How Can You Buy a Home with Under 3.5% Down?

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Today, we discuss whether you can purchase a home for less that 3.5% down.

Most people without much real estate experience think that they need to have 20% down in order to buy a home. This is a limiting belief that leads many to believe that they can't afford to purchase a home. In reality, the government offers a program that allows people to put only .5% down!

The program is called the CalHFA and it's really quite simple. It's for people who qualify for a home loan, but who don't have enough money for a large down payment. If you are able to show that you're in good financial standing, but for whatever reason don't have the cash on hand for a down payment, you might be eligible.

The credit score requirement for this kind of loan is around 645 FICO.If your score is less than that, we have a credit analyzer that will look at look at all your debts and determine which ones you can pay down. In other words, we would love help you get your score up in order to qualify for the loan.

Like any other purchase, there is a down payment requirement; in this case it's 3%. We help you with it, so all you're required to bring in is 0.5%. So, if you plan on buying a $300k home, you only have to bring $1,500 to the table. Be aware that you'll run into some additional fees in the form of closing costs, which could be as much as $6,000 on a $300k home. However, you may be able to negotiate to get the seller to pay for it or, if you have the savings for it, you can pay for it yourself.

The loan limits with the CalHFA are conforming up to $217,000. There are income limits as well, but as long as you don't make too much money,there is a good chance you are eligible if you don't go above the median home income for your household size. The wait period can usually get done within the normal 30-day period, but you can expect to be asked for a 35- to 40-day escrow period to work through any hiccups that might arise in the process.

Melvin Camarena is one of our preferred Lenders, and if you have any questions for him regarding the CalHFA, or about general lending information, you can reach him here - 

Melvin Alexander Camarena

Ph: 510-432-3374  

nmls# 306061

Hablo su idioma

My Website: http://61509.stearnshomeloans.com/mcamarena

 Stearns Lending, LLC

As always, if you have any questions or need real estate assistance of any kind, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!

Pamala Spivey and Terri Daniel

Pamala Spivey brings to the table more than eighteen years of experience in the real estate profession, having worked with buyers and sellers in a multitude of transactions and housing markets. She is the consummate professional, priding herself on years of self-development and mastery of her field.

Within both the National Association of REALTORS® and the Bay East Association of REALTORS®, she is known to have a particular aptitude for helping first-time home buyers. In addition to this reputation within her peer groups, Pamala is a Certified Down Payment Assistance Specialist, meaning that she can help her clients to obtain their down payments using government and city programs. Because she finds personal satisfaction in assisting new home buyers, Pamala often holds seminars geared toward potential buyers who are unaware of all of their home ownership options.

Having been a resident of the Eastbay area for twenty-five years, Pamala is intimately familiar with the area, and this familiarity also comes in handy when helping clients who are looking to relocate into the Eastbay area. She is the type of person who goes the distance and gets the job done in life, recently completing her third marathon. In business, she conducts herself on the precept that the client’s expectations should never® be simply met – they should be exceeded. When you’re working with Pamala, you can be sure that this sort of above-and-beyond service is the standard.

How to Organize Your Home Before a Showing

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Want to buy an East Bay Home? Search all homes for sale

I recently found a good video on HGTV that I thought would be helpful to you if you're preparing to sell your home. It's essential that when you show your home to buyers, it's clean, organized, and decluttered. You'll want to empty out your closets, or at the very least, get them organized.

One thing you can do to get organized is put up shoe hangers in your doors, and store everyday items inside them such as cleaning supplies, utensils, or anything else that you can fit in them.

Another way to cut down on clutter is to use labels, or pick up storage bins to keep items like cords or wires in.

A tip for organizing your closet is to divide your clothes into four different sections: hang, sell, donate, keep, and fold. Once you have something marked out for every category, you can then organize your closet in any way you see fit. Here's an extra tip: you can use belt hangers to hang your necklaces and other jewelry.

I just thought this video would be useful for organizing your home, whether you're selling or if you just want to tidy up a bit.

If you need any assistance with staging, decluttering, or selling, please don't hesitate to contact me!