[abfunders]

Question...

Why do you feel it is rare for people not to be maxed out on their mortgage?

Winning, I meant in the file that I see.
Most people aren't disciplined enough. How many people keep balances on their credit cards when they could easily pay them down? A lot.
But most business owners, if they had enough cash to start a business, didn't also have enough cash to buy their home.
Cash advances are expensive, so why didn't they go to their bank to get a term loan on their home for less than 5%?
Most people don't have financial / business advisors until it's too late.

And, finally, people are greedy. They have 20% for a down payment and want to get the biggest house that they can get, even if it's overleveraging themselves on the monthly payments, which stretches it out to 30 years to lower the monthly payment, but the amortization takes a VERY long time to pay down. Then rates go down and the price on the home went up, and their refi at another 30 years at 80% LTV. Then they sell their home and move cities, and do it again with whatever cash they have amassed on the sale, at 80% LTV on the mortgage.

I am personally at 40-45% LTV with a 30 year amortization on my mortgage after 7 years. The price on my home did go up from when I bought it, and if I could refi now without the penalties from my bank, I would do 20 or 25 amortization instead. I did the mortgage before I knew anything about how loans really work.