By Eric Yoder If you've been staring at your savings account wondering how you'll ever reach 20 percent, that excitement of buying a home wears thin fast. On a $400,000 home, 20 percent means...
By Gilbert Bennett You're scrolling listings in Tampa Bay and one line stops you cold: assumable VA loan, 2.75%. After years of watching rates sit well above that, it reads like a typo. It isn't....
By Eric Yoder Most first-time buyers in Tampa Bay hear about down payment assistance the same way. Someone at work mentions it, or an agent brings it up during a showing in Riverview, and it lands...
The down payment for first-time home buyers in Florida is the wall a lot of buyers hit first. That is the exact problem Florida's Hometown Heroes Program seeks to solve by offering down payment and...
By Sam Wax Finding out your mortgage broker retired can feel unsettling, especially if they helped you buy your first home in Tampa and you figured they'd be your go-to for years. Maybe you were...
By Sam Wax The moment you start searching for someone to handle your financing, it can feel overwhelming. Type "mortgage broker near me" into your phone, and you'll get a long list of names, all...
By Eric Yoder You found it. The right layout, the right street, a backyard in a Tampa Bay neighborhood you can actually picture yourself in. Then the deal slips away, and it has nothing to do with...
By Sam Wax If you're house-hunting in the Tampa Bay area, you've probably typed your income into an online calculator, gotten a big number back, and wondered whether you can really afford it. It's a...
By Gilbert Bennett If you’re a nurse, teacher, or first responder, you spend your days taking care of other people. Every day, people lean on you to help. So when it’s time to buy a home, don’t be...
By Eric Yoder If you earn your living as a 1099 contractor, freelancer, or small business owner in the Tampa Bay area, you've probably heard that getting a mortgage is tougher for you than for...
By Sam Wax and Steven Hochak Buying a two-to-four-unit property in the Tampa Bay area can feel like a bigger leap than buying a single-family home. Here's the good news: financing multi-family...
By Eric Yoder You signed the closing papers, got the keys to your new place in the Tampa Bay area, and started hauling in boxes. Then a quiet question creeps in: when is my first mortgage payment...