It's no secret that lenders have made way too many loans that they should not have made over the last few years which has resulted in the near meltdown of the housing industry for the past 36 months. Now we are looking at government reforms and tightening lender standards that swing 180 degrees the other direction. The incredible damage is done and the never ending supply of foreclosures is not going away for at least another 24-36 months. So why are the gift programs (at least for now) being done away with? Why are lenders now requiring two (or more) appraisals? Why are underwriters verifying and verifying and re-verifying the same applicant information over and over just to get second thoughts and decline the loan days before settlement? I agree 110% that loans should only be given to people with the ability to repay them. Trying to over compensate for mistakes that have already been made is not the answer to the problem. In markets like ours where values have declined 35% over the past 18 months and thousands of homeowners will eventually face a short-sale or foreclosure when it is time to move on, we don't need to make it so difficult for the buyers to obtain a mortgage that they simply give up. The only way out of the mess we are in is to reduce inventory and get supply and demand back in balance so values can stabilize. Creating a never ending supply of hoops to jump through to obtain financing just continues to pour fuel on the fire!