Buying a home in Sacramento, California

As of January 1, 2026, the FHA limit for a one-unit home in Sacramento County is $764,750 and the conforming limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans is $832,750, per HUD’s FHA Mortgage Limits lookup. HUD lists the median sale price for the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom area at $665,000 on the same record.

Those two limits decide which loan a purchase fits. Above the FHA limit, an FHA loan is off the table for that home. Above the conforming limit, the loan is a jumbo. Buying two to four units and living in one raises both limits, as the table shows.

In California the lender’s security on the home is usually a deed of trust, a transfer in trust that can carry a power of sale, a structure Civil Code 2924 sets rules for. For a buyer the paperwork reads differently from a traditional mortgage but the obligation to repay is the same.

California is also a community property state under Family Code 760, which treats property acquired during the marriage as community property unless a statute says otherwise. If you are married and buying alone, your spouse can still matter to how title is held and to which debts a lender counts. Raise it at the start rather than in underwriting.

For an eligible veteran or service member, a VA loan is often the strongest option on a home they will live in. The Department of Veterans Affairs says a VA-backed purchase loan often offers no down payment as long as the sales price is not higher than the home’s appraised value. I am an Army veteran myself, so this is a file I am glad to look at. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency.

Buying in Roseville instead? See the Roseville page. Investing in Sacramento rather than buying a home to live in? That is a different kind of loan, covered on the Sacramento investment property page.