaints reportedly said the suggestion would raise housing costs through the roof, in an already unaffordable environment
One of the two people familiar with the matter said that this idea has sparked more backlash than almost any other proposal of the second term – especially people that vote for Trump because of their strong confidence in his economic plans.
‘Anything that goes before POTUS needs to be vetted,’ said another person present for Pulte’s poster presentation. ‘And a lot of times with Pulte they’re not. He just goes straight up to POTUS.’
The president saying Monday that the idea was ‘not a big deal,’ defending the proposal to Lara Ingraham during an interview with Fox News.
‘All it means is you pay less per month,’ Trump said to Ingraham. ‘Pay it over a longer period of time. It’s not like a big factor. It might help a little bit.’
Well-known conservative figures including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Laura Loomer and Mike Cernovich tore the idea apart on social media.
‘It will ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders and home builders while people pay far more in interest over time and die before they ever pay off their home. In debt forever, in debt for life!’ Greene said on X.
‘You know what’s better the a 50 year mortgage? Mass deporting 65 million illegal aliens,’ Loomer posted.
Pulte appeared to respond to critics Monday, saying the 50-year mortgage is just one tool in the Trump administration’s wider effort to expand housing options.
‘The thing that became clear from this latest episode – if it wasn’t already clear – is that Bill Pulte doesn’t know the first f****** thing about how the mortgage markets operate,’ one person who was at Trump’s golf course said, according to Politico.
The White House said Trump is ‘committed to making it easier and more affordable to achieve the American Dream of homeownership by eliminating unnecessary red tape, increasing supply, and lowering costs.’
