You have been scrolling through Zillow for the 100th time this week.

You’ve found the perfect home, you’re preapproved for a mortgage, and you’re ready to make an offer, but despite great home sales, you aren’t feeling homeownership or even property ownership at the moment. That’s because your down payment fund seems to be a jar of coffee change rather than a war chest for home buying.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the secret everyone is trying to figure out: You don’t need to be rich to buy a home. You don’t need perfectly good credit, either. The FHA loan might be the game-changer you’re looking for!

You might be able to buy a home with as little as 3.5% down using an FHA loan. Yes, you read that right. On a $300,000 house, that’s just $10,500 instead of the traditional 20 percent ($60,000) that you’d have to pay for a conventional loan.

Why Your Credit Score Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect

Do you remember when I told you that you don’t need perfect credit?

I meant it.

Conventional loans typically require a credit score of 740 or higher for the best rates, but an FHA loan is more forgiving.

An FHA loan can be obtained if your credit score is 580 or higher for just a 3.5% down payment. Even if your score has suffered from the time you overlooked a medical bill or it was a little tough making ends meet, you’re not necessarily out of the running.

If you’re in the 500-579 range, you’re not entirely out of luck, either. You’ll simply need to come to the table with a bigger down payment — 10% rather than 3.5%. It’s still a lot better than the 20% down the typical conventional loan requires.

How the Down Payment Works

So let’s talk numbers because this is where FHA shines. That 3.5% minimum down payment isn’t some hocus pocus devised by an adman — it’s real, and it’s magic.

Let’s say you’re considering a starter home for $250,000. For a traditional loan, you would need about $50,000 up front. For an F.H.A. loan, that sum is only $8,750. That’s $41,250 less that can sit in your emergency fund instead, or be used for moving costs and new furniture.

But wait, there’s more: That down payment doesn’t have to be entirely from your personal bank account. You can use gift money from family for your FHA down payment or down payment assistance from a state or local agency, down payment aid or other grant that is designed for first-time homebuyers.

Who Is Eligible for an FHA Loan?

You may believe that FHA loans are only for first-time buyers, but that is not true. First-timers make up a large share of FHA borrowers, but you don’t have to be a new homebuyer to use an FHA loan.

The actual requirements are quite simple. You must live in the home as your primary residence – no investment properties or vacation homes are allowed. You will need a stable work history, usually two years in the same industry. You generally want your debt-to-income ratio to be beneath 43% (although you might have some flexibility)‎.

FHA standards also require that the property itself must meet the standards. This would be a building that is safe, sound, secure. The FHA appraisal process is rigorous, which works in your favor by not allowing you to buy a money pit masquerading as a dream home.

The Trade-Offs to Consider

There’s no such thing as a free ride in life, and FHA loans come with their own share of costs. The main one is called mortgage insurance premiums (MIP). There’s an upfront premium, or sum that you will pay at closing, and an annual premium that will be added to your monthly payment.

Unlike with conventional loans, you can’t just knock this insurance off your loan once you’ve reached 20% equity. With most FHA loans, you can expect to pay MIP for the life of the loan, unless you refinance.

FHA loans also have location-dependent borrowing limits. In high-cost areas, these limits may not cover the homes you’re shopping for. But in most places, the limits are, indeed, liberal enough to get a decent starter home.