--- title: "ON KATV: 2020 TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERSHIP" description: How to improve your financial independence and start the new year on a positive note. image: https://blog.blrmortgage.com/hubfs/1102020%20KATV%20Patrick%20Dennis%20Video%20Pic-1.png --- ![blrm_logo-166x45.png](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Mortgage_Site/images/blrm_logo-166x45.png?width=166&name=blrm_logo-166x45.png "blrm_logo-166x45.png") ![logo-rock-mortgage.png](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Mortgage_Site/images/logo-rock-mortgage.png?width=180&name=logo-rock-mortgage.png "logo-rock-mortgage.png") ![blog-bg.jpg](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Mortgage_Site/images/blog-bg.jpg?width=1600&name=blog-bg.jpg "blog-bg.jpg") # NEWS # ON KATV: 2020 TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERSHIP Posted by [Blake Montgomery](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/mortgage-newblog/author/blake-montgomery) on Jan 21, 2020 11:44:23 AM ![Blake Montgomery](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/0d0a314baa0a411b65de2e97005b52d9) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share)   Watch Patrick and Melinda to learn more.                   From the January KATV interview with Patrick Dennis and Melinda Mayo No Headphones...No Problem.  See below for transcript. From the station that's on your side this is channel 7 news good morning Arkansas we have Patrick back with us today from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage and today we're going to talk about VA loans Veterans Day is coming up and perhaps a lot of veterans or their families don't know that this is available to them where they can find housing and find homes with a no down payment so Patrick will tell us about how all that works and Patrick Dennis of Bank of Little Rock Mortgage is here to share five important tips for homeownership something really important for everyone to be thinking about whether you're a homeowner now or you're going to be in the future there you go for the new year maybe that's one of your goals well up next you're going to share five important tips for homeownership stay with us alright welcome back everybody Patrick dinners where the bank of Little Rock mortgages joins us today and we're going to talk about the five tips for homebuyers especially in 2020 a lot of people may say this is the year to own my own home absolutely yeah it's a great goal to have so let's talk about what do you think homebuyers should consider in the new year so the first thing you want to find out is what you can afford as far as a home payment you've got a coordinated with your other payments your credit cards you know what are you comfortable with right the rule of thumb is 28% of your gross income or less and and again it's not what you qualify for what you're comfortable with right yeah because you may have other bills that are higher than the other guy right everybody's situation is different you could that out for children you know you can't face as high of a mortgage so how does your credit score then affect your ability so credit score has a lot to do with it first of all just for your eligibility for certain programs or for a mortgage at all you want to make sure your your credit is in check that your your credit cards are you know either 50 percent of their capacity or lower so just check it to make sure there's no hiccups you know nothing that's unexpected yeah so we want to get that in shape well we keep seeing you know identity theft make sure there's not something on there that isn't yours too if you see it all the time you do yeah when they go oh I don't have that account okay any other tips as far as the down payment yes so there's a big myth that you have to come in with 20% of a down payment to get a mortgage and that's not true we've got several mortgage mortgages mortgage types that have minimal amounts of money that you can bring in home ready home possible you can put in 3% down on a home for first-time homebuyers and if you have a lower credit score FHA lets you do three and a half also veterans 100% loan for veterans and they deserve it yeah rural development 100% loan as well and that's usually property eligible as well as income eligible so don't think I don't have $20,000 saved up you know you may not need it yeah with all these programs how do you know which mortgage is the right one for you yeah so based on the last few things that we covered your your credit score your down payment that's going to kind of give us a direction as to what best fits you as far as the mortgage goes it's not a one-size-fits-all scenario we get all that information together and then we'll try to pick and choose and hopefully you qualify for multiple yeah one size does not fit all when it comes to buying a home or your second home or whatever you're doing okay any other tips like pre qualifying for loans is that important yes oh so that's the big that will give us the big picture on what we can do for you here in 2020 if you come in do a pre-qualification or give us a call doing an online application it might take you 10 minutes it covers all of those things that we just covered in this interview your credit score will know exactly what's on it what you can afford what your payment's are all of that encompassed will give us a direction and what what mortgage best fits you right and it'll put you on a definitive path to homeownership in 2020 do people come in and they just they just want to go out and start looking at homes but it's really important to come in with you guys first that's correct and figure out your picture first most Realtors will tell you first thing you want to do is go out there get pre-qualified for a loan make sure you have that in order then you can go out and take a look at a home and you're ready to ready to go you're not looking at that dream home that you're not going to qualify for or to fall in love with it and then find out well you know this is it for me just yet for her right you'll know right where you are okay what's the easiest way to get in touch with so several ways BLR mortgage comm is our website we're on facebook twitter the number at the office is two one nine ninety one hundred give us a holler we were just talking about interest rates still very good going into the new year and believable still under four percent in the conventional range so depending on qualifications but it looks to be shaping up to be a good year buyers market seller's market what do you think i think it's a little bit of both okay you know you've got limited inventory you've got people out there ready to buy ready to move so i think you're gonna see a little bit of both i'm about that's the way we need it that's a we need people buying and selling and go visit them at bank of little rock mortgage they could certainly get you started on that path the right way thank you go check your generator which I right or what a good hi we're glad to be that thank you so much Topics: [home ownership](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/mortgage-newblog/topic/home-ownership) [On Time Closing](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/mortgage-newblog/topic/on-time-closing) [Home Loans](https://blog.blrmortgage.com/mortgage-newblog/topic/home-loans) [Home 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