By Eric Yoder You have been saving for a house in the Tampa Bay area for a couple of years, and the balance still does not look like enough. That gap between what you have set aside and what you...
By Sam Wax You’ve been told you’re not old enough for a reverse mortgage, or that you don’t qualify for the government-backed programs. So what can you do? If you own a home in the Tampa Bay area...
By Gilbert Bennett The VA home loan is a significant financial benefit for eligible service members and veterans and, in my experience, the most misunderstood mortgage product. Veterans walk into my...
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 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 Gilbert Bennett I talk to many service members and Veterans about their VA home loan benefits, and one thing comes up repeatedly: people leave money on the table without realizing it. Sometimes...
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 Stephen Arthur You found the perfect Tampa condo. Your credit is strong, your income checks out, and your loan originator gave you a pre-approval letter. You write the offer, the seller accepts,...
By Sam Wax Most buyers walk into their home-buying process focused on one number: the monthly mortgage payment. That's the number on the listing calculator, the number your lender quotes, the number...
By Eric Yoder Buying your first home in the Tampa Bay area is exciting, but there’s something in the closing disclosure to be aware of: title insurance. In Florida, it’s one of the smartest...
By Lesley Holroyd Buying a home is stressful enough without running into a financing wall. And if the home you’ve got your heart set on costs more than $832,750, that’s exactly what happens with a...