Loan Program
Conventional financing is the default for a reason: for anyone with reasonable credit it is normally the cheapest way to own a home over any meaningful stretch of time. The reason is not the rate. It is that the mortgage insurance ends.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both run low-down-payment conventional programmes for buyers within certain income limits, at three percent down. Outside those, five percent is standard. Either way you are not waiting until you have twenty percent saved.
Private mortgage insurance can be cancelled once you reach twenty percent equity, and it terminates automatically at twenty-two percent. In a market where values are rising you can get there years earlier than the amortisation schedule suggests. Compared with an FHA loan carrying insurance for its entire life, that difference compounds into real money.
Conventional pricing is tiered by score and down payment, and the steps are meaningful. Moving from 660 to 700 can change both your rate and your mortgage insurance premium. If you are close to a threshold it is often worth sixty days of deliberate work before locking anything.
Conventional underwriting is stricter than FHA on credit history and debt ratios. If your score is in the low 600s or you are carrying a lot of debt, you may be approvable on FHA and declined here. That is exactly the fork where working with a broker pays for itself — we can price both and show you which one actually costs less for your situation rather than defending whichever one we happen to sell.
As little as three percent for eligible buyers, five percent as a general standard. Twenty percent avoids mortgage insurance entirely but is rarely necessary.
You can request cancellation at twenty percent equity and it terminates automatically at twenty-two percent based on the original schedule. Rising values can let you get there sooner with an appraisal.
Usually, above about 680. Below that FHA often wins on total cost. It depends on your score, your down payment and how long you will keep the loan, which is a comparison we will actually run for you.
Tyler McCain is based in Lebanon, TN and works across the Nashville metro.
Tyler McCain is licensed in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Programme rules are federal, but the markets are not.
Low down payments, gift funds and every assistance option you qualify for.
Read more →3.5% down with flexible credit — the workhorse first-home loan.
Read more →Financing above the conforming limit without the bank runaround.
Read more →Lower the rate, drop the mortgage insurance, or pull cash out.
Read more →That depends on numbers we have not seen yet. Two minutes, no credit pull, and Tyler will tell you straight — including if the answer is a different programme entirely.
