A report from the Washington Post. "Even for people who have money, coming up with a down payment to buy a house has become a lot more challenging in recent months. Take Peter McGarvey, who in September found a house big enough to accommodate his family of four. A bidding war ensued over the 2,000-square-foot home, in Takoma Park, Md. He offered $710,000 and won."

"Then came the hard part: making enough of a down payment to get a good rate on a loan and keep the monthly mortgage payments manageable. Because he had not yet sold the house he already owned, he had to cobble together a down payment from other sources."

"''We have lots of equity in the house, and we have money saved up. Unfortunately, most of it is in retirement funds and mutual fund investments,' McGarvey said."

"Even over the summer, borrowers did not have to go to such lengths. That's because it was easy to get a mortgage that required little or no money down. In fact, four out of 10 first-time buyers used no-money-down mortgages in 2005 and 2006, according to surveys by the National Association of Realtors."

"The median down payment for first-time buyers in those years was 2 percent of the purchase price. But now that those loans are being blamed for a spike in foreclosures, many lenders are no longer offering them or have become pickier about who gets them."

"That's not to say that lenders are requiring down payments of 20 percent or more, which was the norm until the mid-1980s. 'I don't think we're there yet,' said Franco Terango, consumer real estate executive for the mid-Atlantic branch of Bank of America."

"If all else fails, there are other creative ways to come up with down payments. Pull out that vintage Gucci purse and sell it on eBay. Sell your bike. Sell your car."

"Some advisers and lenders said that if a prospective homeowner has to go to great lengths to come up with money, maybe it's best to wait until he or she can save enough money the old-fashioned way. Or maybe buy a fixer-upper rather than a dream home."

"'It doesn't have to be a McMansion,' said said Heather Evans, vice president and wealth management adviser at Merrill Lynch in Tysons Corner, Va. 'Homeownership should be within your budget.'"

The New York Times on New Jersey. "Meghan Werner has learned more than any teenager should about the consequences of the subprime mortgage debacle."

"Her father, Philip Werner, a contractor, had struggled to find work, and like millions of Americans, he took out a high-interest mortgage that he could not afford."

"He found the house in 1986. When he and his wife divorced in 2002, Werner sold the house to an investor for $170,000. 'I had $35,000 left on the mortgage,' he said."

"He and his children stayed on as tenants. In 2005, when he was making a decent living, Werner repurchased the house for about $250,000. He said his divorce had left him with bad credit, but he found a loan for about $300,000 through an acquaintance who was a mortgage broker."

"The loan, through New Century Financial, required no cash down payment and came with an 8 percent interest rate that adjusted to 11 percent, Werner said. Werner could afford the payments, but then lost his job."

"For this family, a recent proposal by the Federal Reserve to restrict the granting of high-interest or exotic loans to borrowers with weak credit came too late. The proposal by the Federal Reserve would require lenders to verify the income and assets of borrowers."

"Werner said he negotiated the loan over coffee at a diner, and that he never had to provide proof of his income. 'It was a no-document loan,' he said."

"Meghan visited the sheriff's office with her father this month. A woman there told them they would have 10 days to buy back their home if it was sold to the bank. None of them believes they will be able to find the money."

"'I bought my first home when I was 25,' Werner said. 'What I've lost is not just the home and my dream. I've crushed my kids, and I've got (to) start over again. I'm not able to leave them anything.'"

The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. "Justin Moore had done his research when he set out to buy a condo. The 25-year-old said it even seemed easy when he got preapproved for a loan, found the perfect condo in Beacon Hill this fall, and readied for his December move."

"But just one week before his scheduled closing, the mortgage company that for weeks had assured him he was all set told him there were problems. 'They said they couldn't fund a condo where all the units aren't sold yet,' said Moore, who was slated to put a 20 percent down payment on the first unit finished in the building. 'Where is there a situation where all the units are sold?'"

"Those that remain in business are asking buyers to more completely document their incomes. They are charging higher interest rates to those whose credit scores were considered good just weeks ago, and demanding much bigger down payments, especially for homes in areas where property values are dropping."

"The changes mean that buyers with credit scores below 680 could have to front 30 percent down or more to get market rates on a mortgage."

"'The industry has turned around and closed the door,' said Brian Koss, managing partner at Mortgage Network Inc., headquartered in Danvers. 'People were getting what they wanted, not what they needed.'"

"Some buyers have been able to get new loans under the old terms because mortgage companies are adopting these new lending standards at different times."

"'Most of our customers have been unscathed at this point,' said Rosemary O'Neil, past president of the Massachusetts Mortgage Association. 'But after the first of the year, that changes across the board.'"

"In January, most companies will have adopted new standards set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises that serve as the largest sources of funding for US home mortgages."

"The new rules impose surcharges of 0.75 percent to 2 percent for many conventional borrowers who have credit scores below 680, and who don't have at least 30 percent for a down payment."

"Those in the industry worry many will be priced out of the market. O'Neil notes that about half her customers have credit scores less than 680. 'It will definitely affect our business,' she said."

"And few buyers ever pay 30 percent down payments. 'That's pretty insane...not a lot of buyers will be able to do that,' said Alex Coon, the Massachusetts market manager for online residential real estate brokerage Redfin. 'It's certainly not going to do any favors for the real estate market.'"

"Those changes take effect March 1, but mortgage companies that sell their loans will likely be using them earlier. Multifamily units and condo conversions also face more scrutiny."

"Just before one recent closing, Coon said, one buyer was asked to track down his tax return from 2004. Another deal fell through the day before closing because the buyer lost the loan. 'I've been doing this eight years and out of the eight years, mortgages had been one of the constants,' Coon said. 'It used to be everybody could get a loan for everything.'"

"This all comes at what otherwise should be a great time to be buying a home. Prices throughout the region have dropped, sometimes to below what sellers paid at the height of the Boston area boom. 'The opportunity to buy right now is enormous,' said Coon."

"Left without a loan days before his scheduled move, Moore scrambled to find a new lender with help from his agent."

"In three days, Moore was able to get a loan through Countrywide Financial and now is finally moving into the new home that at first, had seemed so easy to get."

The Rutland Herald from Vermont. "Bankruptcies in Vermont are on the rise again, surging 40 percent in 2007, reflecting in part the mortgage crisis that has swept the country with its resulting foreclosures, according to several bankruptcy lawyers in the state."

"'We've got the wonderful joy of the adjustable rate mortgages and foreclosures having gone crazy,' said Rebecca Rice of Cohen & Rice in Rutland."

"White River Junction lawyer Michelle Kainen said she noticed the problem earlier this year. 'I can tell you in the early part of the year that was almost exclusively driving every bankruptcy I filed,' Kainen said. 'I remember in January and February thinking what is going on in the world and why are all these people coming in here and losing their houses.'"

"In Chittenden County, Todd Taylor blames the subprime mortgage fiasco. 'There's a tremendous amount of foreclosures all over the place,' Taylor said."

"He recounted the story of one client whose adjustable rate mortgage ballooned from $1,000 to $1,400 a month and then jumped another couple of hundred of dollars six months later."