The best New Year’s resolutions do not start on New Year’s Eve when you are finally honest with yourself about what went wrong during the old year, and they definitely do not start when you roll out of bed in the early afternoon on January 1 and start scrolling through headlines about New Year’s resolutions and see the resolutions that your friends or some random celebrities have posted on social media. Achieving a long-term goal next year begins this year, or maybe it even began last year.
Buying a house is not something you do on a whim unless you are extremely wealthy. If your goal is to buy a home in 2024, then unless you are already wealthy, then neither a coupon clipping binge nor a bankruptcy filing this fall is likely to help you qualify for a mortgage loan this year. Alameda County will, however, offer a program in 2024 with the aim of lending money to help first-time homebuyers make a down payment. To find out more about how to get your finances in shape to qualify for affordable homeownership programs, contact an Oakland lawsuits, collections, and creditor harassment lawyer.
Getting Ready for Homeownership is a Years-Long Process
The AC Boost program offers first-time homebuyers in Alameda County an opportunity to receive a down payment assistance loan of up to $210,000. A down payment assistance loan is not a mortgage loan; rather, you use it as a down payment on a house and then borrow the remainder of the value of the house as a mortgage. That means that you will have to make payments on both the mortgage loan and the down payment assistance loan for years. This is a tall order, but it is easier enough than coming up with a sizable down payment out of your own funds. Consider that you need less money to borrow $210,000 than to accumulate $210,000 in your savings account through earning money but not spending it and through the accrual of interest.
AC Boost will open for the next round of applications in early 2024. The best thing you can do now to maximize your chances of getting approved is to lower your debt-to-income ratio and, if possible, to raise your credit score. Discharging debts in bankruptcy while remaining employed lowers your debt-to-income ratio, but it is not easy to get approved for a large loan amount if you have a recent bankruptcy filing on your credit report. Qualifying for homeownership requires a lot of long-term strategies, and it starts with being honest with yourself about your current debt problems and asking for help. A bankruptcy lawyer can help you get through bankruptcy with as little damage as possible to your creditworthiness.
Contact the Law Office of Melanie Tavare About Working Through Your Debt Problems
A debt relief lawyer can help you develop a long-term strategy to pursue financial goals such as homeownership. Contact the Law Office of Melanie Tavare in Oakland, California, or call (510)255-4646 for a free case evaluation.
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