As two 24-year-olds only a few years into our careers and fresh out of college, I never would have imagined we would be homeowners. It’s not just a home, it’s our dream home, the one where we plan to start our family. We had been saving slowly and knew we wouldn’t be able to buy a house for a long time, and as planners, we honestly didn’t know what we needed to be ready to buy.
I took a step forward and asked family and friends for a realtor recommendation. The realtor reassured us that we were taking the right steps, and we had long, in-depth conversations about what we wanted, where we thought we were financially, our goals, and a reasonable timeline. The realtor connected us with a preferred mortgage advisor, who took the reins and got into the nitty-gritty of what we could afford. They let us know that even without a 20 percent down payment, there were resources to help, and we applied for the Iowa Finance Authority down payment assistance program, which bridged the gap and allowed us to secure a mortgage for the house of our dreams.
-Jordan Reynolds, Homeownership Programs, Clive