I can put down 20% if needed…buying on a whim doing the 3.5% down FHA loans. That’s my problem. If this is the new standard, and these are the people I will have to compete against, [/quote]
No way. You have to go for the houses that will not go FHA and only conv as I did. But then you run into the all cash dudes that can wipe you out like they almost did on my primary. Stay with the fixes and go minimum 10% down for conv loan (with pmi anything under 20% down). That is your best bet.