Down Payment Assistance, Discovery Calls & Lending Myths (INTERVIEW) - 340
How to Buy a Home
David Sidoni
4.8 • 859 Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stackable grants, strategy-based lending, and insider truths about mortgage math—this episode unpacks what really sets unicorn lenders apart in today’s market. In part two of this masterclass with unicorn lender Kelly Cort, David and Kelly go deep on the real numbers behind down payment assistance, adjustable rate mortgages, lender-paid buy-downs, and PMI myths. Learn why pre-approvals aren’t enough, how lenders can actually help you win bidding wars, and what it means to build a plan instead of chase a rate. From DTI math to offer letters and insurance shocks, this is the kind of lending guidance most first-time buyers never get.
Quote:
“You just loan yourself $35,000 for $44 bucks a month. Cheapest money you’ll ever buy.” — Kelly Cort, Episode 340
Highlights:
- What is down payment assistance—and can you use it even if you have 20% down?
- How does stacking assistance programs work—and what are the tradeoffs?
- Why does Kelly personally call the listing agent to help your offer stand out?
- How can your lender strategy beat a higher competing offer in a bidding war?
- What’s the real difference between a 6.5% rate and a “clickbait” 5.5% rate?
- Can you buy a home with just an offer letter for a job you haven’t started yet?
- Why is PMI sometimes the smartest move—and how low can it actually go?
Referenced Episodes:
- Episode 19 – Financial Prep for Homeownership
- Episode 94 – Real Estate Terms & Definitions
- Episode 328 – 10 Real Action Steps for First-Time Buyers
- Episode 339 – Part 1 with Kelly Cort
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David Sidoni, the "How to Buy a Home Guy," is a seasoned real estate professional and consumer advocate with two decades of experience helping first-time homebuyers navigate the real estate market. His podcast, "How to Buy a Home," is a trusted resource for anyone looking to buy their first home. It offers expert advice, actionable tips, and inspiring stories from real first-time homebuyers. With a focus on making the home-buying process accessible and understandable, David breaks down complex topics into easy-to-follow steps, covering everything from budgeting and financing to finding the right home and making an offer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back, homies, and buckle up because it's time for part two. And this episode is a masterclass in the lending secrets that 99% of the real estate industry never tell you about. This is the second half of my conversation with unicorn lender, Kelly Court. We're going to go deep into a whole bunch of topics like down payment assistance programs. |
| 0:21.3 | How do those really work? Who qualifies for them? Yeah, even folks with 20% down can qualify. |
| 0:28.1 | And get this, how you can stack them using multiple different programs for maximum benefits. |
| 0:34.6 | And we talk about how the right team can turn a maybe in two or three years dream |
| 0:39.8 | into a closed in three months reality. This is everything that a clickbait ad for a 5.5% |
| 0:47.0 | interest rate won't tell you. You're going to find out why choosing your lender based on actual |
| 0:52.3 | guidance and service, not a website quote of an |
| 0:55.3 | interest rate, is the difference between approved and winning the house. Let's do it. Because I got |
| 1:02.5 | you here and because the homies want to know everything about buying a home, you know what? Let me jump |
| 1:06.2 | ahead to what about down payment assistance programs? What have you seen being used? |
| 1:11.3 | Because we just got it at all the crazy minutia with all those people. |
| 1:14.0 | What about the people who are sitting there going, |
| 1:15.3 | dude, I'm nowhere near 20%. |
| 1:16.9 | What do you tell them? |
| 1:18.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:18.5 | So very cool. |
| 1:20.3 | We love down payment assistance programs. |
| 1:23.5 | I've worked for a few different lenders and I've been here at Guild for several years now. |
| 1:27.1 | And I've never seen anybody do down payment assistance better than we do. |
| 1:30.4 | Now, that was my little commercial, but I will say it's so easy to know one, |
| 1:36.6 | do you qualify for down payment assistance? |
| 1:39.8 | Here's a high quality problem. |
... |
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