<prompt> Human: Although I obviously support fiscal responsibility and I know many at least in this subforum have known this for a long time. I still kind of find this to be one of the saddest titles I have ever read and its not embellished in the least.  <response>: This is an interesting statement:If we have safe, simple products, if we provide help to families to make sure they are making the right decision and we make sure that the loans are underwritten in the right ways, we can make safe mortgages with 5 percent down paymentsI wonder if this means theyre going to advocate for more holistic lending standards.I know the conventional wisdom is to put 20 down, but that is pretty unrealistic in many markets. Where I live 80 year old two-bedroom townhouses cost 400,000, so if a young couple comes up with 5 and has a history of paying their 2000-2500 a month apartment rent theyre probably not a huge risk. In other markets where detached homes only cost a couple hundred thousand and much of the economy relies on dying industries, 5 down is probably a very risky loan. 