Dude, I live in the Bible Belt.
But as heavily regulated as our economy is, it's hard to imagine that this sort of scheme [i.e. non-constant, INCREASING mortgage payments] would be legal in a mommy-state socialist paradise like The People's Republic of California.
On the other hand, traditionally the real estate bidness has been dominated by RAT scum like Mr. Diane Feinstein, and Mr. Geraldine Ferraro, so you can see how the RAT-controlled state [& even federal] legislatures would turn a blind eye to this kinda insanity [and even go so far as to "guarantee" these scams with government-backed insurance policies].
On the contrary - it leads directly to higher property tax revenues. Democrats love it. ;)