Best Mortgage Lender for First-Time Home Buyers

Methodology:

All reviewed mortgage lenders are evaluated against the criteria below. The lender with the highest raw score is our Best Mortgage Lender for First-Time Home Buyers.
  • 1. Must offer FHA and VA loans.
  • 2. Must offer 3%-down conventional loans.
  • 3. Origination fees.
  • 4. Serves first-time home buyers with proprietary loans or assistance.
  • 5. Rate transparency for consumers.
  • 6. Ease of online application for consumers.
Tiebreaker:
  • Lender with the lowest origination fees.

How we picked the lenders to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed more than 50 mortgage lenders, including the majority of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders by annual loan volume (measured among lenders with at least a 1% market share), lenders with significant online search volume and those that specialize in serving various audiences across the country. We rated them on criteria including rate transparency, loan types offered, ease of application and more.
Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.

How we chose the winner:

The winner is the mortgage lender that had the highest raw score when evaluated against NerdWallet's first-time home buyer mortgage lender star-rating rubric: offers FHA and VA loans (20%), offers 3%-down conventional mortgages (20%), origination fees (20%), serves first-time home buyers with proprietary loans or assistance (20%), rate transparency for consumers (10%) and ease of online application for consumers (10%). Points may be deducted for any recent regulatory action pertaining to the company’s mortgage lending business. In the event of a tie, the winner must charge the lowest fees.

How we verified our data:

NerdWallet solicits information from reviewed lenders on a recurring basis throughout the year. All lender-provided information is verified through lender websites and interviews. We also used 2022 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for origination volume, origination fee, interest rate and share-of-product data.

Explore the List

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