Times Community Newspapers - Homeowner dream turned nightmare
This is a detailed account of how a middle class couple in Virginia went from relative riches to rags, starting with buying a condo using two interest-only mortgages. Things were going fine until life didn't go as planned...

They are a fairly typical Loudoun family. He is a 35-year-old engineer for a technology company in Fairfax, pulling in $80,000 a year. His wife teaches yoga. College-educated, they have two daughters: a 5-year-old and a newborn. In August 2005, the housing market in Northern Virginia is piping hot. The couple buys an 1,100-square-foot condo in a brand-new Ashburn community for $336,000, using two interest-only mortgages. The plan? To live there for a few years, build equity, then move to a bigger house where the family can grow. But that's not what happened to this family, who would not allow their names to be used because of the sensitive nature of the situation. After a year of spiraling financial problems, the man said, the bank foreclosed on their condo, and now banks, collections agencies, hospitals and homeowners associations are after him for tens of thousands of dollars.