Skirts

Hey girls! Becoming a home buyer may not be about wearing mini skirts. But how much money you can borrow for buying a house goes hand in hand with current fashion.

How do I know? My dad said so.

I was one of those kids who asked too many questions. Good thing it was the mid 60's and not the 19th century. Surely, my inability to quit asking questions would have made me very unpopular during Queen Victoria's reign.

Little did I know the questions I asked my father as a child would eventually help me grasp the connection between affording a mortgage and skirt lengths.

I was born into a farming family. But by 1956, Dad took advantage of the price of land to sell the farm, move our family to southern California and launch a banking career. I was the youngest so unlike my siblings, my childhood consisted of standing in shiny bank vaults not Illinois corn fields. In fact, I was more familiar with the price of corn than how to grow it.

By junior high I was already asking my dad, "If there is less money during a recession, where does it all go?"

My father, uncles and granddad were known for their "isms". I think this was partial to southern Illinois living. One of Dad's favorites was to compare the economy to skirt hems. I argued the logic. Not surprising. I was a teenager. Now here is what Dad claimed. When economies flourish, fashion dictates shorter skirts. Good times equal more leg. But when economies take a dive for the worst, the result is a return to more traditional values including longer skirt hems.

Like I already mentioned, this logic escaped me. I didn't buy my father's theory because I knew better and here is why. Being the youngest child in our family, I tagged along while Mom ran errands. Since moving to California, she had taken up the hobby of sewing. When I had nothing better to do, I accompanied her to fabric stores where I can still smell the dye that stung my eyes. I also paid attention to how much fabric cost.

So, I disagreed with my dad's claim that The Great Depression was responsible for long skirts. To me it was obvious. I knew long skirts required more fabric. I also knew additional fabric meant more expense. So, if it were true that there was less money during a recession, why would fashion dictate longer skirts?

As you are reading this, take a moment to reflect on the era of the Flappers. Now those girls knew fashion. It was the Roaring 20's, optimism reigned and prosperity ruled. And guess what! Skirt hems rose exposing the leg. Oh boy, I was beginning to understand what Dad had been trying to tell me. During times of prosperity, traditional standards were assigned less importance. Turn the clock forward. It is 1998 and I am an adult. Seems I had followed in my dad's footsteps because I was listening intently to a Freddie Mac speaker. I was also head over heels in mortgage lending.

To paraphrase the FHLMC representative attending our conference, "We are seeing little correlation between debt ratios and foreclosure statistics." Now that one little statement blew traditional lending practices out of the water and in my opinion charted a new destiny for America. Just as traditional values were set aside during the Roaring 20's, underwriting standards of traditional mortgage lending were becoming old fashioned and cumbersome by the late 1990's. FNMA, FHLMC and even FHA were gradually raising their skirt hems that were feeling too modest.

By 2001, financial skirts across America were changing with the styles. "No downpayment? NO problem! Lots of debt? Well, that's no reason to stop you from buying a house." In fact, you may have watched a TV advertisement showing a woman sitting by herself at a table. Silently, house keys slid across a table to her. After she hesitantly asked, "Just like that?" a reassuring voice answered, "Yes, buying a house is just THAT easy."

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