FHA is open to repeat buyers too, and its rate usually runs below conventional, but mortgage insurance decides which loan actually wins. First, the eligibility question. FHA has no first-time-buyer restriction. Any eligible borrower who meets the guidelines can use it, repeat buyers included. The real limit is occupancy: FHA financing is for a primary residence you move into and live in, generally within 60 days of closing, so it can't be used for a pure rental purchase. FHA's lower down-payment and credit-score requirements simply attract a lot of first-timers, which is where the myth comes from. Second, the rate. FHA's note rate generally runs a bit lower than conventional, often in the neighborhood of three-eighths to three-quarters of a percent, because the full government guarantee lowers the lender's risk. The catch is mortgage insurance. FHA charges an upfront premium (typically financed into the balance) plus a monthly premium, and if you put less than 10 percent down, that monthly premium stays for the life of the loan. Paying the balance down won't remove it; only refinancing out of FHA does. Conventional PMI, by contrast, can drop off as you build equity. So the lower rate does not automatically mean a lower all-in cost. How it usually shakes out: for a high-credit-score borrower, conventional PMI is cheap, so the two loans can land close together once you total everything. For a lower-credit-score borrower, FHA often wins more clearly. There's no universal right answer, which is why the honest comparison is a side-by-side on your actual numbers, and that's exactly what we run in the free Roadmap conversation.