Prior to buying my house, the realtors kept telling me I was "qualified" for
much more expensive homes than the homes I was looking at. They almost
refused to show me the less expensive homes. I had to say "bye!" and start
to walk out before they got the hint.

Anyway I stuck to my guns and bought something which I could afford *and*
have extra money left over each month. Also I insisted on a fixed rate
mortgage.

I can see where people with little will power (being polite to realtor, not
wanting to "offend" them, etc.) could get themselves in a heap of trouble!


"WDS" wrote in message

Actually, the first thing I thought of is "Why did anyone loan them
the money?" In this case ...

"...the loan agent inflated their income to qualify them for the
financing."

which I would think is some kind of fraud.

What really needs to be done is that anyone purchasing a home should
be required to take a couple night class on the costs of home
ownership and purchasing that goes into things like how much home can
you REALLY afford and what is this funky new kind of loan really going
to cost? I thought I knew what was going on when I bought my first
home but when it came time for closing it was rather confusing and
rushed. Fortunately we dealt with a reputable lender and no one tried
to scam us. Plus our realtor basically had done what I suggest
above. When we later built a home we took several community education
classes about building and buying and we were much better prepared.