For many people buying a home is the American dream but saving for the down payment might not be. Here are some tips and strategies to make your down payment.
1. First-time home buyer programs. There are a number of first time home buyer programs such as FHA, VA and USDA loans that have lower down payment requirements than conventional loans.
2. Old fashioned monthly savings – this takes longer but make a monthly budget of your spending – see where you can cut back and see how much you can save monthly – then commit to saving towards your down payment each month.
3. Tax Return – with tax season here, if you are getting a refund, try setting it aside towards your down payment.
4. Get side gig – if you have enough time consider getting a side gig and save the money from that.
5. Ask – its fairly common for parents to help their kids with money towards down payments today (for those lucky enough to have this option), you can also consider asking friends and family for cash instead of gifts to help you put towards your house.
The market is changing and it also helps to see how much you’ll need to save and what you can qualify for – so please fill out our quick qualifier on our website to get a good idea of what you can qualify for.

With recent market volatility we have good news for some new home buyers. Starting in March, those who are receiving FHA financing and paying mortgage insurance will see the monthly fee reduced from 0.85% to 0.55%. This is expected to affect 850,000 borrowers this year and result in an average savings of $800 annually. The savings will vary based on the loan amount, for example a person with a $500,000 FHA loan would save $1,500 annually.
If you are in the market for a new home, fill out our quick home qualifier on our website and we can help determine what loan best fits your needs and let you know how much you can pre-qualify for.

We don’t have to tell you that interest rates have gone up in the past year, so refinancing now may seem unusual but if you have a lot of debt, like credit card debt, those rates have gone up even more.The average American has nearly $40,000 in debt not including home loans so today we ask if you consider a cash-out refinance to pay off other debts like credit card debt. Credit card interest rates are normally much higher than mortgage interest rates and if you are carrying high credit card debt while making minimum payments, there is an opportunity to save a lot in monthly credit card payments that are primarily going to pay high interest rates on the debt. First you will need enough equity in your home to get a cash-out refinance. With real estate values increasing in recent years, many people have seen their home value rise so they may qualify for cash-out. You’ll still need to maintain equity in the home at 80-90% to avoid paying mortgage insurance and you will have to get an appraisal and pay closing costs which will be subtracted from the cash out amount. Of course, contact us to see if a cashing out to pay off your debt makes sense for you. And remember you’re not actually eliminating the debt you’re just saving on high interest payments so be careful not to start spending again

We are often asked about jumbo loans and when they are used, so here’s an explainer (or refresher). For conventional mortgages there are two general types conforming and nonconforming. Conventional conforming loans for most areas are $726,200 or $1,089,300 for select areas with high housing prices for 2023 as set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A jumbo loan would be a nonconforming loan that exceeds those limits.

If you are looking to buy a home that is high priced and don’t have a huge down payment you will likely need a jumbo loan. A jumbo loan with its higher loan amount is often going to have higher qualifying requirements than a conventional loan – including higher down payments and credit scores as well as lower debt to income (DTI) ratio.

In terms of conventional versus jumbo – it may be jumbo out of necessity if you are looking at a high priced home as previously noted. Complete our quick analysis and we can help you see what programs you qualify for and what fits your needs!