GCA Mortgage Forums | HLT Education | Activity https://gcaforums.com/members/hlt/activity/ Activity feed for HLT Education. Fri, 13 Nov 2026 14:48:44 +0000 https://buddypress.org/?v=3.7.1 en-US 30 hourly 2 515dde28119ca3084ab40fde0675b29e HLT Education started the discussion Down payment assistance is not only for first homes, and other things buyers get in the forum Mortgage Loan Programs https://gcaforums.com/topic/down-payment-assistance-is-not-only-for-first-homes-and-other-things-buyers-get/ Sun, 08 Nov 2026 18:47:38 +0000 Down payment assistance is not only for first homes, and other things buyers get

We keep a state by state library of homebuyer assistance programs, and the same misunderstandings come up again and again:

1. “Assistance is only for first-time buyers.” Many programs define a first-time buyer as anyone who has not owned a home in the last three years, and some programs are open to repeat buyers entirely.

2. “It is free money.”…

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]]> e5802c6f64362de12c70a53fdbac2ecf HLT Education started the discussion How much house can you actually afford? The three numbers that decide it in the forum Mortgage Underwriting Help Desk https://gcaforums.com/topic/how-much-house-can-you-actually-afford-the-three-numbers-that-decide-it/ Sun, 08 Nov 2026 18:46:02 +0000 How much house can you actually afford? The three numbers that decide it

Most affordability arguments online use one number, usually a percentage of income. In practice, three numbers decide what a buyer can actually carry:

1. The housing ratio: your total monthly housing payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, and mortgage insurance if it applies) divided by your gross monthly income.

2. The total…

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]]> 17260af8029b50c8b5c1a9060ce041a1 HLT Education started the discussion First-time buyers: which closing cost caught you off guard? in the forum First-Time Homebuyer https://gcaforums.com/topic/first-time-buyers-which-closing-cost-caught-you-off-guard/ Sun, 08 Nov 2026 18:40:52 +0000 First-time buyers: which closing cost caught you off guard?

We run a mortgage education site, and the question readers ask us most is some version of “why is the cash I need at closing so much higher than my down payment?”

A big part of the answer is that two different buckets get lumped together. Closing costs are the fees for the loan itself: origination, appraisal, title, recording, and similar.…

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