@pandora_parrot

It was reasonable at the time.

Dad owned a house very much like that when the Simpsons first aired.

He started working in 1958 as a clerk right out of high school at a railway company. He worked there for 37 years, retiring at 55 as a regional marketing director, and with a full defined benefit retirement plan.

I'm pretty sure that was also the last house he had a mortgage on. He's had several since.