What it Takes to Buy a Home in East Bay of San Francisco Bay Area

For those struggling to buy their first home, those who have succeeded seem unbelievably lucky. Surely, successful homebuyers have recently won the lottery, received an inheritance, or were lucky enough to be on the street some day when it rained hundred dollar bills.

Actually, none of those things happened to Isaac and Maria Toscano, who moved into their home in July. Instead, a combination of the right real estate agent, the right mortgage broker, and the right attitude came together in a way that took them from would-be homebuyers to successful homeowners.

Part of the equation was the Toscanos' firm belief that owning a home was something that had to happen, and had to happen soon. "Owning a home had been a dream for the past 10 years," explains Isaac Toscano, "but we postponed it."

The realizations that their family was growing up, and prices going up, spurred them into action. "Our kids were growing, so we decided we would do what we had to do. We were looking at the market, and seeing it rising motivated us to do whatever we had to."

But making that resolution did not necessarily make things any easier for them. "This was a rollercoaster for us. The fear was there. If we bought a house, we wondered, could we pay for it?," Toscano explains.

Those concerns weren't immediately allayed when they sought a loan. Lender after lender said a loan would be high, but didn't offer specifics or propose a way to work on the problem. "They'd say our credit was bad, and a loan would have a high interest rate," Toscano explains.

That changed when they met with mortgage consultant Shelley Puentes. "The information from Shelley was, 'There are ways to get you a loan.' She came back and said, 'Your scores are this much, but you need to get them this high.' Then she gave us homework we had to do," he explains.

Having worked on their credit scores, and armed with the knowledge of what they could afford, they met with real estate agent Martina Wolter. Likewise, Martina was encouraging. "Martina told us, 'There is a home out there for you.'"