FHA Loan in 2026: 3.5% Down, 580 Credit — What It Actually Costs Per Month
A $700,000 house. 3.5% down. 580 credit. What does that actually cost you every month? That’s the question this post answers — with the full payment, not the teaser number. Principal, interest, tax, insurance, and the mortgage insurance FHA charges. All of it, at $600,000, $700,000, and $800,000. What you need to qualify Requirement FHA […]
Down Payment Assistance in California: Every Program Worth Knowing in 2026
You don’t need 20% down to buy a house in California. You might not need 3.5% either. There are programs that hand you the down payment — some as a grant you never repay, some as a loan you repay when you sell or refinance, some forgiven after a few months. The problem is that […]
How Much Do I Need to Make to Afford a $700,000 House in California?
You asked me this question more than any other. On Instagram, in my DMs, at open houses. “Dat, how much do I need to make to buy a $700,000 house?” Here’s the straight answer: about $185,000 a year — with 10% down, at today’s rates, using the share of income I see on most real […]
Should You Pay Points to Buy Down Your Rate — or Wait?
If you’re waiting for rates to drop before you buy, I get it. The 30-year fixed averaged 7.18% for the week ending November 5, 2026 (Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey), and I’m running the FHA examples below at 6.94% — the example rate I use across this site, close to the FHA average Mortgage […]
Seller Concessions: How to Get the Seller to Pay Your Closing Costs (2026)
Seller concessions are credits from the seller toward your closing costs — not your down payment. Here’s what they cover, the limits, and how to ask for them. I explain the buydown math in Should You Pay Points to Buy Down Your Rate — or Wait? — and this post is the other half of […]
Manufactured Homes: Building a Home on Your Own Land
If someone in your family warned you about “mobile homes,” they were talking about a different era. Since the 1976 HUD code, manufactured homes are built to a federal standard. That code is what made financing them possible — and it is why a manufactured home can be a real first home, not a compromise […]
Conquering Condo Financing: A First-Time Homebuyer’s Guide
A condo is how a lot of first-time buyers actually get in. The house you want is $800,000. The condo down the street is $600,000. Same neighborhood, smaller payment, and you are not mowing a lawn on Saturday. But condo financing is not the same as house financing. The lender does not just underwrite you […]
Condo and Townhomes for the First-Time Home Buyer
I hear the same three things about condos from first-time buyers, and two of them are wrong. “Condos are a trap.” “Condos never go up in value.” “I might as well keep renting until I can afford a house.” Here is what I actually tell my buyers: a condo is not a lesser house. It […]
Home Touring and Open House Tips: How Not to Be That Buyer (2026)
Touring homes this weekend? Don’t be that buyer. I mean the buyer who walks in alone, talks too loud about what’s wrong with the kitchen where the seller’s agent can hear every word, rushes through in ten minutes, and then wonders why their offer went nowhere. I’ve watched buyers hurt their own position before they […]
How to Budget for Buying a House
The lender will approve you for more than you should spend. That’s not a bug in the system — it’s how the system works. The approval is a ceiling. Your budget is a choice. This post is about making that choice with real numbers. What a lender will approve you for — and what you […]
Empowered 3.5% Down Payment Assistance: 2% or 3.5%, Forgiven in 6 Months
This is one of my favorite down payment assistance programs, and I say that with the trade-off right up front: it helps you get in the door, and it costs you a higher rate to do it. If you understand both sides, it’s a real option. If you only hear the good side, you’ll be […]
CalHFA Dream For All 2026: Closed — What to Do Instead
It’s closed. Don’t apply — there is nowhere to apply. Dream For All is CLOSED. The 2026 window ran February 24–March 16, 2026, and it was a random drawing. If you got a voucher, it was issued by May 20, 2026. There is no application to submit, no waitlist to join, and no 2027 window […]
Down Payment Assistance Programs for First-Time Homebuyers in California (2026)
The number one issue first-time buyers face is saving for a down payment. That’s not my opinion — that’s what Freddie Mac found in a homeownership survey in November 2022, and nothing has changed since. The down payment is the wall. Here’s the math that makes it a wall. On an FHA loan you need […]
Purchasing a New Construction Home
Are you looking to purchase a new construction home? If you are, congratulations — and I have a few things to tell you that will save you money, headaches, and one very awkward conversation with the builder’s sales office. Because a new home is not like a resale. You are not buying a house. You […]
The Hidden Costs and Fees of Buying a Home
When people talk about the cost of buying a home, they talk about the down payment. That’s the number everyone knows: 3.5% on FHA, $24,500 on a $700,000 house. But the down payment is not the total cash you need. Closing costs run 2–5% of the price — on top of the down payment. That’s […]
What You Need to Know About Credit Before You Buy a House
Here’s the line I hear all the time: “I need perfect credit to buy a home.” Not true. I say it in Episode 6 and I’ll say it here: FHA works at 580 credit with 3.5% down. Below 580, it’s 10% down. Under 500, you’re not eligible. No income limits — that’s true for FHA […]
Bank Statement, P&L, and DSCR Loans: The Alternate Loans, Explained
Here’s the problem nobody warns self-employed buyers about: you can make good money and still look broke on paper. You write off expenses. That’s smart tax planning. But a regular mortgage underwriter — the person at the lender whose job is deciding whether your loan is safe to make — qualifies you on your taxable […]
Buying a Home in a High-Interest-Rate Market
Let’s be straight about it: rates are high. The 30-year fixed averaged 7.18% for the week ending November 5, 2026 (Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey), and the FHA math in this post uses 6.94% — the example rate I use across this site (Mortgage Reports put the FHA average at about that on November […]
Are You Emotionally Ready to Buy a Home?
Everyone asks me if now is a good time to buy. Wrong question. The right question is: are you ready to buy? Because buying a house is emotional, not just math. Check yourself before you check listings. And can I just say this first: you don’t have to buy a home. Renting is fine, and […]
What Is a Home Inspection? What Inspectors Check — and What They Don’t (2026)
You’re about to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house. A home inspection costs $400–$700. It’s the cheapest peace of mind in the entire purchase, and it’s the one step first-time buyers are most tempted to skip. Don’t skip it. What a home inspection is A home inspection is a visual examination of […]
Is Now a Good Time to Buy a Home?
Is now a good time to buy a home? I get asked this more than any other question, and I understand why. You don’t want to buy at the top. You don’t want to overpay. You don’t want to look back in two years and wish you’d waited. Here’s how I actually answer it: I […]
How to Save for a Down Payment on a House
You don’t need 20% saved to buy a house. You need a plan. And the plan is smaller than you think. I hear the same thing from almost every first-time buyer I talk to: “I need to save 20% before I can buy.” No, you don’t. On a $700,000 house, 20% is $140,000. That’s the […]
Buying an REO or Short Sale Home: What First-Time Buyers Need to Know
A foreclosure listing looks like a deal. It is the only listing on the block where the price makes you stop scrolling — the same square footage, $100,000 less, and a seller who is a bank that just wants the asset off its books. I walked through this on Episode 7 with Raj Sharma, a […]
What Is a Conventional Loan?
A conventional loan is the plain-vanilla mortgage. No government insurance. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac rules. It’s the loan most people picture when they picture a mortgage — and for a first-time buyer with decent credit and some cash saved, it’s usually the cheapest loan over time. Here’s the short version: 3% down minimum, 620+ […]
What Is a VA Loan?
A VA loan is the best deal in mortgages — and most veterans never use it. If you served, if your spouse served, if you’re still serving: this is the loan built for you. No down payment. No monthly mortgage insurance. No loan limit from the VA itself. The only catch is that some lenders […]
Escrow: What You Need to Know as a First-Time Home Buyer
Your offer got accepted. Now what? Now you’re in escrow — the stretch of time between your accepted offer and getting the keys. It usually lasts a few weeks. Here’s what actually happens, in order, and what can go wrong. What escrow is Escrow is a neutral third party — usually a title company or […]
What Is an FHA Loan?
An FHA loan is the loan that gets most first-time buyers in the door. Low down payment, forgiving credit, and a process built for people buying their first home. If you’ve heard that you need 20% down and perfect credit to buy a house, FHA is the proof that you don’t. But the low down […]
What Is a Credit Score — and Is Credit Karma Accurate?
A client told me his Credit Karma score was 740. He’d checked it that morning, and he was ready to buy. Then I ran his credit and the mortgage score came back 671. Same person, same debts, same history — 69 points apart. And 671, not 740, was the score his loan depended on. That’s […]
New Construction Homes: Do I Need an Agent?
You drive into a new community. The sales office is beautiful. The agent at the desk is friendly, knows every floor plan, and offers you a coffee. That agent works for the builder. Not for you. That is the whole post, really — but let me explain why it matters, because first-time buyers walk into […]
What Is a Pre-Approval — and How Is It Different From a Pre-Qualification?
You’re scrolling listings and you find the house. You call your agent, you tour it, you love it. You make an offer. And the seller’s agent asks: “Are you pre-approved?” You say “I did the online pre-qualification thing.” And the seller picks the other offer. That happens every week. Here’s why, and how to make […]
Choosing a Real Estate Agent
Your agent is the single most important decision in your home purchase. More important than the lender. More important than the rate. More important than the house you pick. Because your agent decides how your offer is written, how it’s negotiated, and whether it closes. A great agent gets you the house at the right […]
First-Time Home Buyers: Where to Start in the Home Buying Process
The question I get more than any other, right after “how much do I need to make,” is this one: where do I even start? Here’s the order. It matters. Do it in this order and you don’t waste weekends touring houses you can’t buy. Do it backwards and you fall in love with a […]
How to Find a Lender — and What Questions Should I Ask Them?
Finding the right lender is the most important decision in the home-buying process — before you pick an agent, before you tour a house, before you fall in love with a listing. The lender is the one who tells you what you can actually borrow, and whether the payment works for your life. Get this […]
The Basics of Buying a Home — From Start to Finish
Buying your first home feels like 100 things at once. It’s not. I walk my buyers through it as 15 steps. Here’s the whole thing, in the order it actually happens. Step 1: Find a lender This is step one, before you tour a single house, before you fall in love with a listing. You […]