The systems are hiring — and the down payment is the real barrier.
Physician programs give medical professionals up to 100% financing with no PMI, up to $2 million — and in Santa Clara County, that no-down-payment structure is worth more than almost anywhere else in California. Home prices here are among the highest in the country, so the 20% a conventional loan usually wants to avoid PMI is a six-figure sum, right when student debt is at its peak. The physician program removes that barrier outright.
The demand side is just as real. Silicon Valley's health systems recruit clinicians from across the country: Stanford Health Care, with the region's flagship academic medical center and training programs; Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara; Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, the county's safety-net and teaching hospital in San Jose; and El Camino Health in Mountain View and Los Gatos — plus the group practices and specialty clinics threaded from Palo Alto and Cupertino down through Sunnyvale, Campbell, and Milpitas. Every year, residents and fellows finish training and sign attending contracts here, then run into the part nobody covers in residency: in this market, the offer letter is the easy part, and the down payment is the wall.
This page covers how the program works, who qualifies, and how it fits a high-cost market like Santa Clara County. For the county-wide picture — loan limits, borrower types, every program — start with our San Jose mortgage guide.
Why lenders offer doctors 100% financing.
This isn't charity, and it isn't a gimmick. Lenders compete for physician borrowers because the risk math works in your favor: a medical license anchors a steep, durable earning trajectory, employment demand for clinicians stays strong through economic cycles, and physicians have historically been among the least likely borrowers to default. When the long-run picture is that reliable, a lender can lend against the career instead of the savings account.
Compare that with the standard path. On a conventional loan, avoiding PMI typically takes 20% down — and in Santa Clara County, on the kind of home a new attending would actually buy, that is one of the largest down payments in the country, due precisely when student loans are heaviest. A physician program removes both halves of that problem at once: up to 100% financing, and no PMI on top of it. The years you'd otherwise spend saving a Silicon Valley down payment become years of owning instead of renting.
No down payment ≠ no underwriting
Physician loans are fully underwritten — income, credit, debts, and the property all get reviewed, and programs are subject to underwriting approval. What the program removes is the down-payment and mortgage-insurance barrier, not the diligence. No rates or payments are promised on this page; pricing depends on your file and on which lenders compete for it.
Eligibility, in plain terms.
"Physician loan" is too narrow a name. The medical professional program on our panel covers eight designations:
The program parameters, all in one place:
| Parameter | Program terms |
|---|---|
| Eligible designations | MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DPM, DVM, PharmD, CRNA |
| Loan amount | Up to $2,000,000 |
| Financing | Up to 100% LTV — no PMI |
| Minimum credit score | 680 |
| Future income | Signed contract with a start date within 150 days |
| Occupancy | Primary residence, 1-unit only |
| Purpose | Purchase or rate/term refinance |
Source: wholesale medical professional program sheet, July 2026. Programs subject to underwriting approval. Reserve requirements vary by file.
One boundary worth naming: this is a primary-residence program. A rental property in Santa Clara or Sunnyvale would go through an investor program instead — and a physician in private practice whose income arrives on 1099s or K-1s may pair or compare this with self-employed qualifying paths.
Buy before your first paycheck.
The most powerful clause in the program is future income qualifying: the lender can underwrite you on the income in a signed employment contract, as long as your start date is within 150 days of closing. Not your resident salary. Not a pay stub you don't have yet. The contract itself.
That maps almost perfectly onto the academic medicine calendar. Training years end in June, attending contracts commonly start in midsummer, and offers are often signed months earlier. A resident finishing at Stanford, or in the residency programs at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center or Kaiser Santa Clara, who signs in February for a summer start has a window of several months to shop, go under contract, and close, timed so the new job begins inside the 150-day mark. In a market this competitive, arriving with financing already arranged is also what makes your offer credible against the cash and equity buyers Silicon Valley draws.
Sequence it like a discharge plan
Signed contract in hand → get matched and priced → preapproval before you shop → close with your start date inside 150 days. Get the order right and the transition from resident to attending and from renter to owner can happen in the same season.
Where the physician program fits the Santa Clara price ladder.
Santa Clara County is a high-cost market, and the loan limits reflect it. The 2026 conforming loan ceiling here is $1,249,125 — well above the $832,750 national baseline — and jumbo financing begins above that. Against that backdrop, the physician program's real value isn't the size of the ceiling; it's the structure. Up to 100% financing with no PMI means an eligible attending can buy without the 20%-down check that a conventional loan would demand on a home at these prices.
Where a purchase lands within the program's up-to-$2 million reach — a townhome or condo in Sunnyvale or Santa Clara, a starter house in San Jose, Milpitas, Campbell, or Morgan Hill — the no-PMI, high-LTV structure does the heavy lifting. Where the price runs higher, as much of Cupertino, Mountain View, Los Altos, Saratoga, Palo Alto, and Los Gatos routinely does, the purchase moves past the program into jumbo territory. That's San Jose jumbo financing, where our panel prices bank and non-agency programs against each other the same way — and some physician borrowers pair the two, comparing a physician program against a low-down jumbo option on the same file.
And because physician programs are lender-specific — each wholesale lender decides whether to offer one and on what terms — the difference between a good deal and a mediocre one is which lenders you let look at your file. A single bank shows you its one doctor product, if it has one. VegaFi's job is to make the whole panel show its hand, then let the CounterOffer engine push lenders to beat whatever offer you're holding. If you're watching the market while you wait on a contract, check today's mortgage rate for context — but your program terms will come from competition, not a headline number.
- 01 Tell us your scenario. Designation, contract start date, price range. About sixty seconds — no documents, no credit pull.
- 02 SmartMatch runs the panel. Your file is priced across 50+ wholesale lenders, surfacing which ones offer medical professional terms on your scenario.
- 03 Already have a quote? Make lenders beat it. Upload your Loan Estimate to the CounterOffer engine. We redact your identity and lenders bid against your existing offer.
- 04 Close with a licensed loan officer. A real human runs your file to closing — accountable and reachable, not a call-center queue.
Physician loan questions, answered.
Can residents buy a house in San Jose before starting their attending job?
Yes, through future income qualifying. Physician loan programs can qualify you on the income from a signed employment contract as long as your start date is within 150 days of closing. A resident or fellow with a signed offer from Stanford Health Care, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, or El Camino Health can close on a home before the first attending paycheck arrives. Programs are subject to underwriting approval.
Do physician loans require PMI?
No. The medical professional program on our panel allows up to 100% financing with no PMI. On a standard conventional loan, borrowers typically need 20% down to avoid PMI — and in Santa Clara County, where home prices are among the highest in the country, that 20% is a very large check. Physician programs waive both the down payment and the mortgage insurance because lenders treat medical professionals as strong long-term borrowers.
How much can doctors borrow with no down payment in San Jose?
The medical professional program on our panel goes up to $2 million in loan amount, with financing up to 100% of the purchase price for an eligible borrower. Santa Clara County has some of the highest home prices in the country, so many homes here sit above that ceiling; where the price is within the program's reach, up to 100% financing with no PMI is a major advantage. Above the program's limits, purchases move into jumbo financing. Every program is subject to underwriting approval.
What credit score do you need for a physician home loan?
The program requires a minimum credit score of 680. That is the floor for eligibility — a stronger score generally helps pricing, which is one more reason to have multiple lenders compete on the same file instead of accepting the first quote.
Do dentists, veterinarians, and pharmacists qualify for physician loans?
Yes. Eligible designations under the medical professional program are MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DPM, DVM, PharmD, and CRNA. If you hold one of these designations and the home will be your primary residence, you can be considered for the program. In a county this dense with hospital systems, group practices, and specialty clinics, the CRNA, PharmD, and DVM designations are anything but an afterthought here.
Is a physician loan enough to buy in Santa Clara County's expensive market?
It depends on the price. Santa Clara County has among the highest home prices in the country, and the 2026 conforming loan ceiling here is $1,249,125 — well above the $832,750 national baseline — with jumbo financing beginning above that. The physician program reaches up to $2 million with up to 100% financing and no PMI, which covers a meaningful share of the market and removes the largest barrier for a new attending: the six-figure down payment. Where a purchase runs past the program's limits, VegaFi prices jumbo options across its lender panel the same way.
Can I use a physician loan for a rental property or a cash-out refinance?
No. The program is limited to a one-unit primary residence, for a purchase or a rate/term refinance. Investment properties go through other programs, such as DSCR loans, and cash-out needs are handled outside this program. VegaFi prices all of those paths across its lender panel as well.