Bring the credential, the job or the contract, and the city. I will tell you which medical professional programs are even worth comparing. A conversation is not an approval, a down payment, or a promise that mortgage insurance will be waived.
Program availability and eligibility vary. Not all borrowers or medical professions will qualify for all features. All loans are subject to underwriting and lender guidelines.
A medical professional mortgage is a home loan built around the way certain clinical careers are trained and paid. A hospital may call it a physician loan or a doctor loan. A lender may limit it to physicians. Another program may include registered nurses or a short list of other credentials. The name on the flyer matters less than the guideline behind it.
People usually want to know whether the program can look at student debt, a new contract, a low down payment, or mortgage insurance differently than a conventional loan. Sometimes it can. Sometimes the conventional loan is the cleaner fit. Eligibility, qualifying professions, down payment requirements, mortgage insurance treatment, student-loan treatment, loan amounts, and underwriting guidelines vary by lender and program.
I will not pick one for you from a job title. Tell me the credential, where you are in training or practice, and the house. Then I can compare the medical professional home financing I can actually place.
What I need before I compare anything
Your profession or credential, including resident or fellow if that is the current role.
Whether you are employed, in training, or starting a position you have not begun.
Whether this is a purchase or a refinance, and the Texas city.
A price if you know it. A guess is fine. A blank is fine too.
The lender a hospital introduces you to may have a good program. It may also be the only program that bank offers. I have access to multiple wholesale lenders, so the comparison does not have to stop there. Call before you decide from a single worksheet.
Yes. There are special home loans aimed at doctors, and there are programs that may work for nurses. They are not one product with one rulebook, and a physician mortgage loan in Texas is not automatically an RN home loan.
A physician mortgage is the version most people have heard about. It is usually written for doctors, and sometimes for a short list of other clinical licenses. Nurse mortgage programs are a separate question. Not every physician program includes registered nurses. If you are a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, a dentist, or another qualifying medical professional, the same rule applies: the license has to be on that program’s list.
Some medical professional programs may allow a qualified borrower to buy with no down payment. That is a feature of select programs. It is not a benefit every doctor or every RN receives, and it is not something I can see from a credential alone.
Whether a no-down-payment option is available depends on your profession, the loan program, the lender’s guidelines, your credit profile, the property, and the loan amount. A resident buying a first home in Waco and an attending buying in Fort Worth are not the same file. A program that allows no down payment up to one loan amount may require a down payment once the price goes higher.
Closing costs are a separate line. No down payment does not make the closing table free of costs, and it does not mean the loan is approved. If you have money to put down and would rather use it, that can be part of the comparison too. Cash left in the bank is sometimes more useful than a zero on the contract.
Credit, income or a contract, and the profession that program accepts.
The property, the appraisal, title, and insurance.
Closing costs, even when the down payment line is zero.
A loan amount that program will actually go to.
I will tell you whether a no-down-payment option is on the current menu for your situation. I will not promise it from this page.
It can, on select programs. Some physician loans are written without monthly mortgage insurance, including files with a small down payment or none. That is the feature people mean when they look up physician loans with no PMI. PMI is the private mortgage insurance a conventional loan usually charges when the down payment is under 20 percent.
Mortgage insurance treatment varies by lender and by program. A medical professional mortgage may handle it differently from a conventional loan, or it may not offer that feature at all. No monthly mortgage insurance is not the same thing as a loan with no other costs. The rate, the fees, and the rest of the terms still have to be compared with a conventional loan that has PMI and might cancel it later. I would rather put two real options next to each other than repeat a headline.
An RN program and a physician program can treat this differently. Eligible does not mean every medical profession, and it does not mean every borrower with that profession.
Qualifying professions are a list, and the list belongs to the lender. Credit, the income or the contract, the property, and the loan amount are still part of the review. Being a doctor does not approve the loan. Being an RN does not approve it either.
If your credential is missing from the first lender’s list, that is a reason to compare other programs. It is also a reason I might tell you a conventional loan is the honest path. I would rather say that early than stretch a program past its guidelines.
For registered nurses
If you are a registered nurse, start here. A lot of what you will read about “doctor loans” was written for physicians only. Not every physician mortgage program includes RNs. That is normal, and it is not the end of the conversation.
I have access to programs that may offer specialized financing for eligible registered nurses. Nurse mortgage programs are not a copy of a physician loan with the title swapped. Down payment, mortgage insurance, student loans, and how your income is counted can all differ. Some RNs are better served by a conventional or FHA loan. I can tell those apart once I know your situation, your city, and whether you are buying or refinancing.
If you work in Hillsboro, Cleburne, Granbury, Fort Worth, Waco, or anywhere else in Texas, contact me. I will look at which current programs may fit. Please do not assume a traditional mortgage is the only option, and please do not assume a physician program will accept a nursing license.
RN, or another nursing credential if that is the license you hold.
Staff nurse, travel, or another schedule — the way you are paid can matter.
Buying or refinancing, and the Texas city.
Whether anyone already told you a doctor loan was physicians only.
Those details help me see which programs may include you. They are not an approval checklist, and this page will not ask for a Social Security number.
For physicians, residents, and fellows
A physician’s file often looks strange on a standard application, and that strangeness is usually the career, not a problem you created. Student loan debt, residency or fellowship income, a new employment contract, and income that changes quickly between training and practice can all show up in the same year.
A standard mortgage is built for income that already happened and for debts counted under one set of rules. Specialized programs may evaluate student loans, training income, and a new contract differently. They may not. The difference lives in the guideline. It does not come from the badge. Medical professional home financing is worth a look when those pieces are the reason a traditional worksheet feels off. It is still underwriting.
They can. Many physician mortgage programs were built with residents and fellows in mind, because that is when student debt is high and the cash for a down payment may be thin. Newly employed attendings with a signed contract are a common file too, including doctors and other clinicians whose first paycheck has not arrived.
“Can” is the honest word. A program may use training income. Another may want the contract for the job after training. A third may want you already on payroll. I need the hospital or practice, whether you have started, what the contract says you will earn, and when the first paycheck is expected. I compare those differences across wholesale lenders. I do not promise that a new job or a training salary will carry the house you want.
Sometimes. Select medical professional programs may consider a signed employment contract, or income from a job you have accepted and not started, when that lender’s guidelines allow it. Future employment is not the same document as a paystub, and plenty of programs will not treat it as one.
This comes up for physicians leaving residency, fellows starting an attending role, and nurses or other clinicians relocating for a new position in Texas. It can also come up on a refinance, though a lot of contract questions are purchases. I will tell you whether the program in front of us can use a contract. I will not tell you that every future job counts.
This is the question that decides a lot of medical files, and it is the question with the widest split between lenders. On a conventional mortgage, student loans are generally counted in your debts. The payment a lender uses can depend on what is showing on credit and on that program’s rules.
On a medical professional mortgage, some lenders treat student loans differently. A program might use the actual payment, a different figure, or, in some cases, leave certain deferred loans out of the qualifying ratio. Another program might count them in full. I cannot tell you from this page which treatment you will get. Student-loan treatment varies by lender and program, and it can change. I will not tell you your loans will be ignored because you are a doctor or a nurse.
Whether the loans are in repayment, deferred, or on an income-driven plan.
Whether a payment is already showing on your credit.
Whether you are still in school or still in training.
A rough sense of the balance. The exact account numbers can wait.
I will not publish a formula, a percentage of the balance, or a promise that deferred loans drop out. Those are guideline items. If you want a real reading, call or send a note. I will compare the programs that fit the credential, and that reading is still not an approval.
A hospital, a credit union, or the bank that sponsored a residency lunch may offer one doctor loan or one nurse program. That can be a solid option. It can also be the only option they have. I am a mortgage broker with Ebbens & Co Mortgage Group, powered by Xpert Home Lending. I have access to multiple wholesale lenders, so I can compare the medical professional programs those lenders offer instead of assuming one bank’s physician or nurse program is the only choice.
One lender may include RNs. Another may stop at physicians. One may look at a contract before your start date. Another may want you on payroll. One may have a no-down-payment option up to a certain loan amount, and another may not offer that feature. Comparing them is the work. I will also tell you when a conventional, FHA, or VA loan is the better fit. A specialty program is useful when the guideline matches the file. It is not a prize for working in medicine.
I do not treat a medical professional mortgage as an upgrade. I treat it as a different set of guidelines. If a conventional loan fits an employed doctor or nurse, that is often where we stay. If student loans, a contract, or the down payment are the friction, then we compare specialty programs.
I will not tell you which one is cheaper. Pricing depends on the program and the file. The useful comparison happens after I know the credential and the house. If you want the longer conventional explanation, it lives on the conventional loans page.