Buy right. Start here.

The numbers, the process, and the leverage, before you write an offer.

What does buying actually cost up front?

Cash to close and the real monthly, before you fall for a listing.

Purchase price$Down payment%Three percent down is a real path too; set it to your plan.Interest rate%Defaults to today's 30-year average.HOA dues (monthly)$Seller or lender credits$Negotiable, and often where my fee comes from. See the section below.

Down payment$200,000

Lender fees (origination, underwriting, appraisal)$2,400

Escrow fee (buyer side)$2,200

Lender's title policy$1,650

Inspections (home + termite)$600

Recording + misc$650

Property tax impounds (~4 months)$4,167

First-year homeowner's insurance$2,300

Prepaid interest (~15 days)$2,137

Seller or lender credits−$0

Estimated cash to close$216,104

Principal & interest$5,057

Property tax (~1.25%/yr)$1,042

Insurance$192

HOA$0

Estimated monthly$6,291

Orange County estimates; Mello-Roos and special assessments vary by tract, and lender fees vary by loan. Your loan estimate makes it exact.

Tell me the budget and I'll bring the homes that actually fit it.

Start with the payment, not the price.

The sticker matters less than what it costs you every month.

Live daily

Today's rates + payment calculator

The same numbers your lender quotes, refreshed daily, with the monthly payment math built in.

Check the numbers →

Who pays your agent now.

The rules changed in 2024. Here is how it actually works.

Buyer representation is a written agreement now. Before we tour homes, you and I sign one, and my compensation is a stated number in it, not an assumption.

In most deals, the transaction covers it. I negotiate my fee into the offer as a seller-paid concession, so it comes out of the deal.

Either way, you are never surprised. Every dollar is in writing before the first showing.

How I run your search.

Filtered, priced, and built to win without overpaying.

Filtered, not flooded

The right homes only

Actives, coming soon, and quiet listings matched to your criteria, not a firehose of everything.

Priced per foot

The mispriced one stands out

Price per square foot by neighborhood, so the underpriced home is obvious before the crowd finds it.

Offers from comps

Win without overpaying

Every offer is built from what comparable homes actually closed for, the same read I use for sellers.

First home?

The path is more open than the headlines say.

Low-down-payment paths exist, CalHFA and conventional three percent down among them, and the right answer hangs on your monthly payment, not the sticker. Case File 001 is a Southern California firefighter who bought his first home with a plan built around exactly that.