Get a tax credit when you buy a home

 Special Programs  Comments Off on Get a tax credit when you buy a home
Sep 152022
 

For more information, please contact me at (512) 261-1542 or steve@LoneStarLending.com.

By G. Steven Bray

The recent spike in interest rates may have made it harder for you to afford the home you want. For a $300k home, a 1% increase in the interest rate means a roughly $200 increase in the monthly mortgage payment, and that means you need a $400 raise to qualify for the same home before rates went up.

If you can’t convince your boss to boost your paycheck, I have another option: a Mortgage Credit Certificate. The certificate provides a tax credit equal to 20% of the interest you pay each month as part of your mortgage payment. And here’s the important part: we can treat that tax credit as additional income to help you qualify for more home.

A $300k 30-year mortgage with a 6% interest rate could generate a tax credit of almost $3600 in the first year. That boosts your qualifying income by almost $300 per month.

See how large a tax credit you can get. Click this link to take a short four-question quiz. Or just give us a call. We’d love to help you buy a home.

Need down payment assistance to buy a home?

 Special Programs  Comments Off on Need down payment assistance to buy a home?
Sep 142022
 

For more information, please contact me at (512) 261-1542 or steve@LoneStarLending.com.

By G. Steven Bray

What do you do if you want to buy a home and don’t have money for a down payment? Bank of America just announced a new no down payment mortgage targeting minority communities, and that might work for you if you live in Dallas. Certain neighborhoods in Dallas are the only areas of Texas eligible for the program.

So, what if don’t live in Dallas or if your income is too high for this program? Here’s another option. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corp (TSAHC) offers down payment and closing cost assistance up to 5% of your loan, and it’s available throughout the state.

And unlike a lot of down payment assistance programs, the TSAHC program does NOT require that you be a first-time homebuyer to qualify. You do need a credit score of at least 620, and you must be able to qualify for a conventional mortgage.

The program does have income limits, but they’re surprisingly generous. In the Austin area, the income limit is almost $140k, and in some targeted areas, the limit is almost $155k. In Dallas, the limit is just over $120k and in Houston just over $110k.

To see if you qualify, click this link to take a short four-question quiz. Or just give us a call. We’d love to help you buy a home.

 Posted by on September 14, 2022 at 1:55 pm