Sunday a.m. reading: Getting a mortgage may be easier than you think. And Moby.

Both today's L.A. Times and today's NY Times have articles today about the loosening of mortgage requirements.  The L.A. Times link is here.  Some particularly excellent news: Fannie Mae is going to lower the downpayment requirement from 5% to 3%.  Before anybody starts thinking about "moral hazard" and such, consider Southern California's buyers who aren't wealthy.  If the average house costs about $450,000, the downpayment now needs to be $13,500.  Plus about 2% in closing costs.  That equals $22,500 and represents A LOT of savings for younger or middle-income buyers.

Today's other news is that performer Moby just sold a Hollywood Hills home for $12+ million.  He bought it four years ago for a little under $4 million, and spent -- sit down -- $2 million restoring it.  At first I thought the $2 million was a misprint, as I couldn't imagine what could possibly cost that much. What could that huge amount possibly be spent on? Diamond-encrusted laundry rooms? Fur-lined sinks? Real unicorns for the yard? But the house is apparently huge, so... The other big take-away is that Moby made about $6 million on this transaction.  Yup, that's huge.  Not bad for a non- professional real estate investor dj-songwriter.