The Times Mirror reports from Virginia. "They are a fairly typical Loudoun family. He is a 35-year-old engineer for a technology company in Fairfax, pulling in $80,000 a year. His wife teaches yoga. College-educated, they have two daughters. In August 2005, the housing market in Northern Virginia is piping hot. The couple buys an 1,100-square-foot condo in a brand-new Ashburn community for $336,000, using two interest-only mortgages."

"This family would not allow their names to be used because of the sensitive nature of the situation. After a year of spiraling financial problems, the man said, the bank foreclosed on their condo, and now banks, collections agencies, hospitals and homeowners associations are after him for tens of thousands of dollars."

"'The knife is falling and I'm not trying to catch it. I'll wait until it drops, then I'll react,' he said."

"In fall 2005, life is good. Not for long. First, the car breaks down. They dip into their home's equity line of credit to buy a second-hand car. Then they spend $3,000 on furniture, using credit cards. Then his wife gets pregnant."

"As 2006 wears on, the expenses continue to mount. Next up: The housing market fizzles. The couple watches as neighbors' identical condos sell for $315,000 and less."

"In June 2006, he calls the mortgage lender. He knows he will soon be unable to pay the monthly payments, especially since the adjustable rate mortgage has just adjusted upward."

"The woman at the bank tells him 'that I was unorganized, irresponsible, that I needed to get a second job, and that my pregnant wife needed to work,' he says."

"Eventually time runs out. The bank repossesses the house and puts it on the auction block. Now they live in a rented house in Gainesville that his wife's brother owns. His credit rating has dropped to below 500, from 760 before this all began."

"'The dream of homeownership,' he says, 'is a lie.' The property he paid $336,000 for in 2005 was auctioned off on Feb. 20, and the bank had the highest bid: $277,973."

"Jim Stasiowski, a mortgage consultant for Countrywide Home Loans in Leesburg, said his company, like many nationwide, is dealing with a major spike in foreclosures. 'The worst of it is still yet to come,' he said."

"He said one of the problems is there are no licensing requirements for mortgage brokers. 'You can be a shoe salesman one day and the next say, 'I'm a mortgage broker.'"

"'To an uneducated buyer, these things sound great. ... The thing is -- it was too easy,' said Stasiowski."

"A few years back I was at a photo shoot for a house featured in our real estate section. I knew the real estate agent, and asked her what the house was listed for. '$535,000,' she said."

"'That seems pricey,' I replied. 'Maybe, but it should sell quickly.'"

"The house was nice and all, but it didn't seem half-a-million-nice. I asked her how people could afford it. 'You don't have to put any money down,' she said."

"'How's that?' 'You get a first mortgage for 80 percent, and a second for the other 20 percent, and you can get in without putting up any money. My 22-year-old son just bought a house for $450,000 with no money down. It's an interest-only loan.'"

"I left there knowing that the housing situation was in bad shape, only nobody seemed to notice at the time. How will this bubble end? Badly, I'm afraid."

Thw Washington Post. "One in 30 homeowners in Philadelphia has been hurt by predatory lenders who target people who live in moderate-income neighborhoods and whose homes are often their only asset."

"The study by the Reinvestment Fund, a community-development group in Philadelphia, analyzed the sales and mortgage histories of 15,500 Philadelphia properties."

"The fund found that the likelihood of becoming victimized by predatory lenders is one in seven for borrowers who have refinanced their homes multiple times. Any mortgage creates a public paper trail that documents a borrower's financial situation."

"A recent study by the Urban Institute, citing federal data, found that 17.6 percent of all conventional home-purchase and refinance loans in the Washington area were made by subprime lenders in 2005, a new high for the region."

"The Philadelphia study concludes that predatory lenders are not targeting the poorest neighborhoods. Rather, they're seeking moderate-income neighborhoods where they can squeeze the equity of a house."

"'A lot of these guys are not going to the bottom of the market,' said Ira Goldstein, the study's author. 'They're trolling up a little bit because there's more money to be had there.'"