A straight answer
Can I get a mortgage during residency?
The direct answer
Yes. The physician program I offer takes residents and fellows. I also offer conventional and FHA loans that qualify a resident on salary. I offer mortgage programs that can close on a signed contract before your attending job starts. I'm Zach von der Linden (NMLS 1652805), a mortgage broker with West Capital Lending, based in San Clemente.
A set salary is fixed base income under Fannie Mae's rule, and it needs no minimum history. FHA lets the lender fill the two-year employment history with proof of school enrollment. FHA counts student loans even in deferment. I put the financing together with a lender; the lender and the program set the rules. I work with buyers in California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona.
Zach von der Linden, mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending · NMLS 1652805
Wholesale pricing · California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona
5.0 across 66 reviews on Experience.com (read on 2026-09-24) · Text reaches Zach directly · Last updated 2026-10-19
Tell me your profession or income situation, the property state, and whether you're buying or refinancing. I'll explain which program requirements we need to review.
No credit pull happens from a text or a call. Texts and calls go to Zach's cell.
What happens after you text me?
Texts go straight to my cell, and I answer them myself when I'm free. I'll ask for the few details that actually matter, tell you whether the structure looks worth pursuing, and explain the next step. If I don't think the loan fits, I'll tell you that too.
A text or phone conversation does not pull your credit.
Can I qualify on a resident salary?
Yes. The physician program I offer takes residents and fellows. Do physician loans have PMI? How doctor loans work explains the program.
A conventional loan counts a resident salary too. Fannie Mae counts "a set salary" as fixed base income, and for it "A minimum history is not required for inclusion as qualifying income" (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-01). The salary still has to carry the payment and your debts.
The lender also reads your work history. Fannie Mae asks whether it "reflects a reliable pattern of employment over the most recent two years," and accepts a shorter history when "positive factors" offset it (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-02). Fannie Mae's guide does not mention residents, fellows or medical school.
FHA is more specific about school. When you have not been with one employer for two years, the lender may verify the history with "evidence supporting enrollment in school or the military during the most recent two full years" (HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.c.ii).
Can I buy before my attending job starts?
Yes. I offer mortgage programs that can close on a signed contract before your start date. Fannie Mae's version lets a lender deliver a loan when "the borrower is scheduled to begin new employment under the terms of an employment offer or contract" (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-03). Without a pay stub before delivery, it is limited to a purchase of a one-unit home you will live in, qualified on fixed base pay.
The contract's pay is the number. Fannie Mae says "The lender must use the monthly income amount in the offer letter as qualifying income" (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-03). Can I get a mortgage with a job offer letter before I start? covers the start-date window and the extra reserves.
How do deferred student loans count?
On an FHA loan, they count. FHA says "The Mortgagee must include all Student Loans in the Borrower's liabilities, regardless of the payment type or status of payments" (HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.b.iv(H)). A deferment does not remove them; only a balance that is forgiven, canceled, discharged or paid in full drops out.
Fannie Mae and VA set their own payment rules. My student loan payment is zero. Why is the lender counting a payment? walks through each one.
What should I have ready?
Your residency or fellowship contract and recent pay stubs, the signed attending contract if you have one, your student loan statements and repayment plan, and statements for the accounts that will cover closing. Do not text documents or account numbers; I will tell you what to send and how.
For other careers, Do doctors, teachers and nurses get special mortgages? sorts the programs and assistance.
Questions people ask next
Does the physician program take residents and fellows?
Yes. The physician program I offer takes residents and fellows. Eligibility still depends on your file: your contract, your credit, the property and how the program counts your student loans.
Does medical school count toward my two-year job history?
For FHA, school enrollment can verify the history: the lender may use "evidence supporting enrollment in school or the military during the most recent two full years" (HUD Handbook 4000.1). Fannie Mae's guide does not address school; it accepts a shorter history when positive factors offset it.
Can I close before my fellowship ends?
On a signed attending contract, yes, when the loan fits the contract rules. Under Fannie Mae's option without a pay stub, the start date has to fall inside a window around closing (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-03). I confirm the window for your file before you set a closing date.
What should I text Zach?
Your specialty and training year, the property state, whether you are buying or refinancing, and your attending start date if the contract is signed. Do not text documents or account numbers; I will tell you what to send and how.
What clients say
Zach was so easy to work with. He made a stressful situation into a very positive experience for us and did push us one way or another. He listened to what we hoped we could accomplish and made it happen.
Word for word from Experience.com. Read all reviews.
Sources and checked dates
Sources: Confirmed by Zach, October 2026 (checked 2026-10-19) · Supplied by Zach, September 9, 2026 (checked 2026-09-09) · Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.3-01, Base Income (checked 2026-10-19) · Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.2-02, Standards for Employment-Related Income (checked 2026-10-19) · Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.3-03, Employment Offers or Contracts (checked 2026-10-19) · HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.c.ii(C), employment documentation (checked 2026-10-19) · HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.b.iv(H), Student Loans (checked 2026-10-19).
Show each claim on this page, what it depends on, and the date it was checked (8)
| What we say, and what it depends on | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| The physician program I offer takes residents and fellows. | Confirmed by Zach, October 2026 | 2026-10-19 |
| Zach reports placing loans through more than one wholesale lender and program via his broker channel: the standard home equity line described on this site, plus conventional, government, bank statement and investment-property options. Individual lender names are kept off the public pages until the executed broker agreement for each is on file (California 10 CCR 2848(a)(3)). | Supplied by Zach, September 9, 2026 | 2026-09-09 |
| I offer mortgage programs that can close on a job offer letter before your start date. | Confirmed by Zach, October 2026 | 2026-10-18 |
| Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-01, Base Income (03/04/2026): "Fixed base income refers to a set salary or fixed hourly rate with guaranteed minimum hours." For fixed base income, "A minimum history is not required for inclusion as qualifying income." "Variable base income refers to a fixed hourly rate with fluctuating hours, or an hourly rate that varies," and "A minimum 12-month history of receiving variable income is required." | Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.3-01, Base Income | 2026-10-19 |
| Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.2-02, Standards for Employment-Related Income (03/04/2026): "Lenders must evaluate the borrower's work history to determine whether it reflects a reliable pattern of employment over the most recent two years. A shorter employment history may be considered eligible for qualifying purposes if the borrower's employment profile includes positive factors that reasonably offset the shorter employment history." "Borrowers who change jobs frequently, but who are nevertheless able to earn consistent and predictable income, are considered to have a reliable flow of income for qualifying purposes." Borrowers with income from multiple employment sources at the same time "must meet the requirements for each specific income type." | Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.2-02, Standards for Employment-Related Income | 2026-10-19 |
| Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-03, Employment Offers or Contracts (10/07/2026): "If the borrower is scheduled to begin new employment under the terms of an employment offer or contract, the lender may deliver the loan in accordance with one of the options outlined below." The option without a paystub "is limited to loans that meet the following criteria: purchase transaction, principal residence, one-unit property, the borrower must not be employed by a family member or by an interested party to the transaction, and the borrower is qualified using only fixed-base income." "The lender must use the monthly income amount in the offer letter as qualifying income." | Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.3-03, Employment Offers or Contracts | 2026-10-19 |
| HUD Handbook 4000.1 (Update 18, last revised 8/12/2026), II.A.4.c.ii(C) Required Documentation (Income Requirements, TOTAL), with the same text for manual underwriting at II.A.5.b: "the Mortgagee must verify the Borrower's most recent two years of employment and income." When the borrower has not been with the same employer for two years, the lender obtains W-2s, written or electronic verifications "and/or" "evidence supporting enrollment in school or the military during the most recent two full years." | HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.c.ii(C), employment documentation | 2026-10-19 |
| HUD Handbook 4000.1 (Update 18, last revised 8/12/2026), II.A.4.b.iv(H) Student Loans, with the same text at II.A.5.a.iv(G): "The Mortgagee must include all Student Loans in the Borrower's liabilities, regardless of the payment type or status of payments." A payment may be left out only with written documentation that the balance has been "forgiven, canceled, discharged, or otherwise paid in full." | HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.4.b.iv(H), Student Loans | 2026-10-19 |
Written for and accountable to: Zach von der Linden, Mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending.
Last updated 2026-10-19.
Verify him: NMLS Consumer Access, ID 1652805 · 66 reviews on Experience.com.
Sources for product claims are listed on this page, with the date each was checked.