Eh, we purchased a home (a fixer-upper) at 10% down and put that cash towards improving it. We had to pay a modest amount of PMI (about $85/month). Refinanced i

Eh, we purchased a home (a fixer-upper) at 10% down and put that cash towards improving it. We had to pay a modest amount of PMI (about $85/month). Refinanced it 3 years later; new assessed value put us over 20% equity and we no longer had to carry it. I assume they let us do this because we purchased below our “max budget” - so even if we took a pay cut, paying the mortgage would still be feasible. 2 of many factors that contributed to the lending crisis in 2008 aren’t necessarily a factor: the first being extremely relaxed lending standards (as in people with no real verifiable income getting loans) and the second being the proliferation of ARMs. My understanding is standards tightened during the pandemic but I could be wrong.