> It obviously benefits buyers in non-hot markets. It's pretty nice to put $7500 down in the mid-west for a house.
Unfortunately banks won't loan what they see as small mortgages like that. This leaves the lower priced homes only available to landlords buying cash. I live in a home like this myself - all the banks would happily loan me $215,000 with $35k down, but no bank would loan me $15,000 to buy a $50k house. There's many people renting in my city that have decent credit that could easily afford one of these lower cost homes, but instead the houses stay empty or get turned in to rentals.
> all the banks would happily loan me $215,000 with $35k down, but no bank would loan me $15,000 to buy a $50k house.
This seems like a made up problem. Those same banks would also gladly loan you $40k with $10k down, and you could have the remainder to fix the house up or make huge payments every month. Furthermore, if you already have $35k it shouldn't be too difficult to save another $15k and buy the house cash. If it is, you probably can't qualify for the mortgage payment on either property based on your income.
Huh? This is nonsense. You can indeed buy a 50k house if the house appraises at that value. You can also get an improvement loan included to make it livable as well if necessary.
Unfortunately banks won't loan what they see as small mortgages like that. This leaves the lower priced homes only available to landlords buying cash. I live in a home like this myself - all the banks would happily loan me $215,000 with $35k down, but no bank would loan me $15,000 to buy a $50k house. There's many people renting in my city that have decent credit that could easily afford one of these lower cost homes, but instead the houses stay empty or get turned in to rentals.