Lenders Shooting Their and Our Foot Again

Mortgage lenders froze lending at the beginning of the mortgage crisis, they haven't made significant concessions in mortgage workouts, they use government money to decrease mortgage rates and now they require larger down payments, higher fico scores, increased loan costs and add points with abandon.  They really haven't done anything to slow plummeting home values.  In my darker moments I imagine they are gaining and hoarding foreclosed properties so they can sell them after the market improves.  I wish mortgage lenders were part of the real estate business instead of the money business.  There, I have that off my chest.

However, this means that seller financing and lease-purchase options play a much more important role particularly at the high end where jumbo mortgages are difficult to get.  Can be better alternatives for Buyers and Sellers.

First-time buyers are spared some of this pain by the federal and state incentives

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