What I Learned as a Mortgage Counselor—and the Strategy I’m Now Using to Buy My Own Home
A pre-approval letter might say you’re able to buy a house—but that’s not the same as being financially prepared to own one. We all know that getting qualified for a mortgage isn’t exactly rocket science—keep your debt low, credit report clean, and stash some savings for your down payment and closing costs.
But I’ve worked with enough people who’ve gone through foreclosures and bankruptcies to pick up some valuable wisdom. They confided in me about what went wrong, and the takeaway was clear and consistent: don’t buy a home just because you can. Make sure you’re truly prepared to keep it—through good times and bad.
Buying a home means you’re about to take on a six-figure debt—most likely near a half-million dollars. That’s not something to take lightly. Dave Ramsey has a lot of clever sayings, but one in particular really stuck with me after dealing with these members: “A house is a broke person’s worst nightmare.” It’s what led me to pump the brakes and not just jump headfirst into the market because I can. I made the decision to take my time and get in the best financial shape possible—not just to get qualified, but to maximize what I could qualify for and carry that responsibility with confidence.
Dave Ramsey Made Me Rethink Mortgages
If you’ve listened to Dave Ramsey, you’ve probably heard him say something that sounds borderline impossible: “You don’t need a credit score to get a mortgage.”
At first, I thought he was gatekeeping—like there was some secret network of mortgage lenders for people with stacks of cash. But I kept listening. Then I started researching. Turns out, he wasn’t lying. What he was referring to is something called manual underwriting—a process where lenders look beyond your credit score to decide if you can handle a home loan.
Manual underwriters assess your income, job stability, savings, payment history, and overall financial behavior. But even once I understood that, I had no clue where to find a lender that used manual underwriting—especially one that still offered all the perks I was looking for as a first-time homebuyer.
When I Found Out About NACA
Around this time, I started hearing more and more about a program called NACA. If you’re unfamiliar, NACA offers a mortgage with no down payment, no closing costs, below-market interest rates, and most importantly, no credit score consideration. Basically, it sounded too good to be true.
Honestly, I thought NACA was either a scam or some income-restricted government program I wouldn’t qualify for. I’m used to being in that gray area—earning too much to get assistance, but not enough to comfortably say no to help. And while I saw some success stories on YouTube, I also saw horror stories. Delays, frustrations, misinformation.
So I Did What I Always Do When I Need to Learn Something
I applied to work there.
That’s right—I went through the hiring process, got licensed as a Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO), and became a Mortgage Counselor at NACA. I needed to know if this program was legit. I needed to understand exactly what they look for, why some people struggle with the process, and how to position myself to avoid those pitfalls. But more importantly, I wanted to learn to teach other people so that they can become happy homeowners as well.
Not only did I confirm that NACA is real—it’s arguably the best mortgage on the market—but something else clicked: what I was doing as a Mortgage Counselor at NACA was manual underwriting. Dave Ramsey wasn’t wrong. You don’t need a credit score to buy a house—but you do need a paper trail that clearly shows the lender what they’re looking for.
Now that I understood the system from the inside, I started developing my own strategy: how to get through the NACA process quickly with no issues, maximize my approval amount, and stack as many grants and assistance programs as possible. I documented everything, and if you want the full breakdown, it’ll be sent to anyone who signs up for my mailing list.
How I’m Preparing My Finances for Maximum Mortgage Approval
Once I understood the difference between being qualified and being ready, I got serious about building a plan. Because when it comes to how much home you can actually afford—and what you’ll get approved for—it comes down to two major factors:
Your monthly income and your monthly debt. That’s largely the whole game.
Rebuilding My Income After the Biggest Pay Cut of My Life
Let me be real—I took a major pay cut to work at NACA. Biggest one of my life. But what I gained in knowledge, clarity, and financial literacy made it more than worth it. Now that I’ve learned the inside game, my first big goal is to get my income back up.
Here’s the thing: for your income to count in a mortgage qualification, especially through a manual underwriting process, it needs to be stable and verifiable on your tax returns for two years. So even if I start making six figures tomorrow, that won’t fully count until two tax years show it. So that establishes my timeline—I’ve got two years to build the strongest financial profile possible.
Paying Down Debt Fast—And Positioning My Finances for a Home Loan
The second part of this equation is my debt. I’ve got student loans, a car loan, and a couple credit cards I’m working on paying down. Like Dave Ramsey says, “To get out of debt, you need a big shovel.” That means increasing income aggressively so you can dig your way out fast.
So that’s what I did. I pivoted to a new career that pushes my income over six figures—not even counting my side hustles. That gives me the firepower to attack my debt hard, while also boosting my reported income at the same time. Two birds, one stone.
Rebuilding My Credit and Playing the Long Game
Before I could apply for anything new—let alone think about homeownership—I had to deal with my credit report.
Now, NACA doesn’t care about your credit score, but they do care about what’s on your credit report. They’re looking at your history with debt and your credit report is basically your track record with financial responsibilities. If a credit report shows that someone had issues repaying a $9,000 car loan, it’s only fair they’d question how that person would handle a $400,000 mortgage.
And to be honest, my report had some blemishes:
- Student loans in collections
- An unpaid insurance bill in collections
- A couple of late payments
- A thin credit profile
- Several hard inquiries
NACA doesn’t require you to “fix” these things through traditional credit repair. Their process is designed to move forward as long as you can explain what happened and show you’ve corrected the pattern. But in my case, I had reasons beyond NACA to fix my credit.
Life had hit me with a curveball—I was in a bad car accident that completely totaled my car. I had no choice but to replace it, and that meant taking out a car loan. It was a necessary move, but also meant that a lender would be looking at my credit report soon to decide if they should issue me the auto loan.
But I also wanted to start traveling more—not just for fun, but to explore. California is my home, and while I appreciate it, I’ve also felt the weight of its cost of living, politics, and overall lifestyle. I needed to see for myself if another city might feel more like “home” before I committed to buying property here. The right credit card strategy could make those trips doable without blowing my budget.
At the time, all I really had was a secured credit card. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid spending money throughout this process on essentials like groceries, gas, bills, and life, so it made sense to get credit cards that would help me travel a little easier by using their card instead of my debit card. I didn’t want to get denied for these cards or the car loan so I spent about six months cleaning up my credit report before applying for what I needed.
And since hard inquiries fall off after two years, they’ll be off of my report by the time I’m officially applying for my mortgage. Another move made with this timing in mind.
Rethinking My Approach to Business
Like a lot of people chasing financial freedom, I’ve always had a side hustle. Before I worked at NACA, I ran my own screen printing company. Business was solid—but it also came with high overhead costs. Equipment, supplies, space, shipping, insurances—expenses added up fast. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal because you can write those expenses off on your taxes and that leads to a bigger tax refund, right?
Well, here’s the catch most people don’t talk about: when you apply for a mortgage, it’s not your gross income that matters—it’s your net income.
If your side business shows a loss, that number gets deducted from your job income when underwriters calculate your qualifying income. That’s part of what led me to pause my screen printing business altogether—too many expenses were cutting into my numbers.
Instead, I pivoted to digital income streams with little to no overhead:
- I built an app (more on that below)
- I started blogging and creating video content
- I leaned into affiliate marketing
- I started getting booked for paid consultations
- I started dropshipping white-label products
- I started selling Print-on-Demand products
- I’m actively working toward getting monetized on social media
These side hustles are low-cost and scalable, giving me the flexibility to increase my income without reducing what’s reported on my taxes. It’s all part of the long game.
Laying the Groundwork for Ownership
Now that I’ve positioned myself to increase my income—both through my new career and multiple side hustles—the next phase of my plan is all about aggressively paying down debt. With more income coming in and a solid budget in place, I’m finally in a position to make serious progress. Every extra dollar I earn is going toward wiping out my remaining student loans, car loan, and credit card balances.
But clearing debt is just one layer of this strategy.
At the same time, I’m focused on building my savings intentionally across multiple categories. This isn’t just about stacking cash—it’s about preparing for very specific milestones in the homebuying process.
First, I’m working to set aside my Minimum Required Funds (MRF) to meet NACA’s purchase guidelines. On top of that, I want to have additional savings available to buy down my interest rate through NACA, which can make a huge difference in my long-term affordability.
I’m also setting money aside to take full advantage of first-time homebuyer grants, especially those that match funds dollar-for-dollar. I’ll go into those grant strategies in a separate article, but what’s important now is making sure I have the cash on hand when the opportunity comes up.
But it doesn’t stop at getting into the home. I’ve seen too many people unprepared for what comes after closing. As a Mortgage Counselor, I spent countless sessions walking members through the true costs of homeownership—surprise repairs, HOA increases, property taxes, insurance premiums, and in some cases, loss of rental income if you buy a multi-family property and a unit becomes vacant (or a tenant refuses to pay their rent).
So I’m building out a robust emergency fund to cover not just emergencies, but inevitable expenses. I never want to be in a situation where I have to choose between paying my mortgage and replacing a broken water heater. My goal is to be proactive—not reactive—with my money.
How I Keep It All On Track: The tMoney Budget App
And all of this—every savings goal, every debt payment, every dollar I’m stacking up—is being planned through a single tool I built for myself: the tMoney Budget App.
This app is how I keep my entire financial picture organized. It breaks down exactly how much I have coming in, where it’s going, what I have left at the end of the month, and how I plan out my savings, debt-free journey, and other goals. It’s what keeps me on track and in control while I work through this two-year plan.
If you’re on a similar path and think this budgeting app would be useful to get your own finances in order, then download the tMoney Budget app in the App Store now.
Final Thoughts: Why I’m Taking My Time
At the end of the day, I’m not just trying to get qualified for a mortgage—I’m preparing to thrive as a homeowner.
I know this process will take a few years. But if a little more time now means stepping into a home with no other debt, a solid income, passive income streams, a strong credit profile, and enough savings to cover anything life throws at me—then I’m good with that. Because when I sign on the dotted line, I want to do it with confidence.
This isn’t about rushing to get the keys to post on social media. It’s about being in the best possible position to take on a 30-year mortgage—and be able to pay it off much sooner than that. That’s the real goal. Not just getting the house, but owning it with peace of mind.
Plus, mortgage interest rates are pretty high right now anyway, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Who knows—by the time I’m ready, rates might actually be back down under 3% again (hey, I can dream can’t I?).
So that’s exactly what I’m building toward—one step, one paycheck, and one smart money move at a time.