Lender Terms - Boston

[Dan Weber]

Has anyone in the Boston area gotten pre-approved in the last 3 weeks? My friends spoke with their bank and the terms that they were offered seemed a bit steep. They have plenty of cash to put down, perfect credit, ideal buyers. They were looking at a 2 family in the $800k-$1m range. They were told that, even for an owner occupied loan, 10% downpayment was not enough and they needed to put down 20%. Given the amount of 3.5%-5% down owner occupied loans given out the last decade, this was the first time I've heard of a lender requiring 20% down for owner occ. Is this the new norm because of COVID? Any other lender suggestions would be great.