One couple’s experience with FHA loans

After long years of intellectual toil, Tom and Wendy had finally finished their PhD programs. They had gotten married in the final year of writing their respective dissertations, and so far their student-sized budget had kept them in a shoebox apartment that didn’t even have enough room for all of their books.

After graduation, they were thrilled to find placements at different schools in the same city. Their first major life obstacle overcome, Tom and Wendy decided to start looking for a house.

They had a great time looking. Since they were accustomed to small apartments, all of the houses they saw seemed huge and luxurious. Tom and Wendy were so excited about the prospect of a new home that they didn’t really give a lot of thought to how they’d pay for it. Besides, their finances were in better shape than ever since they were finally gainfully employed.

After they began meeting with lenders, Tom and Wendy became aware of a very serious problem: they had no savings to speak of. No savings meant that the fifteen-percent down payment that most lenders were asking for seemed impossible. Worse yet, they were paying off student loans that they had accumulated during their undergraduate days.

Tom and Wendy were ecstatic to find out about FHA mortgages. This government-sponsored loan program only required a three-percent down payment, which even they could afford. Ironically, those student loans ended up coming in handy because they demonstrated the couple had a track record of responsibility when it came to paying back debt.

Now Tom and Wendy are living in a lovely home financed with their FHA mortgage. They even had enough money left over for extra bookshelves.