Agent Irvin Ricano

Saving for a down payment can be hard but with a little determination it can be done. This is the best way to save money. The most important thing is to break down your goal into small increments that are achievable. Once you know what those small increment are you need to stay consistent with it. That’s were technology comes in and sets your goal on auto pilot. Now that your are saving in the background all you have to do is wait. Soon enough you’ll be that much closer to your goal. Stay tuned for more money saving tips.

Pro tip: If you are still a few thousand dollars shy away from your goal you can opt in for down payment assistance programs like CHAFA. These programs let you borrow money with no interest and you only have to pay it back when you sell the home.

There are many credit reports out there especially third party company's such as Credit Karma. The credit report you want to focus on is what's called a FICO score. 90% of lenders will use this score to qualify you for a loan. You can get a free copy of your score from Experian, TransUnion or Equifax. Below you will see most of the factors impacting your credit score by percentages. Scores range from 300-850. 850 being the best score. Most consumers are around 700-720. So, do not feel left behind if you are not at 850. I will be posting tips on how to build a good credit score. Stay tuned.

What is a debt-to-income ratio (DTI) and why does it matter? This ratio can be complicated but here is the simplest way to see it. You take your monthly debt and divide it by your monthly income. An example is, your monthly debt is $1650 divided by your monthly income of $5000. Your debt to income ration is 0.33 or 33%. Why does this matter? Well, lenders use DTI to see how much of a loan you can qualify for. From here it can get more complicate and harder to understand but the only thing you should be worried about is keeping your DTI as low as you possibly can by not taking any new debt or by paying it down. This will help you qualify for a bigger loan.

I know its complicated but I am here to answer all of your questions.

This is one of the most frequently asked question that I receive. Now, this question is more complicate to answer because everyone's situation is different. But, these are the basics. Each one will affect how much you qualify for so it is best to improve all of them. I know some of these are unfamiliar so I will go over each one in future posts. Stay tuned.

1. Your debt-to-income ratio.
2. A down payment.
3. A good credit score.