FHA loans closed to visa holders on May 25, 2025 (HUD Mortgagee Letter 2025-09) — but conventional, VA, USDA, portfolio, and non-QM loans still welcome legal immigrants as of October 2026. Every mortgage product compared in plain English on the same $400,000 Texas home: down payment, monthly payment, insurance, and exactly which legal statuses each loan accepts.

In this episode:

- The cold open: two neighbors, same income — one closes, one is turned away at the first question

- Conventional (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac): the "legally present" standard — same terms as citizens

- FHA after Mortgagee Letter 2025-09: citizens, green card holders, and COFA citizens only

- VA: earned by service, not citizenship — zero down, no monthly insurance, funding-fee math

- USDA: zero down, the map, the household income cap, and "qualified alien" in plain words

- Jumbo & portfolio: where strong visa-holder files land

- The non-QM shelf: bank-statement, DSCR, ITIN, and foreign-national loans — honest costs

- The product × status matrix + the $400,000 cost comparison

- The teach segment: the four numbers that decide every loan (down payment, rate, insurance, DTI)

Links:

- YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3H9FvDGOjFlicWiD3vZLZg

- Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9q3rB6m7sA

- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5AFpa5EVdpWh0UplBhXrL4

- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-market-update/id6820718692

- iHeartRadio: https://iheart.com/podcast/347247850/

New here? Subscribe to the Daily Market Update — a plain-English read on rates and housing every morning.

Co-hosted by Issac Harper & Sofia Piccard

Contact: 512-203-2245 · issac.harper@ireaf.com · Real Estate Broker/Realtor | TREC Lic. #0437275 | Mortgage Loan Officer | NMLS #2580938

Educational only — not legal or immigration advice. Rules as of October 2026; your lender's overlays may be stricter than the agency guides.

If the loan you grew up hearing about — FHA — is no longer open to visa holders, should the law change back, or is conventional enough? Tell us in the comments.