Who Writes This and How It Was Verified
Program and regulatory figures verified October 6, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A lender's site about a state program and a city tax, which means the standard has to be the primary document rather than someone else's summary of it.
Who writes this?
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We originate in Pennsylvania and already run PA Loan Experts and Buy Before You Sell Pennsylvania.
Reach Mike at (480) 296-6513 or mcerto@cfmtg.com.
How were the figures verified?
The loan repayment program: we read the Department of Health's LRP Fact Sheet, revised March 2026, and RFA 67-206, dated 2 April 2026, in full rather than relying on the program page. That is where the closed deadline, the service-commitment hours, the refinance rule and the PSLF carve-out actually live. None of them appear on the summary page.
The transfer tax: the 1% Commonwealth rate and the joint-and-several liability language come from the PA Department of Revenue. The 4.578% Philadelphia rate and the City's collection right come from the City's own Realty Transfer Tax page.
Loan limits: all 67 Pennsylvania counties checked programmatically against the FHFA's 2026 county limit file. 66 at baseline, Pike County alone above it.
Market data: Zillow Research's public metro series for the month ending 31 August 2026, pulled 2026-10-06. 34 Pennsylvania metros, 33 up, one down.
★ Why citations were tested before writing
A citation that an AI crawler cannot read is not much of a citation. So every source on this site was fetched under both GPTBot and ClaudeBot before it was used, and sources that refused automated access were dropped rather than linked.
That dropped more than it kept in a few places. The City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County both refuse automated access. Fannie Mae's product pages, Freddie Mac's and USDA's return errors. The AAMC's data reports refuse the crawlers. We used what answered.
★ What we refused to publish
Four things, and we would rather list them than have you assume we covered them.
- Any Pittsburgh or Allegheny County transfer tax rate. No primary source is readable. The Department of Revenue publishes no table of local rates and both local sites block automated access. We say the Commonwealth's 1% applies, say a local rate exists, and route you to the Recorder of Deeds.
- A date for the next LRP cycle. None is published. We give the Department's notification email instead of a guess.
- An average LRP award. Pennsylvania publishes no annual report of actual awards against the $80,000 maximum. Some states do; Pennsylvania does not. So "up to $80,000" is presented as a ceiling and nothing more.
- Any resident or GME count for Pennsylvania. The AAMC's data reports block the crawlers and we found no readable primary source, so the graduate-medical-education story here is told by naming systems rather than by inventing numbers.
There is a fifth, smaller one: the Commonwealth's transfer tax reaches real estate transferred by "long-term lease," and we have not verified the statutory threshold for that term, so we mention the category and state no year figure.
What else we will not do
- Quote rates or payment amounts. Both are shown on your file instead.
- Advise on who should pay the transfer tax. Allocation between buyer and seller is a contract matter. We describe the cash; your agent handles the paperwork.
- Give a tax conclusion. Both the federal exclusion and PA Bulletin 2009-02 are quoted and attributed, and the RFA's own instruction to see a qualified tax counselor is repeated.
- Advise on licensure, visas or employment contracts. We are lenders.
- Describe the physician program as agency financing. It is a lender portfolio guideline set, which is precisely why it can treat student debt and start dates differently.
Found something wrong?
Email mcerto@cfmtg.com and we will fix it with a dated correction. Program terms, tax rates, loan limits and market data all change, and the Philadelphia rate in particular has moved before.
Compliance
Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. Equal Housing Lender. This is not a commitment to lend. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Mike Certo?
A Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855, holding NMLS #260555. He originates loans in Pennsylvania and writes the program explanations on this site. He can be reached at (480) 296-6513 or mcerto@cfmtg.com.How are the figures on this site verified?
Loan repayment figures were read directly from the Pennsylvania Department of Health's LRP Fact Sheet and RFA 67-206 rather than from the program summary page. Transfer tax rates come from the PA Department of Revenue and the City of Philadelphia. Loan limits were checked across all 67 counties in the FHFA 2026 file, and market data is Zillow Research's metro series to 31 August 2026. All verified 2026-10-06.Why doesn't this site list the Pittsburgh transfer tax?
Because no primary source is readable. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue publishes no table of local realty transfer tax rates, and the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County websites both refuse automated access. Rather than repeat an unverified figure, the site states the 1% Commonwealth rate, notes that a local rate applies, and routes readers to the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or licensure advice. Physician-loan program terms, eligible degrees, and overlays are set by the lender and change. Pennsylvania Primary Care Loan Repayment Program award amounts, eligibility and application cycles are set by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against the Department's published RFA and Fact Sheet. Realty transfer tax rates are set by the Commonwealth and by local jurisdictions and change. All loans are subject to borrower and property qualification, including credit and income review.