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 Home in Natomas: Sacramento Financing Guide

Natomas gets overlooked a lot when people talk about Sacramento neighborhoods. Close to the airport, close to downtown, newer housing stock, and prices that still make sense compared to a lot of the rest of the region. But there's one thing about Natomas financing that catches almost every buyer off guard: flood insurance.

Why Natomas Is Different

Natomas sits in a designated flood zone. After levee failures elsewhere prompted a nationwide reassessment of flood risk in the mid-2000s, FEMA remapped the area and Natomas landed inside a Special Flood Hazard Area. That triggered a building moratorium for new construction that lasted years while the local levee system got upgraded and recertified.

The moratorium has been lifted and Natomas has kept building and selling homes since. But the flood zone designation itself is still something you need to plan around when you finance a home there, because it changes two things: whether flood insurance is required, and how it gets underwritten.

How It Affects Your Loan

If your home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area and you're using a federally backed loan (which covers most conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA loans), your lender is required to make sure you carry flood insurance for as long as the loan exists. That's not optional and it's not something a lender can waive.

A few things worth knowing before you write an offer:

  • Flood zone status is tied to the property, not the neighborhood as a whole. Two homes a few blocks apart in Natomas can carry different flood designations depending on where the current maps draw the line.

  • Flood insurance premiums vary property by property. Don't assume a number, get a real quote from an insurance agent before you're locked into a purchase contract.

  • Your lender will factor the flood insurance premium into your monthly housing payment when qualifying you for the loan, the same way they factor in property taxes and homeowners insurance.

None of this means Natomas is a bad place to buy. It means the flood insurance conversation needs to happen early, ideally before you write an offer, not during underwriting when there's a closing date on the line.

What We Recommend

Before you fall in love with a house in Natomas, get two numbers: the flood zone designation (your agent or the listing can usually tell you, or you can check FEMA's flood map service directly) and a real flood insurance quote for that specific address. Bring both to us when we run your numbers, so what you're pre-approved for reflects your actual monthly payment, not an estimate that's missing a line item.

FAQ: Financing a Home in Natomas

Is all of Natomas in a flood zone? Most of it falls within a Special Flood Hazard Area, but flood zone designations are assigned parcel by parcel. Confirm the specific address, not the neighborhood in general.

Do I have to carry flood insurance forever? Yes, as long as you have a federally backed loan on a property in a Special Flood Hazard Area, flood insurance is required for the life of the loan.

Does flood insurance make Natomas homes unaffordable? Not necessarily. It's an added monthly cost that needs to be part of your budgeting from day one, but plenty of buyers finance homes in Natomas every month. The key is knowing the number ahead of time instead of getting surprised by it in underwriting.

Can I use a VA or FHA loan in Natomas? Yes. Flood zone status doesn't disqualify you from any particular loan type, it just adds the flood insurance requirement on top of whatever loan you're using.

If you're looking in Natomas, or anywhere else in Sacramento, Placer, or El Dorado County, reach out and we'll walk through what your actual numbers look like before you start making offers.

Chris KennedyComment