Current conventional guidelines, updated from one source.
Treat these as the program’s fixed points rather than an offer: the minimum down payment for a first-time buyer and for everyone else, the credit floor behind these pages, the leverage at which mortgage insurance begins and the points at which it ends, and the ratio an automated approval allows.
First-time buyer; 5% standard; 97% loan-to-value at the top
On a principal residence the down payment starts at 3% for a first-time buyer and 5% otherwise, the top leverage being 97% loan-to-value. Second homes and investment properties ask for more, as the leverage table shows, and the price of any leverage above 80% is mortgage insurance.
Priced on the score; no agency minimum with an automated approval
A 620 decision score opens the program on the wholesale side; the agencies set no minimum for an automated approval and 620 to 640 for manual underwriting by loan type. The strongest effect of the score is on cost, through loan-level adjustments and the mortgage insurance premium.
Required above 80% LTV; removed at 80% by request, 78% automatically
The insurance line in a conventional payment is a bridge, not a fixture: required above 80% loan-to-value, cancellable at 80% on request and 78% by law, and priced by the insurer on the score inside Fannie Mae’s published 0.58%–1.86% range. Twenty percent down skips it entirely.
With an automated approval; 36% to 45% on a manual file
Total debt against gross income, up to 50% on an automated approval and 36% to 45% on a manual file. The housing payment counted includes the mortgage insurance while it applies, which is why cancellation changes the ratio as well as the payment.
| Purpose | Occupancy and program | Maximum LTV |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase | One-unit principal residence, first-time buyer (fixed rate) | 97% |
| Purchase | One-unit principal residence, standard | 95% |
| Purchase | HomeReady / Home Possible (income limits apply) | 97% |
| Purchase | Two- to four-unit principal residence | 95% |
| Purchase | Second home | 90% |
| Purchase | Investment property, one unit | 85% |
| Purchase | Investment property, two to four units | 75% |
| Refinance | Limited cash-out (rate-and-term), one-unit principal residence | 95% |
| Refinance | Cash-out, one-unit principal residence | 80% |
| Refinance | Cash-out, two to four units, second home or investment | 75% |
| Combined LTV | Maximum contribution |
|---|---|
| above 90 percent | 3% of the sales price |
| 75.01 to 90 percent | 6% of the sales price |
| 75 percent or less | 9% of the sales price |
| investment property (any) | 2% of the sales price |
| Event | Waiting period |
|---|---|
| Chapter 7 or 11 bankruptcy | four years from discharge or dismissal (two years with documented extenuating circumstances) |
| Chapter 13 bankruptcy | two years from discharge; four years from dismissal (two with extenuating circumstances) |
| Multiple bankruptcy filings | five years when more than one filing within the past seven years |
| Foreclosure | seven years (three with extenuating circumstances, then limited to a principal residence or second home at 90 percent LTV, purchase or limited cash-out) |
| Deed-in-lieu, short sale or mortgage charge-off | four years (two with extenuating circumstances) |
Mortgage insurance: Fannie Mae reports that private mortgage insurance typically ranged from 0.58%–1.86% of the loan amount a year; the premium on a specific loan is priced by the insurer on the score, the leverage, and the coverage, and is never quoted here. Gifts from relatives may fund the entire down payment on a one-unit principal residence. HomeReady and Home Possible lend to 97% with income at or below 80% of the area median; HomeOne lends to the same leverage with a first-time buyer and no income limit.
Current conventional snapshot · updated October 1, 2026 · principal residences occupied within sixty days, second homes, and one- to four-unit investment properties · conforming limits apply by county and are confirmed by a Lendmire loan officer · above the limit, see the jumbo program · no prepayment penalty · Lendmire is a broker, never the lender.
Informational only; not a commitment to lend, an approval, or a quote. Every figure on this page is a program parameter read from Lendmire’s guideline source, built on the agencies’ published guides, and may change without notice; eligibility, the loan amount, the insurance, and the ratios depend on the credit profile, the property, the occupancy, and underwriting. The mortgage insurance estimate is editable and not a premium quote. Lendmire is a mortgage broker licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages. NMLS #2371349.
What a conventional loan is — and how the file is qualified.
Every Georgia conventional file is read by an automated underwriting system against the agencies’ guides. The system does not change the rules below; it applies them: how much leverage the occupancy allows, how the score is read, when mortgage insurance attaches and ends, and what the ratios and reserves must show.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s conventional loan program; for the mortgage insurance cancellation rules, see the CFPB.
Leverage by occupancy and buyer
The down payment a Georgia buyer needs depends on three things: whether the home is a principal residence, a second home, or a rental; whether it is one unit or several; and whether the buyer counts as a first-time buyer. The snapshot table gives the answer for every combination the program allows.
Credit scores and automated underwriting
The automated system, DU on the Fannie Mae side and LPA on the Freddie Mac side, reads the whole credit file rather than a single number: the score, the depth of history, the recent events, and the seasoning after any derogatory event. The score it uses with more than one borrower is the average of the median scores.
Mortgage insurance that cancels
Insurance structures vary: borrower-paid monthly is the default, and lender-paid, single-premium, and split-premium versions exist, each built into the loan differently. The published typical range in the snapshot is Fannie Mae’s, and the actual premium for a Georgia file comes from the insurer at lock, never from this page.
Ratios, reserves, and the DU finding
Three things decide what payment a Georgia income carries: the ratio ceiling for the underwriting path, the reserves the finding requires, and the stability of the income over two years. Enter income in the calculator to see the ratio on a local price before asking for a quote.
None of this is a decision. The appraisal can come in under the price, the rate is set at lock, the premium is set by the insurer, and the automated finding sets the reserves. What stays fixed is the structure the calculator reproduces: price, down payment, leverage, insurance, payment.
Where Georgia buyers borrow — and how a conforming loan fits.
The leverage limits are percentages and the market turns them into dollars, and the dollars depend on where in Georgia the home sits. These Census figures describe the state as a whole and the markets Lendmire tracks within it.
Statewide figures provide general market context, not an appraisal or an income calculation. Higher values mean a larger down payment in dollars and a larger insurance premium; lower values mean a payment that leaves more room under the ratio ceiling. The percentages do not move; what they amount to does.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Where Georgia’s buyers borrow — market by market.
Where Lendmire serves Georgia buyers, market by market: the cities below rank by owner households and link to local guides with Census context, the leverage table, and a calculator seeded to local values.
Atlanta
Atlanta carries one of the largest owner-household counts in Lendmire’s Georgia footprint, near 109,792, about 46% of households; in a metropolitan market of that depth, conforming loans finance the bulk of purchases and refinances. Census context: median value near $439,600, median household income near $85,652, population near 505K.
Columbus
Columbus carries one of the largest owner-household counts in Lendmire’s Georgia footprint, near 41,390, about 51% of households; in a metropolitan market of that depth, conforming loans finance the bulk of purchases and refinances. Census context: median value near $193,900, median household income near $58,073, population near 204K.
Augusta
Near 38,202 Augusta households own (51% of the total), and most of them borrowed conventionally: in a metropolitan market this size the conforming loan is the default instrument for purchase, refinance, and cash-out. Census context: median value near $178,400, median household income near $55,485, population near 202K.
Macon
Macon carries one of the largest owner-household counts in Lendmire’s Georgia footprint, near 30,802, about 51% of households; in a metropolitan market of that depth, conforming loans finance the bulk of purchases and refinances. Census context: median value near $174,500, median household income near $51,234, population near 157K.
South Fulton
Near 28,844 South Fulton households own (72% of the total), and most of them borrowed conventionally: in a metropolitan market this size the conforming loan is the default instrument for purchase, refinance, and cash-out. Census context: median value near $309,800, median household income near $82,324, population near 110K.
Savannah
Savannah carries one of the largest owner-household counts in Lendmire’s Georgia footprint, near 26,392, about 45% of households; in a metropolitan market of that depth, conforming loans finance the bulk of purchases and refinances. Census context: median value near $248,900, median household income near $57,137, population near 148K.
No Georgia market has its own conventional rules. The leverage by occupancy, the credit floor, the insurance thresholds and cancellation points, the ratio ceiling, the contribution caps, and the waiting periods apply identically everywhere; what differs by county is the conforming limit, which a Lendmire loan officer confirms for each file.
Four ways Georgia buyers put a conforming loan to work.
Because the agencies buy loans on principal residences, second homes, and investment property alike, the conventional loan is a program a Georgia household can use for every home it owns. Four examples follow.
Buy an investment property
The rental purchase is inside the conventional program at a lower leverage than a principal residence: a Georgia buyer uses the agencies’ rules for counting rental income, shows reserves for every property financed, and accepts loan-level adjustments that reflect the occupancy.
Buy a condominium in a warrantable project
A Georgia condominium is a conventional purchase when the project passes the agencies’ review: owner-occupancy mix, budget and reserves, litigation, commercial space, and ownership concentration. The dues enter the ratio, and the leverage follows the occupancy as it would on a house.
Buy a first home at the first-time-buyer minimum
A Georgia buyer who has not owned a home in three years qualifies for the program’s smallest down payment on a one-unit principal residence with a fixed rate; the down payment can be a gift from a relative, the seller can pay closing costs within the cap, and the insurance cancels as equity grows.
Refinance or take cash out
A Georgia owner can refinance a conventional loan two ways: a limited cash-out refinance to the rate-and-term leverage in the snapshot, or a cash-out refinance to the lower cash-out leverage after the seasoning period, on a principal residence, second home, or rental at each occupancy’s own limit.
Estimate the payment on a Georgia price before requesting a quote.
This is what a Georgia conventional purchase costs each month at the leverage you choose, with the insurance shown as a separate line and then removed: the calculator finds the month on the schedule when the balance reaches the request threshold and the automatic one, and shows the payment on each side. The rate shown is the weekly Freddie Mac average, editable, and not a quote.
Georgia conventional payment estimate
Seeded at Georgia’s median value with the first-time buyer’s minimum down; every field updates the result as you type.
Editable benchmark: 7.03% as of September 24, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a conventional loan quote.
Estimate seeded at the low end of Fannie Mae’s published range (0.58%–1.86% a year); the insurer prices the actual premium on the score and the leverage. Applies only above 80% loan-to-value.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $305,000 price near Georgia’s median owner-occupied home value, the first-time buyer’s minimum down payment, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, mortgage insurance at the low end of Fannie Mae’s published range, property taxes and insurance estimated for Georgia (U.S. Census Bureau). Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conventional benchmark, a market reference and not a conventional loan quote; your rate is set by the lender at lock. The mortgage insurance figure is an editable estimate seeded from Fannie Mae’s published typical range, not a premium quote; the insurer prices the actual premium, and the cancellation month assumes scheduled payments with no extra principal and no change in value. Taxes, insurance and dues are editable estimates; closing costs are not included. Conforming loan limits apply by county. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
Same buyer, three very different closings.
Most buyers can close the same purchase three ways, and the structures differ more than the labels suggest: conventional with insurance that cancels, FHA with a small investment and premiums for the life of the loan at full leverage, or VA with nothing down and no insurance for the eligible veteran.
Conventional, FHA, or VA.
The program’s strengths are the cancellable insurance, the breadth of occupancies, and a cost structure that rewards a strong score; its weakness is the same structure applied to a weak one. A Georgia buyer with a strong score usually pays less each month here than on FHA.
FHA’s leverage is high and its credit standard is forgiving, but its insurance is priced by schedule rather than by score and does not cancel on a full-leverage thirty-year loan. A Georgia buyer comparing the two sees the premium line stay on FHA and disappear on conventional. See Lendmire’s FHA loan program.
VA beats conventional on the principal residence for nearly every eligible borrower; conventional beats VA on everything VA does not touch: second homes, rentals, and buyers without the certificate. The two often sit side by side in one Georgia household. See Lendmire’s VA loan program.
The decision is rarely close once the profile is known. Conventional tends to win the strong score and every non-primary occupancy, FHA the modest score, and VA nearly any eligible principal residence. The comparison is run on the actual numbers, in writing. Above the conforming limit, see the jumbo loan program.
What to prepare for a Georgia scenario review.
The paperwork is the standard mortgage set, with the automated finding deciding how much of it the file actually needs; here is what a Georgia scenario review typically draws on.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the transaction, the property, the automated underwriting finding, and the income picture. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Local details that can change the loan.
When a Georgia conventional file surprises someone, the cause is usually one of these: a premium higher than expected, a score that priced differently than hoped, an appraisal under the price, a project that failed review, or a loan amount over the conforming limit.
Use these checks to keep the Georgia file clean and fundable.
Three things to settle before a Georgia review: how the mortgage insurance will be structured and when it ends, where the decision score lands and what it prices, and whether the property has any agency question attached.
- Plan the insurance: the premium is priced on the score and the leverage inside the published range.
- Confirm the score: the score sets the loan-level adjustments and the insurance premium more than it gates the loan.
- Check the limit: a loan above the limit needs a larger down payment or a jumbo loan.
Mortgage insurance: how much, and until when
Above eighty percent loan-to-value the premium is priced by the insurer on the score and the leverage, inside the published range shown in the guidelines above, and it ends: by request when the balance reaches eighty percent of the original value, automatically at seventy-eight percent, and no later than the midpoint of the term. A Georgia buyer should know the premium and the exit before signing.
The score sets the cost
The decision score is read from the lender’s report, and with more than one borrower the automated system uses the average of the median scores. On a Georgia conventional file the score rarely ends eligibility, but it sets the loan-level adjustments and the insurance premium, so a difference of a few points can change the monthly cost.
The conforming limit
Conforming loans are capped by county and by unit count, with higher limits in high-cost areas, and the figures are reset each year by the FHFA. A Georgia purchase whose loan would run above the limit either brings a larger down payment to fit under it or moves to the jumbo program; a Lendmire loan officer confirms the current limit for the county.
Ratios, reserves, and the finding
The total ratio counts the full housing payment, insurance included, plus every other obligation, against gross income, up to the automated ceiling in the snapshot; a manual file is held to the lower pair. The finding also sets the reserves, and a Georgia buyer with other financed properties carries more of them.
Seller contributions and the down payment
Sellers and other interested parties may pay closing costs, prepaids, and other concessions up to a cap set by the combined loan-to-value, as the snapshot table shows; above the cap the excess reduces the price for sizing the loan. The down payment cannot come from the seller, but a relative’s gift can fund it on a one-unit principal residence.
From a Georgia pre-approval to keys in hand.
From the first conversation to the closing table, a Georgia conventional purchase takes four steps, and each one carries an agency rule inside it.
Pre-approval
A Georgia pre-approval is a sizing exercise run through the automated system: the score, the income, the assets, the occupancy, and the price. The finding sets the ratio room and the reserves, and the loan officer puts the pre-approval in writing for the offer.
Contract and appraisal
The appraisal is a valuation first and a condition report second on a conventional file; a short value re-sizes the loan, and the Georgia contract is adjusted or released under its contingency. Where the system offers value acceptance, the step collapses to the system’s figure.
Underwriting
Underwriting on a Georgia conventional file is a verification of the finding: the documents behind the income and assets, the source of the down payment, the project review, and the insurance commitment for the leverage. Conditions are cleared and the approval is issued with its terms.
Closing
The Georgia closing applies the program’s structure: the insurance premium in the payment while it applies, the escrow account, and no upfront premium. The buyer moves in within sixty days on a principal residence, and the servicer tracks the balance toward the cancellation thresholds.
A brokerage that prices the whole market.
The case for a brokerage on a conventional loan is candor with numbers: the same file priced across programs, the insurance premium and its cancellation month stated outright, the leverage checked against the occupancy, and the terms in writing.
Several programs, one set of numbers
The comparison printed on this page is run for real on every Georgia file: conventional with the insurer’s actual premium beside FHA with its premiums beside VA where eligibility exists, and the written terms follow from it.
The insurance explained before the offer
The premium and its exit are decided by the leverage and the score, and a buyer should know both before signing a contract. Lendmire states the structure for the Georgia purchase, shows the payment before and after cancellation, and explains the request and automatic thresholds.
Licensed, consumer-purpose, in writing
What this page shows are the agencies’ parameters and the wholesale overlays; what a specific Georgia loan gets is a written set of terms from a licensed loan officer after the review. Lendmire is a broker, never the lender.
Trusted by buyers & families alike.
Georgia conventional loan FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Georgia buyers ask most about conventional loans, in the order they usually ask them.
What is a conventional loan, and who is it for?
Think of it as the mortgage without a federal guaranty or insurance: the agencies set the rules, a private insurer covers the high-leverage slice, and the score sets the price. Principal residences, second homes, and one- to four-unit rentals are all inside it.
How much do I need to put down on a conventional loan in Georgia?
Less than most people expect on a principal residence, and it can be a gift from family. The trade for a small down payment is mortgage insurance, which cancels as the balance falls; the calculator shows the Georgia payment with it and without it.
What credit score do I need for a conventional loan?
The snapshot shows the floor. More useful than the number is what sits around it: a seasoned derogatory event is inside the rules after its waiting period, a thin file may need manual underwriting with tighter ratios, and the score drives the insurance premium on a Georgia loan.
How does private mortgage insurance work, and when does it end?
The premium is a percentage of the loan a year, divided into the monthly payment, and it is set by the insurer on the score and the leverage rather than by a government schedule. It cancels: by request at the request threshold, automatically at the termination threshold, and no later than the midpoint of the term.
What is the conforming loan limit in Georgia?
The limit is the first thing confirmed on a Georgia file near the top of the market. These pages state the program’s structure rather than a number that changes every year; the current figure comes from a loan officer.
Can the down payment be a gift?
Yes, on a principal residence, from a relative or other acceptable donor, documented by letter and transfer. The seller cannot be the source, and on second homes and multi-unit homes above the threshold the buyer contributes a share of their own funds.
What happens after my Georgia offer is accepted?
Appraisal first, then underwriting, then conditions, then closing. The appraisal or the value acceptance sets the value; the underwriter verifies what the finding assumed; the closing funds the loan at the leverage chosen and starts a payment with the insurance line if one applies.
Can I get a conventional loan after a bankruptcy or foreclosure?
Each event has its own period counted from a specific date, and the lender confirms it from the documents. Clean credit since the event and a rebuilt score carry weight once the period has run.
Can I buy a second home with a conventional loan?
Yes, at the second-home leverage in the snapshot table. The home must be occupied by the owner part of the year and not operated as a rental business; a property rented full time is an investment property under the program.
What debt-to-income ratio does a conventional loan allow?
Up to the automated maximum in the snapshot for a file the automated system approves, measured as the total housing payment, insurance included, plus every other monthly obligation against gross income; a manually underwritten file is held to the lower pair, with the higher figure needing the credit and reserve criteria of the agencies’ matrix. The finding also sets the reserves.
Run the Georgia conventional numbers, then get the terms in writing.
When you are ready, a Georgia review sizes the loan, settles the program and the insurance structure, and produces written terms. Nothing on this page commits anyone to lend.
This guide covers Georgia — for the program overview, see Lendmire’s conventional loan program.
All Georgia city guides (6): Atlanta · Augusta · Columbus · Macon · Savannah · South Fulton
Related programs: FHA Loans · Jumbo Loans · Refinance Loans