Get the money boring first
The best buyers we work with make financing the dullest part of the process, early. Here is the order of operations we walk every client through before the first showing.
Four moves, in sequence
Know your real monthly number
Not the maximum a calculator approves; the number that leaves your life intact. We ask clients to write down the payment they would be comfortable making in a bad month, then we shop beneath it. Houses are long; moods are longer.
Get pre-approved, not pre-qualified
A pre-qualification is a guess; a pre-approval is underwriting. Sellers and their brokers know the difference at a glance, and in a competing-offer weekend it is often the difference. We can introduce two local lenders we trust, or work with yours.
Decide the down payment story
Twenty percent is a norm, not a law. The right structure depends on your reserves, the house's condition, and what the monthly number does at each tier. A century home with a four-winter boiler wants cash held back; a turnkey loft does not.
Leave room for the house itself
Our contractor-turned-broker will estimate the first two years of real costs on any house you offer on. Budgeting those before you bid is the difference between owning a house and being owned by one.
The honest monthly math
- Purchase price$885,000
- Down payment (20%)$177,000
- Illustrative rate, 30 yr6.4%
- Principal + interest$4,429 / mo
- Taxes + insurance, est.$1,180 / mo
- All-in monthly$5,609 / mo
Fictional example for demonstration only. Not an offer of credit, a rate quote, or financial advice. We are brokers, not lenders.
Paper in hand, the search gets good. Start with the guides, or start with the conversation.
How buying with Corbel works →The office picks up.
No routing menu, no team of assistants triaging you. Call the studio, tell us about the house, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right brokerage for it.