Tap, tap, tap....
"Now, I have to remember how I did this?"
Tap, tap, tap... pause... tap, tap, tap.
"I did one of these -last week?"
Tap.
"That's not right. Why is it giving me..."
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-tap.
"Okay, so you'll need $5,000 for the down." Scratches head. "That doesn't look right. Let me try..."

(20 minutes later)
Tap, tap, tap...
"Wait. Alright, based on this, you won't need a down. That's covered. Hmmm... No, no, no. (sigh) Let me try it this way."

(20 minutes later)
Tap, tap, tap, tap-tap-tap, backspace... tap.
"Okay, You'll need $2,000 at closing."

In the course of an hour, the amount of money we need to have down (and the money is not in hand) went from five thousand dollars to zero to two-thousand dollars. I think if we'd stayed longer, we might have had a couple of more quotes.

As a snapshot of why the economy might be the way that it is... this might not be a bad example. Meanwhile, I'm checking the want-ads for second jobs, looking at creative ways to stretch our finances. I've got the grocery bill down. We're running on pancakes and beans and rice. I'm starting to take money saving tips from Les Miserables.