Reply #18: Yep...

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

... way back in 1988 when I bought my first house at 25 years old, my real estate agent took the mortgage broker out to lunch to convince him that I was a worthy risk, I had money for the down payment and closing costs, title insurance, etc... but we had to fight to get my loan approved. I lived in that 4 bedroom ranch style home for 10 years before selling it for nearly twice as much as the original purchase price. Sorry to ramble but I am just reinforcing JDPriestly's point.

PS: I was actually ahead of schedule on my payments to the principle at the time of sale!