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Recent Posts
- Breaking a Lease to Buy a House Near Fort Carson and Colorado Springs
- Breaking a Lease to Buy a House With a VA Loan: The Seller Can Pay the Fee
- Buying a Home Before PCS: Pre-Approval on Orders, BAH, the 12-Month ETS Rule, and Closing Before You Arrive
- The Military Lending Act Explained: What the 36% Cap Covers, What It Doesn’t, and Why Your Mortgage Is Not on the List
- Military Credit Protections: Active Duty Alert vs. Credit Freeze vs. Free Monitoring, and Which to Use Before a Mortgage
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My CPA Saved Me $20,000 and Cost Me My Pre-Approval: A Colorado Springs Story
A Colorado Springs business owner wrote off $80,000 and lost a pre-approval. How lenders read your tax return, and the loan that uses deposits instead.
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Newly Self-Employed in Colorado Springs? The 2-Year Rule Has an Exception
Started a business in Colorado Springs less than two years ago? You may still qualify. The real 2-year rule, the exception, and what a local file needs.
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VA Cash-Out Refinance: The Rules Most Lenders Get Wrong
VA cash-out refinance explained: 100% loan-to-value, Type I vs Type II, seasoning, funding fee, and the cash rules. Straight from the VA handbook.
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Departing Residence Rental Income: Fannie Mae’s 2026 Rules
Buying a new home and renting out your old one? Fannie Mae’s updated rules say no lease agreements — here’s what counts and how the math works.
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Waiting for the Fed to Cut Rates? That Wait Has a Price Tag
Waiting months for a possible rate cut while paying 20%+ on credit cards costs real money. Here’s the math on acting now vs. waiting.
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Gifting a Down Payment to Your Child: The Inheritance That Works 30 Years Early
Gifting a down payment to your child is the most misunderstood move in family finance. Research on inheritance timing keeps finding the same thing: the money lands on people already in their 50s and 60s — stable, settled, and long past the years it would have changed. Meanwhile the same family’s kid is 30, married,…
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Moving Back Home Isn’t Failure — It’s a Down Payment Strategy
Living with parents to save for a house is now the most common housing move for young adults in America. The Wall Street Journal just reported that nearly half of adults under 30 live with a parent — and called it financial savvy, not failure. They’re right. Rent is up about 30% in five years.…
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Buy Before You Sell: Using a HELOC for the Down Payment on Your Next Home
Last updated: September 26, 2026 The Buyer’s Dilemma You found the next home. You want to move on it now. But most of your money is locked up in the home you already own. As of Q3 2026 (September 2026) (PRMG Lightning Equity Hybrid HELOC Product Profile, 09/03/2026; Lightning Equity Expanded Guidelines, rev. 5/28/2026): minimum…
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An Unplanned Jumbo Purchase, a Recast Strategy, and a CTC
A family in Colorado Springs wasn’t planning to move. Then the right home came up at the right price. They had a lot of equity locked in their current house — but no buyer yet, no sale under contract, and no plan. Most people in that spot either wait or write a contingent offer. Both…
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BAH Wasn’t Enough — Until We Changed the Math: A Fort Carson VA Loan Story
A Sergeant First Class at Fort Carson came in with a straightforward concern: the housing payment on a new build was going to run several hundred dollars over his BAH, and he wasn’t sure that math made sense. His credit score was 598. The home was $491,000. And on paper, the payment felt like too…
