Gone are the days of quick refinancing and easy money.

If you don’t have perfect credit and a big down payment, you won’t get far in today’s housing climate. There is a supreme lack of financing options available, an about-face from how it used to be.

Easy money is a thing of the past for sure. Even FHA, which used to be about getting a first-time buyer into a house, now it’s the only option for folks with good credit but little cash to put forth as a down payment.

However, I don’t think this is a bad thing. Maybe we’ve come full-circle to a very old philosophy, that if you want to buy a house, you’d better be able to afford it. Somehow we got away from that and took on more than we could handle. That’s the secret behind our economic mess today – and everyone’s to blame.

I think I’m OK with newer, tighter rules. If it means U.S. homeowners make smarter decisions, then I’m all for it.