Up and until the last few years, FHA loans were some of the best performing loans, despite the lack of down payment. VA loans, with zero down, are in fact the best performing loans today and they always have been. You see, its not the down payment, it the underwriting guidelines, or lack thereof.
The challenge we face today, has little to do with a borrower defaulting on a mortgage. It has everything to do with the largest financial institutions leveraging that mortgage 30 to 1. It's the lack of equity, coupled with job loss, furloughs, illness, etc.
The financial crisis, was brought on by greed at the top, not some poor family trying to achieve the American dream of homeownership. - Sat Dec 5 2009, 13:05