Spoke with BofA yesterday. You can get a conventional they said with 10 or 15% down but you will still have to pay the mortgage insurance until the loan to value hits 78%. He stated the rates were about the same as a 20% down. It may be all bs (as I dont listen to much to people dealing in RE) but it is what they said. I will tell you that my buddy had a hard ass time buying in Huntington Beach recently becaue all the decent houses that could go FHA are sellin faster than the fixers. The obvious reason of course are because everyone wants to buy with little cash. I am still waiting for the fixer at 20% down. I need 50-75k reduction to buy from here on a few properties I have recently view here in Racho Cucamonga. FHA is the new subprime.
FHA is pretty stricked on houses needing work. If its a large fixer and you are looking at going FHA you might well forget it as the banks are not willing to do many repairs.