Mortgages for California Nurses

Since 1986, Community First Mortgage has helped California Nurses secure fantastic rates on their home purchases and refinances. Whether it’s a conventional, FHA, VA, or jumbo loan, Community First Mortgage consistently leads on rates and service for our valued California Nurses. Just take a look at our Yelp reviews!

Check out Our Fantastic Rates

Community First Mortgage is a licensed Mortgage Broker only in the state of California. Our focus is California Nurses and borrowers across the state.

At Community First Mortgage, we understand that every nurse’s income is unique. Whether you are a nurse at one hospital, split between multiple hospitals, or if you are a travel nurse, we have the experience to underwrite your file properly and issue a preapproval letter you can count on as you search for your first home.

We’ve worked with nurses in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, and counties throughout Central and Northern California. If you are a nurse working and living in California or transferring to California, we would love to work with you!

Conventional Loans for California Nurses

For Nurses who are first-time home buyers with strong credit scores (over 720-740), a conventional loan is typically the most fitting mortgage program. If the loan amount is under $806,500 (the low-balance conforming loan limit in California in 2025), nurses can put as little as 3% down.

While private mortgage insurance (PMI) is required when you put less than 20% down, with a strong credit score, the monthly PMI payment is much less than most people expect on a conventional loan.

With California home prices being so high, it’s understandably difficult to stay under a loan amount of $806,500. If your loan amount is over $806,500 (but under the conforming loan limit for high-cost counties), a 5% minimum down payment is required for a conventional loan. The good news is your PMI will be lower (as a percentage of your loan amount) when you put 5% down instead of 3%. For every 5% increase in down payment (10%, 15%), you can expect your PMI payment to be slightly lower.

FHA Loans for California Nurses

For California Nurses wanting to put as little down as possible but have credit scores under 700, an FHA loan can be an attractive option. While your monthly mortgage insurance premium can be higher than conventional loan PMI, interest rates on FHA loans are usually lower than on conventional loans. FHA loans have an upfront mortgage insurance premium (currently 1.75% of the loan amount) that conventional loans don’t have, and you are required to pay monthly mortgage insurance for at least 11 years (sometimes the life of the loan) or until you refinance or otherwise pay off the loan.

VA Loans for California Nurses

California Nurses who previously served in the military may be eligible for VA financing. With a VA loan, you are not required to put anything down. On top of this benefit, monthly mortgage insurance is not required, unlike conventional and FHA loans. VA mortgage rates are typically as low as FHA rates, making a VA loan an excellent option for California Nurses who are veterans.

Jumbo Loans for California Nurses

California Nurses looking for the very best mortgage rate or who want to borrow more than the high-balance conforming loan limit for the county they live in may consider a jumbo loan. Most jumbo loans require at least 20% down, but they can offer even lower rates than conforming loans.

On the downside, Jumbo loans can require a lower debt-to-income ratio than conforming/conventional and FHA loans and may require reserve funds.

Our job as a mortgage broker is to advise California nurses on what loan option makes the most sense for them.

Why Choose Us?

In a competitive real estate market, which almost always seems to be the case for California, it helps to have an edge when you make an offer. One edge we can offer all borrowers, not just California Nurses, is a quick closing. We can close purchase loans in as little as 10 days! Most credit unions, banks, and direct lenders cannot close that quickly.

As a transparent mortgage broker, we are all for consumers shopping mortgage rates! We advertise our rates right here on our website. If you don’t see rates advertised on a lender’s website, it’s probably because their rates and costs are high. They want to sell you on everything but the rates they offer. Don’t fall for a high rate or high costs!

Most mortgage brokers and lenders earn 1.75% – 2.25% (or more!) of your loan amount on a mortgage. We earn 1% (or less in some cases), which means you can expect your interest rate to be 0.25% to 1% lower through us versus a competing broker or lender. From a dollar standpoint, a 0.75% savings on a million-dollar loan is $7,500 that stays in your pocket instead of another lender’s. On top of this, we don’t charge loan processing fees (a junk fee), which saves you another $300 – $1,000.

Contact Us

If you are a California nurse looking to purchase a home or refinance an existing mortgage, we hope you will request a rate quote below!

(Rates subject to change without notice)

Loan Assumptions