Those loans had variable interest rates and balloon payments.
They were told they could refinance before the balloon payments came due into conventional loans but when housing prices drop, you can't refinance because you owe more than it's worth. Combined with "no document" loans (aka, people lying about their income), people were buying houses that they very literally couldn't afford, not just in the "that's too much of your income" way, actually in the, "that's more than your income" way. Those were the subprime loans you hear about.
2008 would have been very different if everyone was on a conventional 30yr fixed loan.
Those loans had variable interest rates and balloon payments.
They were told they could refinance before the balloon payments came due into conventional loans but when housing prices drop, you can't refinance because you owe more than it's worth. Combined with "no document" loans (aka, people lying about their income), people were buying houses that they very literally couldn't afford, not just in the "that's too much of your income" way, actually in the, "that's more than your income" way. Those were the subprime loans you hear about.
2008 would have been very different if everyone was on a conventional 30yr fixed loan.