The other Zapato falls

From the Florida Sun-Sentinel, we have: Low-income families: Lenders steered us to high-risk mortgages we couldn't afford.

When a mortgage broker convinced Erik Zapata he could own a home, he quickly signed on the dotted line.

He and his girlfriend moved their two children out of a low-income housing project in Pompano Beach and settled into their new Coconut Creek condo.

But as the numbers on his monthly statements soared, Zapata found himself in a sinkhole of debt. He says he did not clearly understand what he signed: a deferred-interest loan that adds thousands of dollars in unpaid interest to his mortgage.

"The dream home becomes the nightmare," said Tino Diaz, a mortgage lender who is starting a Broward County chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. "We need to raise Hispanics' level of homeownership. But if we're putting people into homes they can't afford, we're wrecking them. You have lenders out there saying, `If you're breathing and you've got a paycheck, let me give you a home.'"

Really?!?

I thought even the "paycheck" was optional; and wasn't there a dead homeless guy in Florida who had bought five houses? So it looks like breathing is optional too!

Of course, all of this is part of the Federal Reserve's glorious "democratization of credit".

Houses for everyone, says I, houses for everyone!