Real Estate

chipuni posted a short essay on home loans and the current real estate market. Some of the comments to his entry suggested to me that there's considerable confusion about how home loans work in America -- which isn't surprising, given that it's a confusing topic.

I'll start with the juicy stuff:

In some part of the country, couples with an income of $70,000 are able to get loans for $500,000 houses with no money down
( Really? )