Weekly Roundup: New NYC stats, land paradox, easing rates, Fair Housing, search tool. . . more

All-cash dream can become all-consuming nightmare

WNYC investigation: System of appointing foreclosure referees operated with little oversight, rife with irregularities, dominated by political insiders

Signed contracts for $10 million-plus residential properties in Manhattan double the same time last year

Narrowest house, where Edna St. Vincent Millay lived, finds buyer at last

Rent board approves maximum increases  roughly double last year’s for stabilized apartments

Finding Hollywood home addresses of celebrities fast and easy

Grammy-winning saxophonist tries again to sell UWS townhouse, this time for $12 million

Comedic former TV talker sells Miami hacienda way below original ask of $20 million

Couple could be sleepless

20% down payment is beyond irresponsible

How many buyers have enough of a down payment to purchase this house?(Flickr photo by Casey Serin)

I was in a minority of one last week in a discussion at the monthly meet-up of REwrite, a group of real estate bloggers and other journalists.

As issue is a mortgage proposal that requires a 20 percent down payment for the “safest mortgages.”  As I’ve already signaled in the headline, that notion is terrible, if well-intended.

Such a minimum means