PMI tougher to come by

Jim, with all these changes I'm holding my breath- I have a closing tomorrow that's gone way too smoothly. I'm waiting for the lender to call and say, oops!

Though not the answer for everyone...FHA with 3% Down Payment Assistance (DPA) for primary residence is a viable alternative to a conventional loan. Not all brokers offer FHA because they may not use FHA approved lenders or they may not be comfortable with FHA guidelines or they may be under the misconception that FHA loans are all around more difficult (when this is NOT the case). Or it could be some other reason, this obviously is not a comprehensive list <<<smile>>> of reasons why someone might be reluctant to explore FHA options. Similarly, some lenders are not FHA approved; so if you are dealing with a lender rather than a broker be aware that not all direct lenders are FHA approved. There are some great blogs on AR regarding FHA. If your lender or broker does not offer FHA, you might want to dig a little deeper into their reasoning. I would also recommend checking out some of the excellent blogs on this site on this topic.