Chapter 1 — The Money Comes First

Before you tour a single house, before you fall in love with a kitchen, before you so much as bookmark a listing — we handle the money. Every mistake I've watched buyers make in three decades of this business traces back to doing the steps out of order, and the money is always step one.

Here's what the industry doesn't tell you: the hardest part of financing a home isn't the math. It's the vocabulary. Escrow, points, PMI, DTI — the words are the moat. Lenders and agents talk over your head in this language every day, and most buyers just nod along, which is exactly how people end up in loans they don't understand. Learn the words, and the whole process shrinks down to what it really is: a series of ordinary decisions, made one at a time.

So we built you a house. Every term you'll meet on the financing side of your purchase is sitting on the front lawn below. Tap any one of them and watch the roof open — the definition flies out in plain English, no lender-speak. Spend a few minutes with it. By the time you've opened that roof fifteen times, you'll speak the language better than half the buyers walking into open houses this weekend with an agent at their elbow.

One rule before you play: get your pre-approval before you tour anything. It's the first pill on the lawn for a reason. A pre-approval tells you your true budget, makes every offer you write credible, and costs you nothing but a phone call and some paperwork. Buyers who tour first and finance second fall in love with houses they can't buy. Don't be one of them.