[Anon Speaker]

We are looking into buying a new house in the mid-$400k's before we sell our current home, but this means that we would need a larger loan and that we would have less cash available up front for closing costs and downpayment. Buying before we sell our home means that after all the closing costs, we would only have 3.5% - 4.5% as a down payment. I don't want to give my state/city-county because that is too much personal information for a Q&A site, but I already checked and the HUD website's FHA loan limits in the area where we would buy the new house are: FHA Forward $271,050 ($280,000) ---AND--- Fannie/Freddie $417,000. Depending on the offer that is accepted, we'd need to borrow between $425,000 and $435,000, and again, we'd have 3.5% and 4.5% for a down payment (after we pay closing costs). We've talked to 2 lenders who only discussed FHA loans since apparently only FHA loans will allow as small as a 3.5% - 4.5 % downpayment1) Lender #1 told us we have no choice but to get a conventional loan since we cannot get an FHA loan for more than $280,000 -- end of story. He said there is absolutely no FHA loan available for loans over $280,000. As for non-FHA loans, Lender #1 said there is a cap for conventional loans of $417,000, and even then, we'd have to have a 12% down payment. In other words, we MUST sell ours first to have enough cash for closing/down payment. (2) Lender #2 said we can borrow up to $450,000 on an FHA loan as long as we have a 3.5% down payment because our debt-to-income ratio is good enough. He said there is no $280,000 or $417,000 limit on FHA loans when the loan is a jumbo (aka, "non-conforming") FHA loan. The debt-to-income ratio is all that matters.What?! Something seems really wrong with what we've been told since the two lenders seem to contradict each other on the FHA "facts." We understand that different lenders will only finance conventional loans under the terms they set, but the FHA rules are rules - they can't be different from lender to lender? Can someone explain and make some sense out of this?Add'l details: The house is NOT in a high-cost area.Answers #1 & #2 have already responded to my questions on point, but if others want to respond, please feel free to do so. Don't be misled by GVD's lack of comprehension, though; I'm not looking for rate quotes, I'm clearly not soliciting a loan from anyone on this site, & I'm intelligent enough to have provided the accurate limit information in my question. Thus, you may rely on my facts to provide answers to my questions.