Financing still available

If you took every recent media report on the mortgage industry at face value, then you might think you could never get financing again. But the truth is that affordable financing is still available --and from a very familiar source.

The FHA--Federal Housing Administration -- is back. In reality, they never went away. Affordable loan programs from the FHA have been helping people buy the home of their dreams for over 70 years.

But when the subprime mortgage industry collapsed under its own weight last year, the news media was quick to report that the entire lending industry was in deep trouble. In truth, this is simply not the case.

What the media doesn't report is that since 1934, the FHA has been the steady source of insured loans for hundreds of thousands of Americans. These loans are not cycle-driven like the rest of the mortgage industry. What this means is the FHA loan underwriters look at your payment history, not the state of the market.

You are also not hearing the recent resurgence of VA loans. Like FHA loans, VA loans provide a level of security for families who might not qualify for a traditional bank loan.