Because I closed today, keys are in hand. All in the face of companies telling us we'd never get approved and we need to be at least 640 credit score, possibly even higher. Mortgage people actually turned us away, but I stayed focused and tried the big banks of Wells Fargo and Chase.
A beautiful 2-story home, 2973 sq. ft on a 12,554 sq. ft lot.
Price: $172,000
FHA, 3.5% down
Lowest credit score: 624 with EQ
Interest rate: 3.625%!!!
Household income: $120k
Lender: Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Approved with flying colors and no issues in underwriting.
I was for sure something was going to go wrong at the last minute. But the wife and I just sat in our new home, eating take-out, planning how we are going to decordate and furnish a 3,000 sq. ft. home, when coming from a 700 sq. ft. apartment.
It can be done. Just got to find the right lender. And to top it off, I got a ton of credits from the lender and basically what I thought would be about $10k in closing costs and down payment, only came out to $5200 "cash from borrower".
Life is good. 
Congrats and thank you for sharing your story! I have been so torn on which lender to use. I originally wanted to go with Wells Fargo, but have read mostly bad reviews. Seeing that someone has actually closed wtih them helps me 
Enjoy your new home!!
