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