/PROGRAM · Consumer
Conventional, FHA, VA & USDA loans
Investor-focused shops treat an ordinary purchase as the boring file and hand it to whoever is free. You end up unable to get a straight answer on FHA against conventional, on what the mortgage insurance actually costs you, or on why your pre-approval moved.
The ordinary qualified-mortgage lane: conventional, FHA, VA and USDA on a home you will live in or a second home, underwritten on your income, your credit and the property. Available in select states.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency. Nothing here is an approval, a rate, or a fee quote, eligibility and terms vary by scenario and are decided by the lender.
Who an agency loan is for
Buying your first home
Documented income and decent credit, and you want to know what you can actually afford before you start looking.
Refinancing out of a higher rate
You bought when rates were higher and want to know whether the maths works yet, including the costs of doing it.
Comparing FHA against conventional
Low down payment either way, and nobody has shown you what the mortgage insurance costs across the years you actually plan to hold it.
Buying a second home
A place you will use yourself rather than rent, which prices and underwrites differently from an investment property.
How an agency loan works
- We start with what you want to buy and what your income documents look like. That decides which of the four programs is even on the table.
- Occupancy is the dividing line. This lane is for a home you will live in, or a second home you will use yourself. A rental belongs on the investor side.
- FHA against conventional is a mortgage-insurance question more than a rate question, and it turns on how long you hold the loan. I show you both on your own numbers.
- USDA and VA each have their own eligibility gate (geography for one, service for the other), and those are the agency’s determination, not mine.
- Consumer loans are limited to select states. Outside those I introduce you to a licensed colleague and stay involved.
Related reading
FHA or conventional, the mortgage insurance is the decision
Both let you in with little down. What separates them is not the rate: it is whether the insurance ever goes away.
Myth: you need twenty percent down to buy a home
The figure is real, but it buys one specific thing rather than being the price of entry.
Myth: your credit has to be perfect to buy a house
Credit is a dial, not a gate. People disqualify themselves years before a lender would have.
Myth: getting quotes from several lenders wrecks your credit
This one costs borrowers real money, because it stops the single most effective thing they can do, compare.
Next step
Send this scenario
Tell me the property and the plan and I’ll come back with what’s eligible. Eligibility and terms vary by scenario.
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