Crazy loans: Is this how the boom ends?

[Crazy loans]

NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Feeling nervous about real estate prices? Who can blame you? Even if you haven't bought or sold lately, the constant debate over whether or not there's a housing bubble is probably making you uneasy.

These prices are crazy, you think as you scan the local real estate listings. How can anyone afford to buy a house in this market?

That's a question a lot of home buyers are asking themselves these days, and a growing number are coming up with the same answer: Skip the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and grab a riskier loan with a lower initial payment.

Interest-only, option-payment, 40-year fixed, piggy-back loan, low-doc loan: These weird mortgages come in an assortment of names
and flavors, but they all have the same goal -- to help you afford an expensive home. How? More often than not by letting you put off paying down your mortgage.

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