Hard To Kill

...the American Dream, that is.

As the Foreclosed Move Out, First-Time Buyers Move In, Damian Cave, NYT 4/3/09
MIAMI — While her friends ran up credit card debt and bought show homes beyond their means, Taina Goldman saved for a down payment. She moved back in with her parents, sharing a room with her young daughter, ate in and worked two jobs.
     “I don’t live dangerously,” said Ms. Goldman, 42, a nurse. “You can’t live on ‘what if.’ ”
     Now, she is reaping the rewards. She and her daughter recently moved into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch-style house, with a pool, after putting 20 percent down and persuading the seller to cover most of her closing costs. She paid $187,000 for a house that sold in July 2006 for $370,000.
     ...
     In some areas, several families have pooled enough money to pay cash for homes. There are others, like Ms. Goldman, who saved enough to afford a traditional down payment and mortgage.
     But in many cases, agents and loan officers say, first-time buyers are receiving loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which allow for lower credit scores and a down payment of only 3.5 percent.
     Unlike the subprime mortgages doled out a few years ago to nearly anyone who asked, F.H.A. loans include strict income requirements. Buyers must document two years of employment history with pay stubs and W-2 forms that are verified by the underwriter, and they can typically borrow only around 31 percent of their income, or 43 percent when other debt is included.
     ...
     “It’s like the best feeling,” she said, admiring the arches in her doorways. “I never thought I could own.”
     Many other buyers are equally giddy.
     Julio Cesar Memeses, 45, a construction worker who is about to close on a three-bedroom home in West Phoenix for $50,000, said he and his family were thrilled to own “a piece of the American dream.” He said they were not worried about making their mortgage payments because the price was so low.

It's possible the lessons of the last ten years of excess will last for a few more decades. But the optimism that's the basis of the American Dream necessarily leads to short memories.