Conventional Loans

Conventional Loans

A conventional loan is the home loan most buyers reach for, and a conventional mortgage is more flexible than you’d expect. No set minimum credit score, more than one way to qualify, and unique properties welcome: tiny homes, barndominiums, manufactured and modular homes, second homes and vacation properties, even jumbo loans above conforming limits. Tell us your situation.

A conventional loan, also called a conventional mortgage or conventional financing, is the loan most people picture when they think about buying a home, and it is more flexible than most folks expect. Whether you are buying your first place, moving up, picking up a rental, or refinancing what you already own, this is usually the home loan we reach for first. We run straight to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, so if the agencies allow it, we can usually do it.

Yes, we finance the homes other lenders pass on. Barndominium, log cabin, geodesic dome, container home, earth-bermed home, modular home. If it is a legal, livable property, there is a good chance we can do it with a standard conventional loan, and Fannie Mae no longer requires matching comparable sales of the same construction type. See how we finance unique and non-traditional homes.

A lot of people come to us after another lender boxed them out. Wrong credit score, an unusual property, income that did not fit a tidy little box. Tell us the situation. There is a good chance the door is more open than you were told.

Conventional Loan Fast Facts

  • Primary homes, second homes, and investment property. Owner-occupied, a vacation place, or a rental. Conventional covers all three with rules that fit each one.
  • One to four units. Single-family, duplex, triplex, or fourplex. Live in one unit of a 2 to 4 unit property and owner-occupied pricing and the lowest down-payment options can come right along with it.
  • Manufactured and mobile homes. Single-wide, double-wide, and multi-wide, built in or after 1976. The same homes a lot of lenders will not touch.
  • Modular homes, treated like any other house. Same qualifying, same rates as a stick-built home with us. A modular home is real property, so it is not lumped in with manufactured housing.
  • Mortgage insurance that does not have to be forever. When you have enough equity, conventional mortgage insurance can come off, a big reason people refinance out of FHA and into conventional.
  • Refinancing. A conventional refinance can lower a payment, change the term, or tap equity you have built up.
  • No funding fee. Unlike some government programs, a conventional loan has no funding fee.
No set minimum credit score. A lot of lenders bolt their own credit-score floor on top of the agency rules and turn people away before the file gets a real look. We go straight to the agencies. If you were told you needed a 620 or a 640 somewhere else and got sent home, and you have a chunk of equity, let us run it. Equity does a lot of heavy lifting a credit score does not show.

The affordable conventional programs, HomeReady and Home Possible, go off your qualifying income, the income we actually use to approve you, not your whole household. That means we can sometimes pick and choose whose income lands on the loan to fit you under a county limit, which opens up lower rates and reduced mortgage insurance. Plenty of buyers who were sure they earned too much turned out to fit. See the 2026-2027 income limits by county and how the programs work.

Retirement and asset-based qualifying. Retired or close to it, with strong accounts but not much monthly income on paper? We can often qualify you on your assets. With true retirement accounts like an IRA or 401k, we only need to show a 36-month continuance, which can throw off a lot of qualifying income.

In most situations a conventional loan is the workhorse, but not every time. Tell us your situation and we will confirm the best path, even when that path is a different program.

FHA vs Conventional, the Honest Version

We run them side by side on every file, so here is the straight answer. FHA tends to win in one specific spot, a low-down-payment purchase with a lower credit score. Outside of that, conventional usually pulls ahead. Put a large down payment down and conventional can beat FHA even with a rough credit score. And the more you lean toward refinancing, the more conventional tends to pencil out, partly because conventional mortgage insurance can fall off once you have equity, while FHA’s does not. There is no funding fee on a conventional loan either. We will show you both and let the numbers make the call.

Conventional Loan Questions, Answered

Is there a minimum credit score for a conventional loan?
We do not set a minimum credit score on conventional. Many lenders add their own credit-score floor on top of the agency guidelines and turn people away before the file gets a fair look. We go straight to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you have equity, a lower score is often very workable. If another lender told you that you needed a certain score and sent you home, let us run it before you assume it is a no.
What is the difference between a conforming loan and a conventional loan?
People use the words almost interchangeably, and for most buyers they amount to the same thing. Conforming means the loan fits inside the loan limit that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy, and that limit is set by county and updated each year. A conventional loan at or under that limit is a conforming loan. Go above it and you are into high-balance or jumbo territory, which has its own rules. Tell us the price range and county and we will tell you exactly where you land.
Can I get a conventional loan after a bankruptcy or foreclosure?
Yes, after a waiting period. Conventional has set seasoning timelines after a Chapter 7, Chapter 13, foreclosure, or short sale, and once you are past that window we can move forward. If your wait is not up yet, an FHA loan often has a shorter timeline, and we will tell you honestly which path gets you into a home soonest. Tell us what happened and when, and we will map it out.
Can a conventional loan finance a unique or non-traditional home?
Often yes. Barndominiums, log cabins, geodesic domes, container homes, earth-bermed homes, and modular homes can all qualify for standard conventional financing when the property is legal and livable. The usual dealbreaker elsewhere is comps, since most lenders want matching sales of the same kind of home nearby. Fannie Mae no longer requires that, so we can value the home off regular nearby sales, which is huge in rural areas where unique homes are everywhere. We dig into this on our unique home loans page. Tell us the property type and location and we will tell you if it works.
Do modular homes qualify for a conventional loan?
Yes, and we treat a modular home just like a stick-built house. Same qualifying, same rates, same options. A modular home is set on a permanent foundation as real property, so it is not handled like manufactured housing. If someone told you a modular home was harder to finance, that is the kind of thing we clear up fast.
Can I use a co-borrower who will not live in the home?
Yes. Conventional allows a non-occupant co-borrower, a parent or family member who helps you qualify without living there. And on an owner-occupied purchase, bringing on a non-occupant co-borrower does not cost you the low down-payment options or the owner-occupied pricing. That flexibility is not something FHA offers in the same way. Tell us who is helping and we will structure it.
How much can the seller pay toward my closing costs?
On a conventional loan the seller can pay toward your closing costs or help buy down your rate, up to a cap that depends on your occupancy and how much you are putting down. It is a common, smart way to structure an offer, and your agent and I can build it into the deal. Send us the details of what you are looking at and we will tell you the most the seller can contribute.
Can my down payment come from a gift, or a gift of equity?
Yes on both. Family can gift funds toward a conventional purchase, and a gift of equity is its own powerful tool when a relative is selling you the home. We work backwards from what the family member wants to net, fold in the closing costs, and use the built-in equity as your down payment, which can mean a better rate and sometimes no mortgage insurance at all. It is one of the better-kept secrets in family sales. Tell us the situation and we will show you how it works.
Can I qualify on assets instead of income?
In a lot of cases, yes. If you are retired or asset-rich but light on monthly income, we can often qualify you using your accounts. With true retirement accounts like an IRA or 401k, we only need to show a 36-month continuance, which can create a large amount of qualifying income. We do these all the time. Tell us what you are working with and we will run the numbers.
I bought a home with cash. Can I pull that money back out?
Yes, through what is called delayed financing. If you purchased a property with cash, conventional rules let you take cash back out soon after closing instead of waiting out a long seasoning period. It is a clean way to free up the cash you tied up in the purchase. Tell us when you closed and we will tell you what is possible.

Conventional financing covers more ground than most people realize, and the fastest way to a real answer is to tell us yours. No pressure, no obligation, just a straight read on what is possible. Use the form below or give us a call.

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