Rockford stylist shares journey towards first-time homeownership

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - It took two years of saving, but hairstylist Natalie Todora, 29, is happily settled into her first home.

However, the journey to get there was not without a few bumps in the road.

“It was extremely intimidating,” Todora said, describing the start of her journey to home ownership.

“When I started saving up, my focus was not geared towards buying a house,” Todora explained. “It was just getting savings.”

At nearly 30 years old, she says the clock was ticking on her goal to live in a house on her own. But a simple Google search later showed her buying a home was not too far out of reach.

“There is amazing programs out there that can help you get your first home without feeling like you need to save this huge amount of money,” shared Todora.

Todora, a hairstylist at Studio 815, explains her income is not like a typical 9-to-5 job. While some days she says she walks away with more than $100 in tips, other days it’s significantly less.

“I did have to go a route with getting a loan and it was tough at first,” Todora explained, but the advice of her mortgage lender helped her through the process.

“One thing that they really want to see is your income to debt ratio being pretty low. So, I think that means not going out or getting a ton of credit cards, as tempting as it is,” Todora said.

At a time when Rockford is in its l owest housing inventory ever , Todora shared the difficulties of finding the right home, but she says it started with letting go of the idea of a perfect “dream home.”

“It is super important to make a list of the things that you want and you don’t want in a house,” Todora said. “But you also have to be realistic with yourself, you know, if the ultimate goal is to have a roof over your head, you have to be able to have some wiggle room with certain things.”

Todora says her best advice for first-time homeowners is simple: have a conversation with a professional.

“Create a structure within your finances and go talk to somebody that is knowledgeable in that,” Todora advised. “When you step into a credit union or a bank, you’re not committed to anything, but having a conversation for me was kind of that push and catalyst to get me to the point that I’m at today.

Green State Credit Union Mortgage lender Erica Medrano takes first-time homeowners through their job history, income information, assets, credit report and bank account to determine what they qualify for in terms of loans. She says typically new homeowners can apply for conventional loans, FHA loans, USDA loans, and then VA loans if they have VA benefits.

“On top of those are the loan programs,” Medrano said. “Then there’s different grants that you can add to those loan programs and so those grants help you get down payment assistance.”

When it comes to buying that first home, Medrano says it’s all about what’s in your bank account.

“I can help you kind of manage what debts you should be paying more on or not be paying as much on to help save as much money as possible,” Medrano said.

She explains a lot of people don’t realize how much money they need to buy a home, but how much you save depends on what you’re trying to do.

“From what I’ve been seeing, the like $140-to-$180 (thousand) price point is a really hot market for a first-time home buyer,” explained Medrano.

She says the biggest mistake first-time homeowners often make is not getting pre-approved soon enough.

“A lot of people go, ‘Oh, well, you know, I’ll save up a little bit. I’ll work on my credit a little bit and I’ll just apply later,’ but applying as soon as you can or as soon as you have that idea, that way I can help guide you,” Medrano said.

She believes not only is the cost of living keeping people from buying homes younger in life, but also young adults tend to like to move around.

“There’s not always a desire to buy a house, but there’s plenty of people that are my age that do want to buy, Medrano shared. ”It’s just, they don’t even really know how to go about it.”

To learn more about mortgage loans, you can visit Green State Credit Union’s website here .