sf wrote:

> Paternalism has nothing to do with it. Sound business practice does.
> They needed to meet the same logical standards we met when we bought
> our first homes 30+ years ago. We put no less than 20% down and made
> payments that were no more than 25% of our income. There was no
> choice, that's what we did. Our world of financing was a lot less
> complicated.
>
> However, if those slimy lending practices didn't exist there would
> have been an economic downturn and subsequent inflationary period long
> before this. Those practices fueled the new housing boom, which is
> now a big bust.
>


I bought my first house in 1981, when nationally interest rates were 17%!
I didn't have to put down 20% because of qualifying for a "first time"
home loan at 9.35%. That rate would be unheard of today in the 5-6.5ish
range. For a 40k house, my mortgage payment was $369 (taxes and PMI
included) I was barely out of my teens yet *I* managed to study the
papers and ask questions and learn about mortgages. Even back then they
warned people not to spend more than x percent of their income on
housing. I believe it was no more than 30%.