As a renter or first time home buyer, it’s easy to look at home ownership as potentially expensive. You’ve got home maintenance, insurance, repairs, landscaping and any number of things which may require money to maintain. But here’s the thing that almost NO ONE REALIZES: When you rent, there is a cost involved in waiting. And it’s a HUGE number. Way bigger than you think. That’s why I bought a home as early as I could. And it’s why I’ve encouraged MY OWN children to buy their first home’s as early as possible. It’s the COST OF WAITING! Forget hundreds, [...]

Last Thursday afternoon was humming along when my phone rang. It was a past client. She sounded stressed. “Hey, are you still in the mortgage business?” she asked. “Why yes!” I said. “I’m about to lose $50,000 because these people can’t get my loan closed, and my contract expires in a week”. Yikes. The Anatomy of a $50k Mistake Our client thought they were in a good spot. They were selling their prior home and had PLENTY of money to put down on the new one. So much, in fact, that they gave the seller a $50k deposit! The problem [...]

It’s hard to really put down roots with your family when you’re renting. It’s someone else’s house. You know it & the kids know it. For families with kids, buying a home is so important to really establishing your “story” as a family. You can start to really make friends. It’s where you create memories. What does a first time homebuyer look like? Alot of first time homebuyers we see are young people just starting out. Maybe they’re single and buying a home. Sometimes they’re soon-to-be or recently married. Every once in awhile we hear from a family with children [...]

There’s a reason we believe in choosing a lender before looking for a home. It’s because if you don’t know exactly what you can afford, you’re wasting time looking for a house. We recently had a young man come to us who desperately wanted to buy a home. The problem? He didn’t have any money saved. For most lenders, the lack of a down payment might be a problem. Not for our team! We completed his preapproval and matched him up with an incredible government-sponsored down payment assistance program which granted him $5,000 to use toward the down payment and [...]