You were good at your job. So good that you figured out you could do the same work for yourself, or for a few clients at once, and get paid on a 1099 instead of a W-2. Business is going well. Then you start looking at houses, and everyone tells you the same thing: come […]
Just Changed Jobs? You May Not Have to Wait a Year to Buy a Home in Austin
Austin is a town where people change jobs the way other towns change their minds about the weather. You took the better offer in the spring, the new badge works, the commute is shorter, and now you want to buy a house. Then somebody tells you that you need two years at the same job […]
The Appraisal Form Changes November 2. Here Is What Austin Buyers, Sellers and Agents Will Notice.
On Monday, November 2, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac switch to a new appraisal form. If you are buying or selling in Austin this fall, or you are an agent with files open, you will see it on a real transaction within weeks. Here is what is changing, what is not, and the one […]
Three Different 2027 Conforming Loan Limits Are Already in Use. None of Them Is Official.
Two weeks ago I wrote about why two lenders can give an Austin buyer different answers on the same day. Since then the picture has gotten messier, and it is worth an update. The official 2027 conforming loan limit does not exist yet. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has not announced it. But as of […]
Conforming or Jumbo? Why Two Lenders Can Give an Austin Buyer Different Answers on the Same Day
A buyer calls me in late September. They’re looking at a house in the low $900s, putting real money down, and the loan lands right around $840,000. They already talked to a lender who told them it’s a jumbo loan — more documentation, more reserves, a different approval path, and a noticeably less pleasant conversation […]
Should a Texas Investor Accept a Prepayment Penalty on a DSCR Loan?
The term sheet comes back. Everything looks the way you expected until you hit two words near the bottom: prepayment penalty. And something in you goes cold. You’ve spent years absorbing the idea that a prepayment penalty is what a predatory lender slips into a loan to trap you. Every article you’ve ever read about […]
