(npr) Most home loans that don't require a down payment disappeared when the housing bubble burst and lenders became more careful. But they're surprisingly still available — and with federal government guarantees. The Federal Housing Administration runs the down-payment assistance program that allows prospective homebuyers to get a government-backed loan without having to put up any of their own money. Instead, they can use a gift from a family member, an employer or a charitable nonprofit organization to provide the required 3 percent down. The aim is to help low- and moderate-income people buy homes. But now the FHA is trying to shut down a major part of the program, citing high default rates. And taxpayers may soon have to pick up the tab. Brian Demer, who used the FHA down-payment assistance program to buy a new condominium in Aldie, Va., says he wouldn't have been able to buy it without the program. "Bottom line, I didn't have to put 3 percent down, which was a big deal," he says. Demer got his down payment from the nonprofit organization Genesis on a recommendation from Holly Davis, a loan officer at SunTrust Bank in Reston, Va. Davis calls the FHA down-payment assistance program the "hot program," especially because private lenders are pulling their no down payment, 100 percent financing deals. Under the FHA program, the home's seller teams up with a nonprofit organization to give the buyer the money for the down payment.

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