Even Alan Greenspan didn’t realize the danger to the nation’s economy as a result of faulty mortgage loans. As Chairman of the Federal Reserve, wouldn’t mortgage fall under his watch? His explanation is in “Fed Speak,” as are all communications from the Federal Reserve.

As I understand it, the idea behind the Federal Reserve is to keep things running smoothly, so banks that are members of the Fed are federally insured, which should be reassuring to depositors. It seems that there were fraudulent practices that were swept under the rug: the Feds ignored, lenders denied, and borrowers are hung out to dry with.

So now we discover that Alan Greenspan wasn’t the financial genius he was thought to be,or he was asleep at the switch? His explanation: "It’s difficult for regulators to control." And unfortunately it seems his replacement is proving no more helpful controlling the mortgage loan business than he was.

As home buyers and sellers ponder what to do next in today's volatile real estate and money markets, the conflicting opinions of industry professionals may not offer much help. Greed, the original raison d'être, continues to triumph.

A number of loan programs, once widely available, have disappeared, or now require larger down payments, higher credit scores and more thorough income and asset documentation. Some people have found the original loan they qualified for no longer exists.

Credit tightening at the jumbo end of the market, means agents are having to learn "different ways of putting deals together." Deals that include sellers paying points to buy down the buyer's interest rate, making deals contingent on buyers first selling their homes, or even more modest incentives such as paying off homeowner association fees.

It looks like the borrowers and their lenders are proving more creative than the Feds when creating a means of dealing with this conundrum.