Physician Mortgage Calculator
Physician Mortgage vs Conventional
Physician loans often have slightly higher rates.
Conventional Terms
Physician Loan Terms
Most programs offer 0% to $1M, then 5% or 10% at higher loan amounts.
Physician Loan (0% down)
No PMIYou save $150,000 upfront
Conventional Loan (20% down)
(sends these numbers to Ask; we don't keep them)
While the Physician Loan rate is slightly higher, it allows you to keep $150,000 in your pocket today. This is often worth the extra monthly cost ($1,144/mo) for residents and new attendings.
What Your Number Means
DTI (Debt-to-Income) Limits: Most physician mortgage lenders will allow a DTI up to 43-45%, but crucially, they often ignore student loans in deferment or use the true IDR payment instead of a fully amortized payment. If this calculator shows a very high payment relative to your monthly take-home, you may be approved, but you will feel "house poor."
0% Down Power: The primary benefit of a physician loan is 0% down with no PMI. While this means a higher monthly payment and more interest paid over the life of the loan, it preserves your liquidity, allowing you to invest that cash elsewhere or keep it for an emergency fund.
Physician Case Studies
Dr. Carter (New Attending)
The Profile: Just finished residency. Buying a $750,000 home. Uses a 0% down physician loan at 7.5%.
The Outcome: Monthly payment (PITI) is around $6,300. While high, she preserves the $150,000 she would have needed for a 20% down payment. She invests $100k in the market and keeps $50k as a robust emergency fund. The slightly higher rate is worth the liquidity.
Dr. Lee (Resident)
The Profile: PGY-1 buying a $350,000 condo with a 0% down physician loan.
The Outcome: Monthly payment is $2,800. His resident take-home pay is only $4,200. He is approved because his spouse works, but he is extremely stretched financially. He decides to rent instead to maintain flexibility for his fellowship match.
* Note: The physician case studies presented above are illustrative composites created for educational purposes. They do not represent actual clients or guarantee similar results.
Want to dive deeper?
Read our comprehensive guide to understand all the nuances and strategies.
Clinical Context & Calculation Details
How to Use This Calculator
Enter your target home price, the current conventional interest rate, the corresponding physician loan rate, and your intended conventional down payment percentage.
The calculator compares the upfront cash required and the monthly payments between a 0% down physician loan and a traditional conventional mortgage.
Why Doctors Need This
A "Physician Loan" (or Doctor Mortgage) is a unique loan product that allows doctors to buy a home with 0% to 5% down and NO Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), while ignoring student loan debt in the DTI calculation.
Banks offer this because they know doctors have extremely low default rates and high future earning potential. This allows residents and new attendings to buy homes without wiping out their scarce cash reserves.
The Math Behind It
Standard Amortization: P = L[c(1 + c)^n]/[(1 + c)^n - 1] where L is Loan Amount, c is Monthly Interest Rate, and n is number of months (360 for a 30-year).
Conventional loans usually require a 0.5% to 1.0% annual PMI fee if you put less than 20% down. Physician loans legally waive this requirement entirely, which can save hundreds of dollars a month.
Pearls & Pitfalls
- Pearl: For residents and fellows, the Physician Loan is a superpower. Keeping $100k of cash invested instead of locked into home equity early in your career allows compound interest to work in your favor drastically.
- Pitfall: Buying "too much house". Just because a bank will loan you $1.5M with $0 down based on your new attending contract doesn't mean you can afford the $10,000/month payment while also trying to catch up on retirement savings.
- Pearl: Physician loans typically have slightly higher interest rates (0.25% to 0.50% higher) than conventional loans. You are paying a slight premium on the rate in exchange for the 0% down and waived PMI benefits.
Worked Example
The calculator's default inputs: a $750,000 home, 20% down on the conventional loan and 0% down on the physician loan, at this week's starting rates of 7.18% conventional and 7.43% for the physician loan (Freddie Mac average of November 5, 2026).
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional down payment | $750,000 × 20% | $150,000 |
| Conventional loan | $750,000 − $150,000 | $600,000 |
| Conventional principal and interest | 30-year fixed at 7.18% | $4,065/mo |
| PMI | None at 20% down | $0/mo |
| Physician loan | $750,000 − $0 down | $750,000 |
| Physician principal and interest | 30-year fixed at 7.43% | $5,208/mo |
| Cash kept at closing | $150,000 − $0 | $150,000 |
| Extra monthly cost of the physician loan | $5,208 − $4,065 | $1,144/mo |
The physician loan keeps $150,000 in the bank in exchange for a larger loan at a slightly higher rate. Against a conventional loan with 5% down, which carries PMI in this calculator, the gap is smaller: $5,124 a month including $297 of PMI.
Assumptions & Sources
- Conventional rate starts at the latest Freddie Mac 30-year fixed average (Primary Mortgage Market Survey), and the physician loan rate starts 0.25 points above it, an assumption about typical pricing. Both are editable; lender quotes vary.
- 30-year fixed, principal and interest only. Property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA dues and closing costs are left out.
- PMI on a conventional loan with less than 20% down is estimated at 0.5% of the loan a year. Actual PMI depends on credit score and down payment. Physician loans are assumed to have no PMI.
- Loan limits, jumbo pricing and lender eligibility rules are not modeled; see the lender guides for those.
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About the Author
Joshua Dunigan, DO | Family Medicine Resident & Founder
I'm a family medicine resident physician in Des Moines, Iowa (class of 2027). I founded MedMoneyGuide to give physicians specialty-specific financial guidance, with sources you can check.