Should You Find Out What You Qualify For Before You're Ready to Buy?

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The first workshop since 2022

Welcome to Mortgage Mom Radio. I'm Debbie Marcoux, the Mortgage Mom, and today we're talking about my upcoming home buyer workshop — who it's good for and what you'll get out of it.

The last workshop I did was in 2022. I did one in person in June, was supposed to do another in August, got sick, and never got around to rescheduling it. So here we are in 2024 and I haven't done one in two years. We're fixing that.

I'm also changing the format. I've tried Saturdays during the day, Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings — I have never done a weekday evening. Everyone is busy on a weekend: errands, the kids' activities, weddings, trips. Who wants to stop and learn how to buy a house? So let's try a Wednesday, in the evening. Not too late, because this is also a podcast and a YouTube show and people across the country tune in. We're starting at 5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, March 6th.

If you've been thinking about buying a home this year, next year, or even in 2026, it is worth your time. You do it from the comfort of your own home, watching on YouTube, and you can be interactive with me exactly like you can during the weekly show — ask your questions right in the feed and I'll answer them. I'll be in no rush. We're going to take our time and work through all of the things you need for this to go well.

Why the workshop exists

I've been doing home buyer workshops since 2015, usually a couple a year. 2020 obviously took them away, and streaming wasn't something I'd thought about then. So we're making this a new habit — online, from your kitchen. Make dinner, do laundry, help with homework, put one earbud in and follow along.

Here's why it matters. They say buying a home is one of the three most stressful things in life — it ranks right up there with divorce and death. So we want to bring that anxiety level down. We want to walk you through the process, and we want you to understand what people are saying to you. Sometimes the words sound alien. You don't understand the lingo, which makes you confused, and then you don't understand what someone meant when they were talking about escrow — wait, I have to send money to an escrow company, but you're also talking about escrows in my mortgage payment? We'll cover all of that, and get you up to date on the words that matter, which makes everything easier as you move through the process.

We'll also talk about what kinds of loans are available, how much money you need down, and what credit score gets you into a home. A lot of the time, someone who wants to be a buyer doesn't realize there's an opportunity there — that a loan program exists that would work for them. Believe it or not, most of the time it is easier to qualify for a mortgage than for an RV, a boat, or even a personal loan. So we'll go through what those opportunities are, and what people mean when they say FHA or conventional, so you can tell whether now is your time.

And we'll spend some time on credit repair, because maybe now isn't your time — you know your score doesn't fall inside the guidelines. We'll cover the tips to get you moving in the right direction. The goal is that you get prepared, you get ready, and when it's your time to execute it's a little easier, a little less stressful. You get to strike when you're ready.

Q&A: should you find out what you qualify for early?

Christopher asks: “Would it be a good idea to see how much I qualify for even though I'm not necessarily ready to pull the trigger?”

That is actually one of the very first steps — because a lot of people aren't ready to pull the trigger precisely because they don't know what they qualify for. They just keep putting it off and putting it off, truly believing in their hearts that they're not ready, that they don't qualify, that their credit isn't good enough, that they don't have enough for a down payment. Two weeks ago I did a whole show on down payment assistance; there are lots of programs, many for lower credit scores, many for first-time buyers, many to help with the cash you need to close. Most of the time what people get hung up on is “I'm not ready because” — and they don't realize there might be a solution to the “because.”

There's a practical side too. If you don't know what you qualify for, your eyes aren't open. You're not learning the market, you're not watching listings come through on Redfin and Zillow. You are going to window shop for at least two to three months before you're really ready to get out there — and sometimes people window shop for years. But if you don't have an idea of what you're window shopping for, or whether it's even a possibility, it's very difficult to want to take the next step.

So yes, 100%. Find out what you qualify for. What would those monthly payments be? Is that affordable to you? Is there anything you need to do differently today to make tomorrow happen? That is really, really important, and it's absolutely worth a phone call.

What a consultation actually is

Calling and getting a consult does not mean we need a full-blown application, that we have to pull your credit report, or that you need to send me every document under the sun. We can have an adult conversation: what do you do for a living, how are you paid, are you salary or hourly, what are your monthly debts — car payment, student loans, credit cards — and what do you think your credit score is?

Most people know their score. Most credit cards show it every time you log in to pay the bill, and they'll notify you that it went up four points this month or down four points this month. So people usually have a good idea. All of that is enough for us to have an adult conversation and, doing the numbers by hand, tell you roughly what I'd anticipate you qualifying for.

It's obviously not enough for me to issue a pre-approval letter or send you out making offers with a real estate agent. But it tells you whether you're in the ballpark, and whether you're searching online at the right numbers. Anyone like Christopher — thinking about buying, not quite ready — should be at this workshop. It never hurts to have more information, a better understanding of the process, how it works, what you need, what credit scores matter.

Q&A: FHA and rent history

Helen asks: “My fiancé is buying his grandma's house and qualifies with income and credit, but he has no rent history. Is he a good candidate for an FHA loan?”

Great question. FHA does not require that you have any kind of rental history — sometimes it does, and everyone's situation is a little different. For example: if his credit score were really low and the debt-to-income ratios were pushing the limits, we might have to do what's called a manual underwrite, where the automated system doesn't give us an approval and we need compensating factors for the underwriter. In that situation — pushing the envelope in every direction — we may want to verify rental history showing consistent monthly housing payments.

But for the majority of clients getting an FHA loan, I'd say one out of every 50 to 75 FHA loans I do is a manual underwrite. In every other case, proving you've made rent payments is not one of the guidelines. Since you said he has the income and the credit, I highly doubt it would be necessary, and yes, FHA would be a great fit. How much he's paying for the property versus what it's worth all factors in, and there are things to discuss when you're buying from a family member — including whether conventional might be better. But rent history is not a requirement for the majority of FHA loan programs.

Q&A: one credit card or several?

Vern asks: “Is it better or worse to have multiple credit cards versus only one, all with zero balance and paid off monthly, in regard to credit score and getting the lowest possible interest rate?”

That one's easy. You want between four and five different trade lines on your credit report, and you want those trade lines carrying as low a balance as possible — zero being the very best. So between one big card and four or five smaller ones, four or five smaller separate cards is actually better, because you want multiple trade lines reporting positively every month, over and over again.

What we'll cover at the workshop

The workshop streams live here on YouTube, and on Facebook if that's where you prefer to watch. Here's the agenda.

The words you need, so the lingo is easier and you understand what someone is telling you. Closing costs — what they are, why you're being charged them, and how much to set aside, because they're paid on top of your down payment. FHA, conventional, VA and USDA, and what you need to qualify for each. Down payment assistance: how it works, what you need to qualify, and whether you should even use it if you've already saved a nest egg — that answer genuinely varies, so we'll get into it.

Then getting pre-approved: the difference between a pre-approval and a pre-qualification, what you need to do to get pre-approved, how long a pre-approval stays good, and how often your credit gets pulled. If you've been shopping for 30 days without finding anything, do we need to pull your credit again? The quick answer is no — we'll talk about how long a credit report is good for so you know when it's time.

We'll cover locking in your interest rate. Signing disclosures — what they are, what they look like (a big, humongous legal-looking stack), how many you'll receive, how many times you'll sign, and which one matters most. Ordering your appraisal. Final loan approval, and the difference between the up-front approval and the final one. Removing contingencies from the contract — a question I get constantly. I can't tell you yes or no; that's your choice. What I can do is explain what a contingency means and where you are in the process, so you decide with your eyes open. Then signing your loan documents, funding, and closing.

If we have time at the end, I'll get into how to start preparing for the pre-approval and how to find the right real estate agent. That part is hit or miss, because what I really want to hit is the hardest part of the transaction. Think about it: looking at houses is fun. It's exciting. You're out in the summer grabbing ice cream between showings, eating McDonald's in the car. The most overwhelming piece of that is deciding which one you like best. Then you're negotiating the contract, which can get frustrating. And after that comes the loan — and you are not buying that house and not getting the keys unless the loan goes through and gets done correctly. The stress really starts the day escrow opens, and that's the piece we want you comfortable with.

Wrap-up

I want everyone listening who doesn't own a home today, and would love to own one tomorrow or next year, to be part of this. It's free. It costs you nothing but a couple of hours while you cook dinner, fold laundry, or do homework with the kids — an earbud in your ear and your phone streaming next to you.

To get the link to join, text RSVP — uppercase or lowercase, doesn't matter — to 844-935-3634. That's 844-WE-LEND-4. You'll get the YouTube link straight to your text messages when we start; no Zoom link, no computer needed. If you're not sure it went through, just call my office — same phone number.

And if you'd rather not wait for the workshop and want a personal one-on-one consultation and to get your pre-approval started, that's absolutely fine too. Call the office, or go to mortgagemomradio.com and book an appointment right on the website.

If you're listening on Saturday, you're hearing a repeat of what we do live on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. Pacific. We film it on YouTube, you get to ask questions, and then the audio goes to radio. Subscribe to the Mortgage Mom Radio channel and click the notification bell so you know when I go live. I'll see you next week.