Down payments from $0 to 3.5%. Credit floors lower than you've heard. Assistance programs that actually exist. I've walked 1,000+ Michigan families from "can I even do this?" to keys in hand over 20 years — and the path is more mechanical than anyone tells you.
Start My Pre-Approval → Get The Free PlaybookMost lenders steer every first-timer to the one product they like writing. There are four doors — and which one wins depends on your credit, savings, service history, and the property's ZIP code.
The workhorse: forgiving credit, gift funds welcome, seller can pay up to 6% of closing costs. Full FHA breakdown →
Qualified first-time buyers put 3% down with PMI that cancels on its own once equity builds. Strong-credit buyers often win here.
Served? Zero down, no monthly mortgage insurance, and rates that beat everything else on this list. Use your benefit →
Zero down for eligible rural and suburban Michigan ZIPs — more of the state qualifies than you'd guess. Eligibility is a two-minute check.
Grants, soft seconds, and lender-paid DPA through my wholesale lenders, paired with qualifying FHA and conventional loans. Fine print applies — we read it together.
That's normal — nobody's supposed to know this cold. One conversation, no credit pull, and you'll have your lane and a number.
The conversation. Fifteen minutes on your income, savings, credit, and timeline. No credit pull, no commitment — just your real starting position.
Pre-approval. Documents in, numbers verified, usually done in about a day. Now you're shopping with real buying power — and listing agents can tell.
House hunting. You and your agent hunt; I stay on call for payment math on any address you're serious about. Before you offer, you know the monthly number.
Offer & strategy. Seller concessions, buydowns, escalation math — structured right, your offer competes above its weight. This is where a broker earns it.
Under contract. Appraisal, underwriting, conditions. I communicate weekly — with you and your agent — so nobody wonders what's happening.
Clear to close. Final numbers reviewed together before signing day. You walk in knowing every line. Then: keys.
The 20%-down myth keeps renters renting for years while prices climb away from them. Waiting to save $50,000 for a house that appreciates faster than you can save is arithmetic working against you.
The opposite mistake is just as real: stretching to a payment that owns you. A pre-approval is a ceiling, not a target — and I'll tell you when the comfortable number is below the approved one.
And between pre-approval and closing: no new furniture financing, no new car, no job surprises without a call to me first. Boring advice that saves deals every month.
A bank can only sell you its own menu. Your scenario — your credit tier, your ZIP, your down payment — prices differently across the dozens of wholesale lenders I work with.
First purchases live and die on structure: which program, whose DPA, how much seller credit, what buydown. Those are broker questions.
You get one first house. I've done a thousand of them.
The whole path from "can I even do this?" to keys in hand — down payments, credit, what lenders actually look at, and the mistakes that cost Michigan buyers real money. Plain English, no jargon.
Written by Rob McKenney · NMLS #23394 · 20+ years, 1,000+ Michigan families
No credit pull to start. No obligation. Just your honest starting position and the path from here to keys. We'll figure it out.
Start My Pre-Approval → Call / Text (248) 491-8998