The questions you're embarrassed to ask
There are no dumb questions in this business. There are only questions nobody bothered to answer for you.
Why people don't ask
Almost every buyer I meet has been carrying one specific question around for months, quietly, because they assume everyone else already knows the answer. Usually it's about money. Sometimes it's about credit. Occasionally it's just 'what actually happens at settlement'.
The silence costs people years. Someone who could have bought last spring is still renting because they never asked whether a 620 score was workable.
Is my credit score too low?
Probably not as low as you fear, and almost certainly fixable. Scores move with a handful of levers: utilization, collections, disputes, and time. A good loan officer can tell you which levers matter for your file in about twenty minutes.
If the number needs work, we work on it. That's not a rejection, it's a start date.
Do I really need twenty percent down?
No. That figure comes from an older era and it has stopped more people from owning homes than any market condition I've seen.
Both Maryland and Pennsylvania run assistance programs, and several loan products need far less. What you do need is a clear number to aim at, which is exactly what a lender conversation produces.
What if I'm not buying for two years?
Then you're in the best possible position, because we have time to do this properly. Two years is enough runway to fix nearly anything on a credit report and to save deliberately rather than frantically.
Does it cost anything to ask?
No. A first conversation is a conversation. Nothing is signed and nobody is committed.
Still got a question about this? Send it over.
I answer these myself. No call center, no assistant screening the awkward ones.