Hi everyone! meet our newest cohort member, Clintara! We’re excited to have her with us and look forward to assisting her throughout her homebuying journey. We’re here to support, encourage, and celebrate each step along the way. Welcome, @Clintara Berry ! 🎉🏡

Everyone please welcome @Cliff Phillips. I’m so excited to have him here, where he can get support and resources to make his homebuying journey easier.

Good Morning Good People! I hope you are all having a wonderful week! Understanding your debt-to-income ratio is one of the most important steps you can take before you start shopping for a home. It's one of the most misunderstood numbers in the mortgage process. Your DTI tells your lender one thing: after paying all of your monthly debts, do you have enough income left to comfortably carry a mortgage payment? The answer to that question can be the difference between an approval and a denial. We are living in a season where the financial pressure on everyday people is real. The cost of higher education has left millions of Americans carrying student loan balances that follow them long after graduation. Groceries, gas, childcare, and everyday expenses have all climbed. Credit cards have quietly become the gap-filler for a lot of households just trying to keep up. The result? Two of the biggest obstacles I'm seeing block buyers from qualifying right now are student loan debt and high credit card utilization. In many cases, it isn't a lack of income or bad financial decisions, but the weight of the times we're living in showing up on a mortgage application. As you are approaching the home buying process, it's important to know where you stand and if you are not where you need to be, to craft a plan to get there. During a mortgage readiness call we sit down together, look at your real numbers, and build a plan around your specific situation — not a generic checklist, but a clear path forward built for you. I've attached a document explaining more about Debt to Income, What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Improve Yours. I look forward to heading from you!

What's The First thing you should do in this journey you ask? Definitely get with a resourceful Realtor!! This is crucial and shapes how your buying experience starts and ends. Interview Realtors and never shy away from asking questions. Realtors should act as your flashlight to help you navigate and connect with the professionals needed at each phase of your transaction. Most industry pros depend on us Realtors because we literally provide YOU with the keys to rev up the engine and get things going! vroom vroom🚘

When starting the process of buying you will get loads of information. As a first time buyer, things may not make sense. I encourage you to have a journal in hand throughout the process. You can always go back to read and re-read, jot questions down and reminders. BTW- it will all make sense later. Take one phase at a time and trust the process.