You do need special approval once you're that low, but seeing as you have an incredibly stable position financially, it doesn't seem like a stretch that you're the kind of person they'd have trouble getting an approval for. 

I tend to set ambitious goals that really stretch me.

It stretches your money further, and allows you to keep investing while you continue saving. 

RE transaction costs are just a killer.If you stretch this out to 10 years, maybe its better.

It would be a stretch to claim 50% of the house.

This is a stretch, though you never know...Do you mind me asking which bank you got the 3.85% from?

This allows us to stretch our downpayment money as much as possible.

I would have to convince the seller to do this and it would be irrevocable, so if I ever decided to sell one off it could cause some issues.Get a commercial loan but then I need 30% down which is a bit of a stretch for me (I've got about 80k in liquid assets) and the loan would be a series of four 5 year terms and with interest rates set to rise over the next few years, I'd really rather lock in a good rate now and forget about it.So I'm looking for any advice from anyone who's run into a similar situation, and/or any creative solutions.

She may have been getting the monthly outflow back at tax time, but she was just stretched too thin.  

Would that be a stretch?