True or false: it is harder to get a mortgage today than it is to actually get a girlfriend as a freshman in high school. (Answer later.)

This is actually a legitimate question, and from my end I hear a lot of frustration from clients going through the process. Yes, it is much more difficult to get a loan these days, and requires a lot more documentation. On top of this, everything in the file is scrutinized like it never has been before. I can understand this frustration. For the past thirty years the higher-ups in government – you know, the people who are so smart that they tell us how to live our lives, but actually do not live by the same rules that they impose on us – have claimed that home ownership is the dream and right of every American…or for that matter anyone who happens to live in this country.

They wanted to make this a reality so badly that they created laws, guidelines and parameters that made it easy for almost anyone to get a mortgage and buy a home. • Debt ratios in order to determine if a borrower can pay back a loan – Ahh let’s expand those, or get rid of them altogether.• Verify someone’s income – Nuisance, don’t need it.• How about at least verify they have money for a down payment? – Get rid of that, too.• Before you ask, let’s just get rid of the down payment altogether.• Let’s just make this easy – Sign here please.

These very same people who instituted these guidelines (you know, the ones who are smarter than everyone else) during this “heyday” of our industry would constantly harass large banks and mortgage companies for not lending

enough. In fact, big banks like Chase and CitiMortgage were sued by the Federal government for not “lending enough” in certain areas.

Now of course these same intellectual elitists, who refuse to live by the same rules that they impose on us, are demonizing and actually suing banks, mortgage companies and lenders for their reckless and unethical practices of lending to people who could not afford their homes. Their term for this is “predatory lending.”

If you can see a bit of contradiction and hypocrisy in this, well, welcome to the real world.

So, it appears that the illusion of home ownership is not what it used to be; that the dream is gone.

This really isn’t the case. Basically, we have been hit with a dose of reality. Whether

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reality is good or not is a different issue. Sometimes it is good to live in your illusions or innocence. Facing reality can be a tough thing.

Here we go…

The Harlem Globetrotters come to mind. As a child we used to adore them and were amazed at their incredible talent. I mean, they could play a ball game, goof around, mock the other team and still pull off the win! Amazing, right? I remember watching them on ABC’s Wide World of Sports with my friends; laughing hysterically at their antics. Meadowlark Lemon would pull pranks on the referee while Curly Neal would dribble the ball endlessly without being touched. True Masters. On many occasions I would find myself nervous near the end of the game as the Washington Generals would be making their run. I would think that they would have to win at least one game, they were

The best there ever was?

due! But no, the Globetrotters found a way to win and remain undefeated. The NBA; who needed that when the Globetrotter’s were the best team in the world?

Do you remember Flipper the dolphin? The greatest shark killer of all! For that matter, all dolphins can kill all sharks and dolphins were as smart as people!!!

We all liked fast cars when we were younger and no one was faster than Speed Racer’s Mach 5. But in reality we all found Speed a bit whiney and annoying to say the least.

But back to fast cars. Since Speed Racer was a cartoon we knew it wasn’t real. But Herbie the Love Bug from the Disney movies was a real car, a Volkswagen Beetle, and in Herbie Rides Again he annihilated

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It was tough giving this up.

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No car was faster!

So I was a bit late to this one.

the competition and in our minds was the fastest car on the street. So in everyday life whenever we would see a Beetle on the street, we were in awe at its mighty potential.

When the sitcom Happy Days hit the airwaves, there was no one cooler than Fonzie. (The rumor that I had my Fonzie poster well into high school is simply not true!) Back in 4th grade we all believed that he did indeed have over 100 girlfriends as he claimed. What hurt so much about this is that I truly believed this was normal and that when my teen years were to come I too would easily achieve this feat.

This “innocence” did not just happen in my youth. I was convinced back in the day that the mullet haircut was here to stay,

and well into my senior year in college I proudly and stubbornly sported this look. (This one was a tough one to learn.)

Some people (me) just learn things the hard way. Bono from U2 sported the ponytail look in the late 80’s. So I was about ten years late on this, I though it looked good! But hey, I started the new decade up on things.

There are also those naysayers, the spoilers. The young kids in 1st grade who claim there was no Santa Claus.

Even today we have people claiming that professional wrestling is fake. Now, I used to go to these events for years, and when you have seen Andre the Giant body slam someone then you will know this is legit.

So, has the illusion of home ownership been shattered? Not at all; in today’s world, if you are looking to borrow money for a home the bank simply wants you to prove you have the ability to pay it back. You have to keep in mind that the banks are getting scrutinized by those very smart people who refuse to live by the standards imposed on the real world, and trying to satisfy them is often a double edged sword. Therefore, moving forward, they are scrutinizing everything so that all loans in their portfolio can be accounted for.

The good thing is that interest rates are still near historic lows, so you may have to go through a process where full disclosure is required, but in the long run you will be saving a lot of money.

So, is it harder to get a mortgage these days than to get a girlfriend as a freshman in high school? It depends. In high school, you could always use the excuse that your girlfriend “lives in Wisconsin,” you know, just to save face. (Honest, I never claimed this!)

But yes, that was another shattered illusion as I entered my teen years…