Sacramento Home Mortgage Loans | The Chris Kennedy Team
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Sacramento Housing Blog

Sacramento Housing Blog

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Why Buying a Home is the Best Investment

Welcome to The Chris Kennedy Team Mortgage Blog

Honest, local, easy-to-understand mortgage guidance for buyers and homeowners across Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo Counties.

Hi — I'm Chris Kennedy. For years, I've helped first-time buyers, veterans, families upsizing into their forever homes, and seasoned investors navigate one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives: getting a mortgage in the greater Sacramento area.

This blog exists for one simple reason. Most mortgage advice online is generic, confusing, or written by people who've never closed a loan in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, or Davis. I wanted to change that.

Every post on this site is written for you — the buyer, homeowner, or veteran trying to make sense of mortgages in a real Northern California market. Real numbers. Real neighborhoods. Real programs that actually work here.

What you'll find on this blog

Whether you're brand new to homebuying or you've owned for decades, you'll find practical, local guidance on every part of the mortgage process. The articles below cover:

For first-time buyers — How to qualify, how much you really need to put down, how to use CalHFA assistance, and how to stop waiting and start owning.

For veterans, active-duty service members, and surviving spouses — Everything you need to know about putting your VA home loan benefit to work in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, and beyond. Zero down. No PMI. The benefit you earned.

For move-up buyers and luxury buyers — Jumbo loan strategies for higher-priced markets like El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay, Serrano, and Bass Lake — including how to qualify, what reserves you'll need, and how to compete in luxury bidding wars.

For investors and wealth-builders — How to use FHA multi-family loans (yes, with just 3.5% down) to "house hack" your first investment property, plus the long-term wealth-building strategy that real estate quietly delivers better than almost any other investment.

For buyers in rural and semi-rural areas — A breakdown of USDA loans across Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties, where surprisingly large portions of the region qualify for $0-down financing.

For credit-building buyers — How FHA loans help buyers with imperfect credit get into Sacramento-area homes, plus practical credit improvement strategies that actually move the needle.

Why this blog is different

Three things set this content apart:

It's local. Every article names real neighborhoods, real Sacramento-area home prices, and real programs available in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties — not vague national advice.

It's honest. I tell you what works, what doesn't, what the catches are, and when a loan isn't right for you. No high-pressure pitches. No fine print buried at the bottom.

It's actionable. Every post is built so that by the end, you know what to do next — whether that's running numbers, checking eligibility, or starting a conversation.

A little about me

I've spent my career helping Sacramento-area families navigate mortgages — through every kind of market, every kind of loan, and every kind of buyer situation. I've helped:

  • First-time buyers close with $0–$5,000 out of pocket using FHA + CalHFA strategies

  • Veterans buy in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, and El Dorado Hills with zero down

  • Move-up families step into luxury markets using jumbo financing

  • Investors build long-term wealth through smart house-hacking and refinance strategies

  • Self-employed borrowers other lenders turned away find creative solutions

My team and I serve the entire greater Sacramento region, including:

  • Sacramento County — Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Antelope, Natomas

  • Placer County — Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Auburn, Loomis, Granite Bay

  • El Dorado County — El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Placerville, Diamond Springs, Pollock Pines

  • Yolo County — Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, Winters, Esparto

If you're buying anywhere in Northern California, there's a good chance we can help.

Start exploring

Scroll down to find articles tailored to your situation. If you're not sure where to begin, here are three good starting points:

Ready to talk?

Reading is great — but a 15-minute conversation will tell you more about what's possible for your specific situation than any article ever could. No pressure, no obligation, no salesy follow-up calls.

Chris Kennedy | The Chris Kennedy Team NMLS# 971546 Mortgage Lender serving Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo Counties www.thechriskennedyteam.com

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The Chris Kennedy Team specializes in FHA, VA, USDA, conventional, jumbo, and CalHFA loans throughout Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay, Davis, Woodland, Auburn, Lincoln, Rocklin, Cameron Park, and the surrounding Northern California region. Browse the articles below to learn more — or reach out anytime.

Buying a Condo in Midtown or East Sacramento in 2026

Midtown and East Sacramento have some of the best condo and townhome stock in the region. Walkable streets, older buildings with character, a few newer builds mixed in. If you're house hunting there, there's a good chance you'll end up looking at a condo or a PUD instead of a straight single-family home.

Here's the part most buyers don't know until their loan officer brings it up: condo financing got harder in 2026, and it happened fast.

The 2026 condo rule change, in plain English

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac used to offer a "Limited Review" (Fannie) or "Streamlined Review" (Freddie) for a lot of condo purchases. It was a lighter, faster look at the condo association's finances and paperwork. As of loan applications dated August 3, 2026, both of those shortcuts are gone. Every condo now needs a Full Review or a specific waiver, unless the building already carries current, valid approval on file (CommunityPay, Condo Approval Center).

A Full Review digs into the HOA's budget, reserve funding, insurance, litigation history, and owner-occupancy numbers. It takes longer and it can turn up problems a Limited Review would have skipped right past.

On top of that, HOA reserve funding requirements are going up. The minimum an association has to budget toward replacement reserves is rising from 10% to 15% of annual assessment income, effective January 4, 2027 (GoverningDocs). Associations that aren't there yet may need to raise dues or special-assess owners to get compliant, which is its own conversation to have before you buy into a building.

One piece of good news: the old rule that made a building "non-warrantable" once more than 50% of units were investor-owned has been removed. That specific 50% investor-concentration cap no longer applies. A separate rule for brand-new or newly converted condo projects still requires that at least half the units be sold or under contract to owner-occupants or second-home buyers before the project can get standard financing, so that one's still very much alive (GoverningDocs).

What this means if you're shopping Midtown or East Sac

A few practical takeaways:

Ask about condo approval status before you write an offer. If a building already has current Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac approval, or is on the FHA-approved list, your financing path is a lot smoother. If it doesn't, you're looking at a Full Review from scratch, which takes real time.

Older buildings need extra scrutiny. A lot of Midtown and East Sac condo stock is in converted older buildings. Deferred maintenance, thin reserves, or pending litigation can all sink a loan late in the process. Get the HOA docs and questionnaire started the same week you go into contract, not after.

Non-warrantable doesn't mean impossible. If a condo can't meet Fannie or Freddie's standards, there are still non-QM and portfolio loan options for non-warrantable condos. Terms and down payment requirements vary a lot by lender, so this is a "talk to your loan officer early" situation, not a deal killer by default (The Federal Savings Bank).

Rate lock timing matters more now. Because Full Reviews take longer than the old Limited Reviews did, build extra breathing room into your closing timeline, especially if you're locking a rate with an expiration date.

FAQ: Condo Financing in Sacramento

Is it harder to get a condo loan in Sacramento right now? It's not harder across the board, but it is slower and more document-heavy for buildings that used to qualify for the old Limited or Streamlined Review. Buildings with current approval on file aren't affected the same way.

What's a non-warrantable condo? It's a condo project that doesn't meet Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac's eligibility standards, for reasons like reserve funding, litigation, commercial space ratio, or how the building is insured. It doesn't mean you can't buy it, it means you likely need a different type of loan.

Do I need to worry about this if I'm buying a single-family home instead? No. None of this applies to detached single-family homes. It's specific to condos, PUDs, and co-ops.

How do I find out if a specific condo building is already approved? Ask your loan officer to run a condo project lookup before you write the offer. It takes a few minutes and can save you a headache later.

This is general information based on current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidance as of September 2026. Condo approval status and lender overlays vary building by building, so confirm the specifics for any property you're considering before you count on a particular loan program.

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