Partisan politics aside, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain proposed something March 25 that no other major presidential candidate has advocated in decades: raising minimum down-payment levels for home mortgages.
No more zero-down deals. No more "piggyback" plans that combine 90 percent first loans with 10 percent seconds. No more "down payment assistance" schemes where sellers indirectly supply all or most of the cash needed for the buyer's down payment.
Even the 3 percent minimum required by the Federal Housing Administration would be raised under McCain's plan
