[joshAg]

you can get an fha loan for 3.5% down for a house up to $625M. If it's a multi-tennant property that can go up to $1.4MM. And to answer your next question, yes you can find housing for those prices in sf. EG I saw a few 800sf 1br and 1200sf 2 br condos about a block and a half from the caltrain station.

There's also a program called 'kiddie condo' that also allows just 3.5% down, but that usually if not always requires a cosigner.

[CalRobert]

Even in SF, you should manage all right with $625 million!

[jedc]

In the notation he used: M=1000 and MM=1,000,000, so $625M = $625,000.

I would LOVE it if the financial world got rid of Roman numbers (M=1000) because it's just confusing when Roman and metric units are intermixed.

[CalRobert]

How about we do that, but go back to long scale just to keep things interesting?

[steven2012]

Good luck getting a buyer to accept a offer with an FHA loan. You have a hard enough time getting them to accept a regular mortgage with 20% down, trying to get someone to accept 3.5% will likely be impossible in this environment.

[michaelmike]

Yeah, I don't know how it is in SF. But in LA, you're competing with multiple cash offers, usually quite a bit over asking price. First time home buyers are pretty much left to the sob story route (that is, writing a letter to the owner and praying).