Home Ownership Before Mortgages
If you want to buy a home today, you usually start by saving money for a down payment. Once you have the money saved that you’ll need for a down payment, you then begin to look for a home you wish to purchase. Once you find the home you wish to purchase, you contact a mortgage lender, such as Patriot Home Mortgage in Mesquite, who will then help you obtain a conventional mortgage. You will put your down payment down, sign papers, and the home is yours. But did you ever wonder how people financed homes before mortgages?
Patriot Home Mortgage in Mesquite offers the best home mortgage loans. We specialize in all types of mortgages, from VA loans and USDA loans to FHA and construction loans. Below, we’ll take a look at home ownership before mortgages. Contact our expert mortgage consultants today!
MORTGAGES BEFORE MODERN TIMES
Thousands of years ago, right after humans began to settle down into settlements from their nomadic lifestyle, people just built simple homes out of the materials available, either clay, wood, or the like. Mortgages as we know them did not really exist. Since these homes were usually only one room, they didn’t require all that much to construct them. Furthermore, people often pitched in as a community in order to help one another build homes. No money was necessary.
However, as civilizations grew and the concept of selling homes began, there had to be a way to pay for them. This is where the barter system entered the picture. The barter system was the first method of exchange where people would exchange goods and services in exchange for other goods and services. No money itself exchanged hands. Even when money was invented, bartering remained the primary way that people exchanged goods.
Money is anything that people agree to put value in that can be used to exchange for goods and services. Thus, instead of trading cloth for a book, you’d exchange a metal coin instead. Money is much more convenient than bartering, especially as people began to travel more in the Middle Ages.
When it came to buying and selling homes, because they were more valuable than, say, your average cow, people began to use money for them. This is when the advent of money lenders took place. Known by various names throughout history, such as pawnbrokers or money lenders, these people would lend money usually at very high interest rates. Thus, if you needed money to buy a house, you would borrow it. However, since the invention of collateral loans were not really instituted until the 18th century, other ways to receive payment was instituted, most not so pleasant.
HOW PATRIOT HOME MORTGAGE CAN HELP YOU WITH A CONVENTIONAL LOAN
Patriot Home Mortgage in Mesquite offers conventional loans whereby you obtain a mortgage with your home as collateral, meaning if you default, you lose your home — not body parts. Our mortgage consultants have years of experience of helping people obtain mortgages. Contact us today for a free consultation!