I have a friend in the process of purchasing a 1.3 million dollar penthouse in Austin, he has already put 10% down, any suggestions on where I may try to place this loan? It seems to be pretty limited. Of course he is looking for the lowest rate available, however does not want to put more down because he is going to invest alot of money in tricking out the interior. Thanks for any help.

Daryl

Your friend is going to need to put down about 30-40% with almost any jumbo lender, especially a jumbo loan.  ING has among the best rates, but they're guidelines are stringent and they only do ARMs

US Bank might be one to consider, but again, he'll need more down.

If he has a lot of assets, they're are some asset based lending programs that don't use the property as collateral but instead use the assets.  That might be something to consider if he is over 5MM in some type of transferrable assets (stocks, real property/items...).

Jumbo's are a difficult proposition right now.

I would try Thornburg Mortgage as they portfolio their jumbo and super jumbo loans. There is also someone on here who works for a private bank/hedge fund that is looking to make loans like that. I can't remember their name though. Maybe someone else will post his information.

Let us know what you find out.