Inflation, jobs data, and a packed holiday week — here’s what you need to know about mortgage rates and the housing market for the week of June 29, 2026. [Read more…]
Refinance to Pay Off Student Loans Without Cash-Out Pricing
June 26, 2026 by Leave a Comment
If you’ve got federal student loans, you’ve probably heard that repayment is about to change — again. Starting July 1, 2026, the SAVE plan officially ends, two brand-new repayment plans launch, and millions of borrowers will be reshuffled into new monthly payment amounts. That reshuffle doesn’t just affect your loan servicer statement. It flows directly into how a mortgage lender calculates your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) — which affects how much home you qualify for. [Read more…]
When Can I Buy a Home After Bankruptcy?
June 25, 2026 by Leave a Comment
This is a question I get more often than you’d think, and the answer surprises most people: a bankruptcy doesn’t permanently disqualify you from getting a mortgage and depending on the type of bankruptcy you filed and which loan program you use, you may be eligible sooner than you’d expect — in some cases, before your bankruptcy is even fully discharged.
The two things that determine your timeline are which chapter you filed and which loan program you use. Let’s break both down. [Read more…]
How to Prepare to Refinance While Rates Are a Moving Target
June 24, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Mortgage rates don’t move in a straight line. They drift up, dip down, hold steady for a few weeks, then jump again — sometimes in the same day.
If you’re waiting for “your number” to refinance, that uncertainty can feel like a reason to wait on everything. Don’t start the application. Don’t pull your credit. Don’t look too closely at your current loan. Just… wait.
Here’s the thing: waiting for the right rate and preparing to refinance are two completely different activities. You can — and should — be doing the second one while you wait on the first.
Let’s walk through what that prep actually looks like. [Read more…]
What Was Subprime Lending and Why Non-QM Isn’t a Repeat
June 23, 2026 by Leave a Comment
If you weren’t buying or refinancing a home in the mid-2000s, “subprime” might just be a word you’ve heard in passing — usually attached to the phrase “mortgage crisis.” If you were around back then, you probably remember it very differently: as a borrower who got a loan you probably shouldn’t have, as a homeowner watching your neighborhood fill with for-sale signs, or — in my case — as a loan officer watching an entire segment of the industry implode in real time. [Read more…]
