Washington State Mortgages, Made Clear. Buying or Refinancing? Let's find the right loan together.
I'm Rhonda Porter — a licensed Mortgage Advisor with 25+ years of experience helping homebuyers and homeowners across Washington State find the right loan with confidence. No jargon. No pressure. Just honest guidance.
When you apply for a mortgage, two documents do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to understanding your loan: the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure. Both were introduced in 2015 under federal rules designed to make mortgage costs easier to understand and compare — and they replaced the old Good Faith Estimate and HUD-1 Settlement Statement.
Here’s what each one is, when you’ll receive it, and what to pay attention to. [Read more…]
How Much Home Can I Actually Afford?It’s one of the first questions every home buyer asks — and one of the most important. But “how much home can I afford” and “how much will a lender approve me for” are not the same question. Confusing the two is one of the most common — and most costly — mistakes buyers make.
Your approval amount is determined by a formula. Your actual affordability is determined by your life. A good mortgage professional helps you understand both — and helps you build a plan that works for you, not just one that gets you to closing. [Read more…]
Rates moved higher last week, but today (Monday, March 16th) delivered the best day for bonds since the conflict with Iran began — a meaningful bright spot heading into the week ahead. Here’s everything you need to know about where rates stand and what’s driving the market right now.
If you’ve been following the headlines lately, you may have seen reporting on how $800 monthly car payments are straining budgets and slowing auto sales. It’s a compelling story about the car industry. But from where I sit, there’s another story hiding in those numbers — one that affects far more people and almost never gets told.
That $800 car payment isn’t just hurting your ability to buy a car. It’s quietly taking a massive chunk out of what you can qualify for when you’re ready to buy a home.
Quick answer: At today’s common 6% rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, every $100 in monthly car payment reduces your home buying power by approximately $16,679. An $800 car payment alone eliminates $133,432 in mortgage qualifying amount — before a lender even looks at the rest of your file.
Everything Seattle Metro & Puget Sound Buyers Need to KnowIf you’re shopping for a home in Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Everett, Edmonds, Tacoma, Gig Harbor, or anywhere across King, Snohomish, or Pierce County, there’s a good chance you’ll hear the word “jumbo” come up in your mortgage conversation. But what exactly is a jumbo mortgage — and does having one mean you’ll face sky-high rates or impossible qualification standards? Not necessarily, and especially not here. [Read more…]
