I was reading an article in the NYT  about relaxing the downpayment requirements to 3%.

I am assuming that the liar loan qualifications are a thing of the past, so good/excellent credit will keep it real but I am still of two minds about this.  

Prices are rising here in Massachusetts & that's never a good sign- that means you either own something already with a great deal of equity to use or otherwise you are going to need  that 3% down  to cope with price increases.  

One of the comments I read about this phenomenon was interesting in that it dealt with the issue of barely being able to afford the home in the first place & then what do you do when you need a new roof all of a sudden, or some other major catastrophe hits & you're just getting by.   Credit cards will take you just so far & a leaky roof can get your homeowners insurance policy cancelled in a hurry.  

I remember the days when I was recording 100% deals with an Equity line a couple of days later & thank heaven those days are over.  I am all for home ownership but I think I'm coming down on the *no* side of 3% down, for the moment.