[quote=propertysearchaddiction]Who is giving you this info? You do not need to go FHA if you have 10% down. That is a total waste of you money because you are going to pay PMI and an upfront PMI fee.
You can go conventional with 10% down as long as you are under the $417,000 which you are!!!
PMI will be about $200 extra month. Your closing costs will be about $4,000 for a conventional and about $12,000 if you go FHA.[/quote]

You’ll still need PMI at 10% down, and for any conventional loan with LTV > 80%. If your credit is merely “good” and not “immaculate” FHA might be the better deal. Plus there’s a big difference between 3.5% and 10% … and these are crazy times, liquidity is important 🙂

Single-premium mortgage insurance is another option … I think you’ll end up paying at least 3% up front on top of 10% down, but no monthly premiums after that … but I’ll leave the detailed analysis to the mortgage experts.

Sometimes I really wonder about sellers’ thought processes … but if I were a seller, I’d give a strong FHA offer the same consideration as a 10% down conventional offer. FHA will insure any eligible property that passes inspection and appraisal, while from what I’ve seen, mortgage insurers have complex and bizarre underwriting rules that put even lenders to shame.