HUDUSER Forums

The last year has seen real estate prices move up a lot. Some communities such as the San Francisco Bay area have seen 25%+ home price appreciation. While this msy be good in general, it seems first time home buyers are having more difficulty coming up with down payments and qualifying for loans.
Is homeownership once again out of reach for many? What is going on with our economy...

I agree. We just refinanced a piece of commercial property and the appraisal was low probably because the banking institution did not want to let out all the equity back out to us. Not only have banking restrictions gone crazy in regards to newbies qualifying for loans, the down payment amounts have increased to 20%. How can a young person first qualify and the n secondly come up with 20% down on even a $100,000 house which we all know is going to be pretty much dump of a house? I don't know about you but coming up with $20.000 in todays economy is hard for me.