Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

A home that we are interested just rec'd an offer they accepted. The realtor (who is trying to get my business) shared with me that the buyers only have 5% down. I said I think it could fall thru in time for our house to sell so we can buy it
Do you think it's common for buyers to get mortgages with only 5% in this market??

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

If you qualify for an FHA mortgage that would be the only way. I am pretty sure conventional mortgages require at least 10% which is what we did. Good luck!

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

I dont think its uncommon but I think its going to get harder to do as the months go by.

I got a VA loan and didnt have to put down a penny if I didnt want to.

My SIL was just approved last week for an FHA loan and is only required to put down 3%

There are definitely options out there

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

I don't think you can get a mortgage with 5% down these days. Or I think it would be hard, unless you do a VA or FHA loan. An FHA loan you can put as little as 3%.

I think that now for conventional mortgages many banks are requiring 15% down even to get PMI insurance. Check with your local bank or mortgage broker to be sure.

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

they must be doing FHA. I am buying and my mortgage broker was adamant about us putting at least 15% down (that was even before we sat down to talk about our numbers and what we were offering).
My broker is an aquaintance (SIL's best friend) and she said that many banks will not even consider conventional with PMI unless the buyer had 15%. She told us if we did less, we would have to do FHA --- I don't know when that came about, but she told me this a week or so ago.

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Posted by SweetCaroline

Posted by Elbee

I don't think you can get a mortgage with 5% down these days. Or I think it would be hard, unless you do a VA or FHA loan. An FHA loan you can put as little as 3%.

That was my thought. When the realtor told me they only had 5% down I thought - there's no way these people are buying.

She said they got it thru Wells Fargo.

Is it customary to share this much info with me??

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Posted by Aries14

Posted by SweetCaroline

Posted by Elbee

I don't think you can get a mortgage with 5% down these days. Or I think it would be hard, unless you do a VA or FHA loan. An FHA loan you can put as little as 3%.

That was my thought. When the realtor told me they only had 5% down I thought - there's no way these people are buying.

She said they got it thru Wells Fargo.

Is it customary to share this much info with me??

Not really sure why you think that there's no way these people can buy??? There are A LOT of people that are still putting 3% and 5% down. Like pp said, it's just a different type of mortgage.

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Just because the potential purchasers are putting down 5% doesn't mean that they are not going to come to the closing with their own money. Alot of purchasers don't like to put down more then 5% in case something happens and they lose it. A purchaser can put down 5% and only take a mortgage for 80% and make up the difference with cash they have.

Also like another poster said FHa loans only require 3%.

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

my credit union is offering 95% financing and I know there are programs fro certain professions that offer 0-3% down

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Message edited 2/3/2009 7:20:10 PM.

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Posted by MrsD06

Posted by cindy104
As far conventional, majority of banks are requiring at least 10% down to get PMI. DH and I had a bit of an issue in the beginning with this but it turns our there are still some banks that you can get a conventional with PMI and only putting 5% down.
Good luck!!

Question about needing enough to "get" PMI (someone else mentioned this too). I thought you HAD to get PMI with less than 20% down (w/ some exceptions, of course)) I'm confused!

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

What's the deal with FHA? Income limits?

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Posted by Elbee

Posted by MrsD06

Posted by cindy104
As far conventional, majority of banks are requiring at least 10% down to get PMI. DH and I had a bit of an issue in the beginning with this but it turns our there are still some banks that you can get a conventional with PMI and only putting 5% down.
Good luck!!

Question about needing enough to "get" PMI (someone else mentioned this too). I thought you HAD to get PMI with less than 20% down (w/ some exceptions, of course)) I'm confused!

From my understanding, again, coming secondhand because I am not in the biz, but shopping for a mortgage now ....

Yes, you have to pay PMI if you put down under 20%. Lately, some PMI companies will not give you insurance if you put LESS than a certain amount (I am hearing 15% these days, others are saying 10%) ... What happens is if you cannot get PMI insurance you cannot get a mortgage. Again, this is for conventional mortgage, not FHA/VA/or other 'special' types of mortgage arrangments, etc...

Re: Do you think it's common to get a mortgage with 5% down these days??

Posted by Elbee

Posted by MrsD06

Posted by cindy104
As far conventional, majority of banks are requiring at least 10% down to get PMI. DH and I had a bit of an issue in the beginning with this but it turns our there are still some banks that you can get a conventional with PMI and only putting 5% down.
Good luck!!

Question about needing enough to "get" PMI (someone else mentioned this too). I thought you HAD to get PMI with less than 20% down (w/ some exceptions, of course)) I'm confused!

From my understanding, again, coming secondhand because I am not in the biz, but shopping for a mortgage now ....

Yes, you have to pay PMI if you put down under 20%. Lately, some PMI companies will not give you insurance if you put LESS than a certain amount (I am hearing 15% these days, others are saying 10%) ... What happens is if you cannot get PMI insurance you cannot get a mortgage. Again, this is for conventional mortgage, not FHA/VA/or other 'special' types of mortgage arrangments, etc...