I am 19 years old - Am I eligible for conventional lending?

[Jonah Stephens]

I am currently 19 and live just outside of Boston. I currently go to college and only have about 10k saved up. With some aid from a hard money lender for a down payment, what are my chances for qualifying for a 203K loan or an FHA loan? Is it possible to increase the down payment from 3.5% to 10% or 20% to increase my odds?

[Matt Devincenzo]

Down payment % itself won't have any bearing on the actual qualification criteria for FHA. At 19 my guess is you have 2-3 hurdles to overcome specifically.

1) Lack of employment history, do you have 2 years in the same industry sufficient to qualify for the desired loan amount?

2) Current income, are you currently working in the same industry as your history above, and making enough to qualify for the loan?

3) DTI, do you have any other debt that would decrease your qualification amount?

A couple other things, HM lenders won't help with a DP. In fact they still require at least 20% down generally. The 10-15% HM programs are for borrowers with a history of past projects, which doesn't sound like you'd qualify for. Also 203K, if you can try to use another program. I sold a home to a 203K buyer and it was rough. The additional loan criteria made the borrower's improvement costs part of the discussion, and then there was an issue with how much their improvement amount could be but it had to include 2 'safety' related items that weren't required to be done except that 203K decided they did. So anyone who knows the program will likely shy away form a 203K offer...I know I likely would having experienced one. 

Good luck. I will say don't be afraid of missing out. This is a build wealth slowly industry. There are those that do large deals quickly, but there are a lot more who just kept slowly building wealth over a few decades of consistent investment.