The Oct. 16 front-page story “Shutdown shutters home program: USDA mortgage that family was counting on is in limbo as move-in nears” was regarding the hardship on homebuyers due to the temporary shutdown of the federal government. I was very surprised to read that 15 percent of homebuyers in Clark County go through a government agency to obtain a loan with zero down. What? This country didn’t learn anything from the housing crisis that we all went through?
Many people who walked away from their homes were those people who had no equity in the home. But now the government, in all its wisdom, is willing to allow 100 percent loans. Sure, the borrower might qualify but he has no stake in the home at all and if he chooses to leave for whatever reason at all he won’t lose any money. But someone will lose money, and that is the “government,” which once again is the rest of us taxpayers. There should be greater requirements for home mortgages whether through the government, in this case, and certainly if through the private sector.
Carl Tuttle
Vancouver
