Home loans, explained on video
A few minutes each, no jargon. Miguel walks through buying, refinancing, and using your home's equity — in English and Spanish.
Buying a Home
- Conventional Home Buyer Loan — What a conventional loan really is, who it fits best, and how it compares to FHA when you're buying a home — explained in plain language.
- When Is a Good Time to Buy a Home? — Waiting for the 'perfect' market usually costs more than it saves. Here's how to tell when the timing is right for your situation — not the headlines.
- When Is the Right Time to Buy a House? — Rates, prices, your savings, your plans — the real factors that decide whether now is your moment to buy, rather than trying to time the market.
- The Perks of Buying: Rent vs. Buy — Rent receipts build someone else's wealth. A look at renting versus owning and the long-term payoff of putting money toward your own home.
- First-Time Home Buyer: Getting Pre-Approved — Buying your first home starts with a pre-approval, not with browsing listings. A quick look at how first-time buyers get pre-approved and what it unlocks.
- Down Payment Assistance Programs — The down payment is the biggest hurdle for most buyers — but assistance programs can cover part or all of it. Miguel explains how they work and who qualifies.
- Steps to Buying Your First Home — The whole first-time buyer journey, step by step — qualifying, down payment assistance, closing costs, and what happens at each stage.
- Pros & Cons of Down Payment Assistance Programs — Assistance programs aren't free money with no strings — an honest look at what they give you and what they cost you in buying power.
- Down Payment Help Explained: Grants, CalHFA & More — The main assistance programs — grants, CalHFA, and loans for nurses and teachers — plus the credit score you need to qualify.
- FHA Home Loans — The FHA loan from top to bottom — the 3.5% down payment, credit score minimums, mortgage insurance, and why it's the go-to first-time buyer loan.
- Home Loans with a Co-Signer — How co-signers work on FHA and conventional loans — including teaming up with family to help your kids buy their first home.
Refinancing & Using Equity
- Home Loan Refinancing — The four big reasons homeowners refinance — cash out, removing mortgage insurance, home improvements, and consolidating debt — in under two minutes.
- How Taking Equity Out of Your Home Works — What home equity is, how much you can borrow against it, and the common ways to pull it out — cash-out refinance, a second loan, and more.
- How to Refinance to Buy Another Property — Tapping the equity in your current home to fund the next purchase — how a cash-out refinance can help turn one property into two.
- Using Your Equity to Buy a Second Home — Your first home can help you buy your second. How homeowners use built-up equity as the down payment on another property.
- Do You Pay Taxes on a Cash-Out Refinance? — Cash from a refinance isn't income, so it generally isn't taxed. A plain-language look at why — and the spots where taxes can still come into play.
- Cash Out Refinance Home Loan — A quick look at how a cash-out refinance turns the equity in your home into money you can actually use.
- Refinance to Remove PMI — Paying mortgage insurance every month? A refinance can remove PMI once you have enough equity — here's how it works.
- How Long Does It Take to Refinance Your Home? — One of the most common refinance questions, answered: how long the process really takes from application to closing.
- What Items Do You Need to Refinance Your Home? — The exact document checklist for a refinance — ID, Social Security card, bank statements, paystubs, and your home paperwork.
Investing in Real Estate
- How To Start Investing In Real Estate (For Beginners) — You don't need to be rich to buy your first investment property. Miguel walks through how beginners get started — from the first down payment to the loans that make it work.
ITIN & Special Programs
- Earned Equity Program: Buy a Home with ITIN or DACA — You don't always need a Social Security number to buy a home. How borrowers with an ITIN or DACA status can qualify and start building equity.