Hell, it is difficult even if you have sustained work (not freelancing or self-employment). That's just the way things are. And, frankly, I can't blame anyone.

Hell, it is difficult even if you have sustained work (not freelancing or self-employment). That's just the way things are. And, frankly, I can't blame anyone. If I were going to lend you a half million dollars, you better believe I'm going to be all up in your business and highly questionable of everything. When I bought my house about four years ago, I had everything going for me. Consistent employment history with the same employer at around six figures the entire time (starting a little under that and ending a little over that). I had the 20% to put down on the home. I had perfect credit. I had no debt and no history of debt problems. Additionally, the home I was buying was in a blue-collar neighborhood at a price of about half of what I could afford (I don't need a half million dollar home and wanted the lee-way of knowing I could have massive negative life changes in the future without worrying about the capacity to continue paying my mortgage). It took them the full time of the loan, constant mailing back and forth of many hundreds of pages of documents, many phone calls, a lot of explanation, and it took until the very final day for it all to come together. As difficult as it was for me, I imagined it must be unbelievably so for those with less stable work history or a lower income or a history of some debt problems or carrying even a little existing debt. It's unfortunate, but at the same time . . . this is the way I feel they should have been questioning every potential loan for the past couple of decades, instead of just the last few years. As you say, if they had, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. This also informs my opinion of people wanting to look into your facebook and twitter history (if you have one; I don't). While I instinctively want to cry foul, because of privacy and because the internet should be as much a place of unhindered open thought and exploration as it can, I also think asking to see your last six months of facebook posts and analyzing your circle of friends is not too ridiculous if I'm lending you a huge sum of money. Don't get me wrong - I don't like it. It still feels . . . uncomfortable . . . to me. But I understand it.