Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In a state where half the houses for sale cost almost $500,000 and low income means a $95,000 salary in Marin County, the state's affordable housing bank is throwing a new life raft to residents struggling to buy their first homes. That's a fixed-rate, 35-year loan - an alternative to the mortgage industry's conventional 30-year loan - offering buyers interest-only payments the first five years. Though more costly in the long run, it's aimed at those who can't initially afford a full payment, and fear waiting until the state's housing market rises still higher, state housing officials...