"Goomba" > wrote in message
...
> 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%.


Good memory IIRC the rule of thumb was 25% of gross or 30% to 33% of net
after taxes & you had to bring in a paycheck stub.


--
Old Scoundrel

(AKA Dimitri)