Home buyers in the San Francisco Bay Area have a lot of questions when it comes to down payments. We know this firsthand, because we've been fielding such questions for nearly 20 years. One question in particular always seems to…
Homeowners in California have several ways to convert their home equity into cash. One common strategy is to use a second mortgage (a.k.a., home equity loan) that delivers a lump-sum payment based on the equity you've built up. We recently…
Home buyers in California who have been through a bankruptcy within the past few years sometimes have a harder time qualifying for mortgage loans. Bankruptcy filings like Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 can significantly lower a person's credit score. They…
VA loans allow military members and veterans to buy a home in California with no money down, a major advantage in a pricey real estate market like ours. This program also allows you to purchase a variety of property types,…
This article is part of the Bridgepoint Funding "City Series," where we explore key cities in the San Francisco Bay Area from a home buyer's perspective. Today, we turn our attention to the city of Dublin, California, located in the…
In a previous report, we explained that San Mateo County is the most expensive real estate market in the San Francisco Bay Area. That was based on a county-by-county comparison using median sale prices provided from a single source. But…
As a home buyer, you have a lot of choices when it comes to the type of property you want to purchase. And in a state like California, which often suffers from inventory shortages, home buyers often have to expand…
As you might already know, many real estate markets across the state of California are currently experiencing inventory shortages. Because of this, home buyers often have to expand their horizons when it comes to the types of properties they're willing…
FHA loans are the second most popular mortgage option California, following the standard conventional home loan. First-time home buyers, in particular, favor the FHA loan program because it allows for a down payment as low as 3.5%. But this program…
Housing affordability can be measured in different ways, both short-term and long-term. But when buying a home in an expensive real estate market like California, home buyers are typically most concerned with the size of their monthly payments. Common questions…
