Most people who take out mortgages go with a 15 or 30-year term. But over the weekend, President Trump floated the idea of introducing a 50-year mortgage option for homebuyers, and William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, said the administration was also actively evaluating assumable and portable mortgages.

All the ideas aim to address the same problem: a housing market frozen by affordability pressures and a lack of mobility.

But what are portable and assumable mortgages, and would they make affording a home more attainable for some Americans?

What is a portable mortgage?

Big picture view:

With a portable mortgage, a homeowner can transfer their current mortgage to another property while keeping the same interest rate and overall terms. It means that when you move

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