Dream deal comes back to bite no-money-down homebuyer

Buyers who put no money down to buy their property are finding they have no equity to draw on as housing values tumble. By Peter Y. Hong Los Angeles Times SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Two years ago, Patricia Prado worried she never would be able to buy a house. Property values in this coastal farm town had been rising sharply, and Prado and her husband were burdened by $18,000 in debt from credit cards and the loan on their Jeep Grand Cherokee. Prado, 38, remembers expressing worry about her situation to co-workers at the food-processing plant where she works. A few days later, she got a phone call from a mortgage broker who said he had heard her tale and had a solution: a mortgage loan that required no money down. The broker "made everything sound like it was going to be wonderful," Prado said. A few weeks later, Prado bought a... [read full story]