Buying a House Is Expensive. But There Are Some Ways to Rein In Costs.

Fifty-year mortgages. “Portable” home loans. Both ideas were recently floated by the Trump administration as possible ways to make homeownership affordable for more Americans.

It’s unclear, however, if officials will eventually pursue either plan, given the negative reactions and the complexity of the American housing market.

Mortgages are not the only factor keeping many Americans out of the market, though the still-high rates do play a role. But so does a lack of new construction in much of the country, which is keeping home prices high. The rising cost of running a home — including higher charges for insurance and utilities — isn’t helping. And uncertainty about the direction of the economy may be causing potential home buyers to reconsider committing to a major new expense.

“People are feeling jittery and are pulling back,” said Chen Zhao, head of economics research at real estate site Redfin.

The answer, many economists and researchers say, is to increase the supply of houses for sale to bring down prices — but that takes time. Easing the tariffs that President Trump has placed on construction materials, including lumber, steel and cabinetry, could encourage building, said Joel Berner, a senior economist at housing website Realtor.com.

Still, the prospect of quick fixes is virtually nil, though some housing experts are suggesting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the big mortgage finance firms, lower their fees. That could have the effect of reducing mortgage rates.

And there are a few basic steps that home shoppers can take to help rein in costs.

Here is a look at steps that Mr. Trump and William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, have said they are considering, along with tips for making a home purchase more affordable in the meantime.

How would ‘portable’ mortgages work?

One reason for the lack of homes for sale is that many homeowners have pandemic-era mortgages with interest rates below 4 percent. They are reluctant to sell their homes and buy new ones with more expensive loans at current rates, which are above 6 percent. The housing market, in effect, is stuck.

In some countries, like Canada, home buyers can take their mortgage, with its same interest rate, with them when they buy a new home — and that’s one option under review, Mr. Pulte has said.

But the mortgage market works differently in the United States. Most American mortgages are pooled and packaged into securities, which are then sold to investors. If a mortgage is attached to a new home, it could change the risk makeup of the securities and affect the price investors are willing to pay.

“That would be a hurdle that would need to be cleared,” said Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at Realtor.com.

Plus, if mortgages were portable, he said, holders of lower-rate mortgages could initially push up home prices because they would be able to afford more than people borrowing at prevailing rates. The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage on Thursday was 6.26 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

Could lowering mortgage fees help?

Melissa Cohn, regional vice president with William Raveis Mortgage, a mortgage lender and broker, said fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the big government-controlled mortgage finance firms, make conventional mortgages more costly and could be lowered — or, she suggested, even eliminated.

“Some of them are onerous,” she said.

The two firms, which are overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, don’t actually make loans. Rather, they buy loans made by lenders and package them into mortgage securities. They then sell the securities to investors and guarantee payment of principal and interest.

The fees charged by the two firms, known as “loan level pricing adjustments,” are based on factors like the borrower’s credit score and the loan-to-value ratio — the size of the loan relative to the value of the home. The fees can be paid upfront or rolled into the loan and paid over time. The charges effectively add from a quarter to half of a percentage point to mortgage rates, Ms. Cohn said, and make certain homes, like condominiums, more expensive.

Mr. Pulte has recently suggested that the fees are being reviewed. Bob Broeksmit, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in an email that the group had “engaged” with the administration and that any pricing changes “should focus on lowering costs for middle-income home buyers and for homeowners refinancing their mortgages to a lower interest rate.”

The housing finance agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not respond to requests for comment.

Could mortgages really be 20 years longer?

The typical age of a first-time home buyer rose to 40 this year — a historic high, according to the Realtors association. That means people taking out a 50-year mortgage could potentially be making payments as nonagenarians, unless they refinance or sell their homes before the full term.

Experts, however, say a 50-year mortgage would end up costing home buyers far more over the long term than a 30-year loan, which has been the standard for decades. The 50-year mortgages would also make it harder to build equity in the property, a key to accruing wealth.

“It’s not a good idea,” said Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research group.

Monthly payments would be lower, but might not outweigh the potential downsides. “You have a lower payment, but the interest you pay will be a lot more,” Dr. Ajilore said.

With a $500,000, 30-year mortgage at 7 percent — roughly the average rate at the start of this year — you would pay about $700,000 total in interest, said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at the online lender LendingTree. But with a 50-year mortgage at the same rate, the total interest paid would be about $1.3 million — more than double the original balance of the loan. “That’s eye-opening,” Mr. Schulz said.

Rates on longer-term mortgages, however, could potentially be much higher than those on 30-year loans, said James Brody, managing partner at Brody Gapp, a law firm specializing in the mortgage industry. Most mortgages longer than 30 years don’t meet the criteria for “qualified” mortgages under the Dodd-Frank Act, the reform law passed after the 2008 financial crisis, he said. Such loans aren’t eligible to be bought and packaged for investors by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The loans could be sold privately, but investors may demand a rate premium, Mr. Brody said.

What are the risks of a 50-year mortgage?

It takes time to build equity in a property with conventional mortgages because most of your payments in the early years go to paying interest. Over time, the proportion going to interest gradually decreases and more goes to the loan principal until the loan is paid in full.

That process takes much longer with a 50-year loan. For much of the term of a 50-year loan, Mr. Berner said, “you’re essentially renting your home from the bank.”

LendingTree calculates that on a $500,000, 50-year mortgage at 6.1 percent, the borrower would have paid down just 4 percent of the principal after 10 years, compared with about 16 percent with a 30-year loan.

That means there is more risk of a homeowner’s going “underwater” — meaning the borrower owes more on the loan than the house is worth — if home values decline. If you need to move but can’t sell the property for more than you owe, you would have to use other funds to pay off the mortgage. Or if you ran into financial trouble and had difficulty making your monthly payments, your options would be limited and you could face foreclosure.

“You have a reduced ability to sell or refinance,” said Simon Blanchard, a marketing professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

How can I manage costs when buying a home?

Ms. Zhao at Redfin suggested widening the area of your home search to include suburban neighborhoods that may be more affordable, and “trimming your wish list down a bit.”

Also, prices and supply vary by region. Buyers don’t have much leverage in areas like the suburbs of New York City. But in some parts of the country, she said, particularly in the Sun Belt and the West, construction of new homes has accelerated, and builders are offering incentives and even dropping prices in some cases to encourage shoppers.

In those areas, “it’s a buyer’s market and you can negotiate price and closing costs,” Ms. Zhao said.

How can I get the best rate on a mortgage?

It pays to shop around. Getting two rate quotes could save up to $600 annually, and getting four or more could save more than $1,200 a year, according to Freddie Mac.

Is there down-payment help for first-time home buyers?

Programs are available in most states to help new buyers with their down payments, whether through grants, which don’t need to be repaid, or low-interest loans. State housing finance authorities and federally certified housing counseling agencies can offer information about available programs. Consumers can also search online at Down Payment Resource.

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