NWR: Homeowners-- FHA or Conventional?

What type of loan did you go with and why? DH & I have to decide between the 2 asap... It looks like FHA would give us a lower rate and a lower monthly payment, but we'd have to put down extra in the beginning for MPI i believe which drives up the total amt of our loan... We hardly understand any of this stuff so any info/advice is greatly appreciated!

Let me know if you need specifics of the 2 loans to help me out and I'll FM you

You will pay PMI for any loan that you are putting less than 20% down. FH and I are putting 18.7% down and still have to pay PMI. The PMI amount is based upon your loan amount. For us, it's about $105 a month. We hope to be able to pay down our mortgage right after the wedding and get it where we don't need to pay the PMI right away.

I don't know much about FHA loans because we weren't trying for one since we had a sizable downpayment. However, because of the mortgage crisis, I know that a lot of people are experiencing delays in getting their FHA mortgage commitments and getting the FHA to close.

I say if you're planning on only staying in the condo for 5-6 years, go with whatever loan is going to have no points and the lowest payment every month.

Honestly, do conventional.

If not, see if with that FHA loan if there is fine print like ..penalty if you decide to pay loan off early etc...

We did FHA. Got a rate of 5.0, whereas conventional would've been 6.1%. We put 20% down, but FHA rules require MPI regardless. It's well worth the $110/mo difference...with the 6.1%, it would've been 300-400 more!

We have no pre-pay penalty. No real disadvantage to doing the FHA other than the MPI