Grok says other wise===>> THANKS ELON!
No this statement is not true—it's a common misconception rooted in a misunderstanding of property ownership, mortgages, and legal title.Here’s the truth in clear point form:- Legal ownership begins at purchase: When you buy a home (even with a mortgage), you receive legal title to the property. You are the owner from day one.
- Mortgage = a loan secured by the property, not co-ownership by the bank. The lender has a link (a legal claim) on the property until the loan is paid off, but you still own it.
- You have full rights of ownership:
- You can live in it, rent it, renovate it, or sell it (subject to paying off the mortgage at sale).
- You pay property taxes, insurance, and maintenance—not the bank.
- You benefit from any increase in value.
- "Never really owned" is false rhetoric: Saying someone doesn’t "really" own their home until the mortgage is paid is like saying you don’t "really" own your car if you’re still making car payments. Legally and practically, you do.
- 50-year mortgage myth: Almost no one has a 50-year mortgage. Even 30-year terms are long. After 50 years, the mortgage is long paid off unless refinanced multiple times or payments were deferred (rare).
- Allodial title vs. fee simple: In Canada and most common-law countries, true "allodial" (absolute) ownership doesn’t exist for private citizens—land is held in fee simple, subject to government laws (taxes, zoning, eminent domain). But this applies whether you have a mortgage or not.
Bottom line:
Yes, he legally and fully owns his home—mortgage or not.
The mortgage is debt, not shared ownership.
Once paid off, the lien is removed—but ownership was real the whole time.
The idea that "you don’t own it until it’s paid off" is emotionally charged but legally false. |
