The questions everyone asks.
Answered straight.

Less than most people think. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%, while VA and USDA can be zero down for those who qualify. The 20% figure is a myth left over from an earlier era — it avoids mortgage insurance, but it is not a requirement to buy. What matters more than the percentage is whether you still have reserves left after closing.

FHA financing generally starts around a 580 score with 3.5% down, and conventional loans typically want 620 or better. But the score is a threshold, not the whole picture — it sets which doors are open, while your income, debts and down payment determine what you can actually afford. A 40-point improvement before you apply is often worth more than it sounds.

Yes, and earlier than feels necessary. In DFW most listing agents will not present an offer without one, so a pre-approval is closer to a ticket of entry than a nice-to-have. It also tells you your real number before you fall in love with a house above it — which is the more expensive mistake.

From application to closing, three to four weeks is a realistic target on a clean file, and the timeline is usually set by how quickly documents come back rather than by the lender. Getting pre-approved in advance moves most of that work before you are under contract, which is what makes a fast close possible.

The honest answer depends on four things: your income, your existing monthly debts, your down payment, and — in Texas especially — property taxes and insurance. Texas has no state income tax but among the highest property tax rates in the country, so a DFW payment carries more non-principal cost than the same loan would in most states. A payment that looks fine on a national calculator can be several hundred dollars higher here.

Because most calculators quote principal and interest only. Your actual payment also includes property taxes and homeowners insurance, and both run high in Texas. On many DFW homes taxes and insurance together add meaningfully to the monthly cost, and in a newer master-planned community an MUD or PID assessment can add more on top of that.

Closing costs cover lender fees, title work, appraisal, prepaid taxes and insurance, and are separate from your down payment. You cannot make them disappear, but they can often be moved — a seller concession, a lender credit in exchange for a slightly higher rate, or both. Which route is cheaper depends on how long you plan to keep the loan.

It depends entirely on how long you stay. Points lower your rate for the life of the loan but take years to break even, so they reward people who stay put and punish people who move or refinance early. A larger down payment lowers the balance and may remove mortgage insurance. The comparison is arithmetic — worth running before you decide, not after.

Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people are told no by lenders who only know one way to read a file. Conventional financing uses your net income after write-offs, which understates what many business owners actually earn. Bank statement programs qualify you on 12 or 24 months of deposits instead, and DSCR loans qualify an investment property on its rent rather than on you.

Often yes. A bridge loan lets you access the equity in your current home to buy the next one, which means you can make an offer without a sale contingency — a real advantage when a seller is weighing two offers. It costs more than a standard loan and is short-term by design, so it is worth pricing against simply carrying both payments for a few months.

Yes. VA eligibility is not a once-in-a-lifetime benefit — entitlement can be restored and reused, and in some cases you can hold two VA loans at the same time. If you were told otherwise, it is worth a second look.

More of it than people expect. USDA eligibility is determined by the property's address and your household income, not by whether an area feels rural, and parts of Denton, Collin, Kaufman, Ellis and Rockwall counties qualify. It costs nothing to check the map before ruling it out.

Because the limits are written into the Texas constitution rather than set by lenders. A Texas cash-out refinance is capped at 80% of your home's value, meaning you must keep at least 20% equity, and lender fees are capped at 2% of the loan amount. No lender can go above these — if one says they can, that is a reason to walk.

Yes, and this is the part that surprises people. Once a property has had a Texas Section 50(a)(6) cash-out, the 80% cap follows that property on every future refinance — even a rate-and-term refinance where you take no cash out at all. It is worth understanding before the first one, not after.

No more than once every twelve months, and generally not within the first six months of buying the home. These are state rules, not lender preferences.

A bank can offer you its own products. A broker shops your file across many lenders and brings back what fits, which matters most when your situation is not standard — self-employment, investment property, thin credit, or an unusual property type. If two lenders would price you very differently, a broker is how you find out.

A mortgage inquiry has a small, temporary effect. Credit scoring models treat multiple mortgage inquiries inside a short shopping window as a single event, so comparing lenders does not compound the impact. Shopping is not what damages your score — opening new accounts or running up balances during your loan process is.

The Mortgage Nerd Group is licensed in twenty states, with our office in Lewisville, Texas serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The full list of states and license numbers is on our Licenses and Disclosures page.