Ashley Willard Home Loans

Ashley Willard Home Loans I'm a mom of 3 and finance lover who has been helping families purchase and refinance homes since 2007. Because numbers don't lie.

I love to have real honest conversations and dig into the math. Ashley specializes in helping people purchase homes. Whether it's your first or tenth home, you will be in great hands! If you are looking to refinance your current home, take advantage of down payment assistance or just have questions about what your options are, call today!

Where is your money going? Do you budget? With debit and credit cards it's easy to swipe life away. And then there is Af...
06/04/2026

Where is your money going? Do you budget? With debit and credit cards it's easy to swipe life away. And then there is Affirm and pay as you go on most checkout sites.

Twice in 2 days I whipped out a quick Google spreadsheet when talking with clients to dive into where their money was going.

In one case, the spreadsheet said there was extra even though monthly it didn't feel like it. Finding those funds and planning better is the goal for this next week so we can regroup.

In another case it was lots of automatic payments on debit and pay as you go along with big one off expenses. It's easy to justify the hard work and big expenses in your head. But sometimes on paper we need to take care of the smaller stuff first to actually make it feasible.

One client will likely be helped with a reverse mortgage and some retirement income restucture.

The other can save $1600 per month with a home equity line of credit AND budgeting help to make sure the cards aren't getting racked up again in the future.

I spoke to an agent today whose elderly client made a really risky real estate decision by listening to Grok AI and wouldn't listen to reason.

In a world where AI is taking over, sometimes a human touch can help you realize that you aren't alone, that you have options, and that a financial plan and budget / getting back to the basics is often times the key.

If you love automation, I do like Monarch Money since Mint Money isn't around anymore. And automation is great especially for savers and those with accounts all over and definitely my FIRE principal folks.

But don't discount a good old fashioned spreadsheet to really "feel" those numbers and how slight changes can impact you.

A new mortgage credit scoring system is saving clients thousands of dollars and very few people are talking about it.Rec...
05/21/2026

A new mortgage credit scoring system is saving clients thousands of dollars and very few people are talking about it.

Recently the VANTAGE score became eligible for Conventional and VA loans and it could be the difference between a few or 100+ credit points.

Our FICO credit score model has been the gold standard until recently. The new Vantage Credit score is much more lenient.

Recently a loan officer I'm friends with had a client jump from a 702 FICO score to an 800+ Vantage score.

That is a savings on rate and mortgage insurance!

Credit scores look at ranges. Anyone in the below ranges is usually lumped together.

700-719
720-739
740-759
760+

That means this client jumped 3 tiers in qualifying and savings! That allows you to have a lower payment or use a seller credit to pay off mortgage insurance that is much cheaper. The sky is the limit!

If you have a client being told they don't qualify and it's largely due to score. Vantage may be their saving grace!

Let's chat.

I get the emails every day. Ash, I'm embarrassed since we last spoke...my debt is up. I filed bankruptcy. I got divor...
05/10/2026

I get the emails every day. Ash, I'm embarrassed since we last spoke...my debt is up. I filed bankruptcy. I got divorced and lost that income. We missed our car payment last summer and crushed our credit...

The good news is that the majority of clients have options almost immediately. Sometimes it's a 30 day fix while we update debts. But outside of current delinquency on Federal debt, there are a lot of options really quickly for most situations.

I know the back and forth from email can be a bit difficult so I created a form for clients and referrals if they want to take a deep dive into options.

Feel free to fill out as much or as little information as you'd like.

When I get it, I start my deep dive into public records, potential value, scenarios and then we get to chat or email or google meet and catch up.

Want to explore some options? Here is the form: https://bit.ly/3PwGk9J

As always, my DM, Phone, text and email are open too.

#1 Bank Statement Loans - Eligible for Purchase, Refinance and Home Equity Line of Credit on Primary, Second and Invest...
05/07/2026

#1 Bank Statement Loans - Eligible for Purchase, Refinance and Home Equity Line of Credit on Primary, Second and Investment Homes.

Standard income is 12 months of Bank Statement Deposits divided by 2. If you deposit $30,000 per month, you may be able to use $15,000 of that as income

Are you in a business where your expenses are less than 50%? If we can document that your expenses are less, then you may be able to use up to 85% of your total deposits as income!

#2 DSCR Loans - Debt Service Coverage Ratio Loans - Eligible for an Investment Property purchase.

Close in your name or an LLC name. Doesn't require your personal income to qualify. Home is qualified based on the future rental income covering the new mortgage.

The biggest shift in gift funds and family opportunity mortgages in real estate is taking place. Almost daily I'm hearin...
05/07/2026

The biggest shift in gift funds and family opportunity mortgages in real estate is taking place.

Almost daily I'm hearing "mom/dad/grandma/uncle would rather gift me money now than wait for me to inherit it"

More and more family members are realizing that making moves now, where they can see their family enjoying their gift and get ahead in life, is a better overall move.

Top ways this plays out:

🏘️ Gifter provides down payment of 3.5% or more. Every $10,000 more gifted gives around $60 in payment reduction for the borrower.

🏘️Family opportunity mortgage allows the gifter to buy a home with 5% down payment even if they won't live in the home.

Parents can buy for their kids or Kids for their parents if they realize that the person living in the home will not be able to qualify on their own. Maybe it's high debt or low credit or delinquent federal student loans (👈 so so common) or SSDI restrictions for assets etc...the reason is largely irrelevant as long as the child or parent can't qualify on their own.

Gift funds are basically not taxable unless the gifter gives over $19k per person AND has exhausted their $15 million dollar lifetime gift threshold. Talk to a good tax preparer because many people are largely misinformed on gift taxes.

With any gift funds. Do NOT give or receive money until you speak to a lender. The funds will largely go to escrow (the middle man) so that paperwork is reduced. When you give funds to someone directly it's a much more painful process for the gift giver lemme tell ya 🙈

04/23/2026

Want to buy land but told you needed to pay cash?

Today I got a call for help getting an $80,000 line of credit to pay cash for land. Due to bankruptcy, paying cash for land was the only option this person was offered.

I asked more questions about the land. It was $180,000.

I asked if they wanted to put a house on it. They did but only had enough cash, gift and hopefully the line of credit to pay for the land.

So I started doing the math. If they find a manufactured home they like from a distributor, they can buy the land and put the home on it using an FHA loan 2 years post bankruptcy (since there was no home included and they have rebuilt credit) and put 3.5% down.

Shock and awe ensued. "This can't be real" 😂❤️

The reality is that bankruptcy is a tool. And this client did everything "right" after. No additional missed payments, saved what they could and re-established credit. Bankruptcy ended a difficult time in their life so they could start fresh.

I'm excited to see what they find in the manufactured world.

One lender saying no does not mean "no" 😊

04/23/2026

What no one is saying about buying a home today. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median age of first time buyer just reached FORTY years old.

That means that the old school ways of buying your first home often don't work:

1. Starting with a condo
2. Duplex living in one side to rent the other
3. Smaller 3 bedroom 2 bath home in and up and coming neighborhood

Don't work for this group

40 year old buyers may have to worry about:

1. Aging parents needing a bedroom on the first floor with walk in shower or in law suite
2. Older kids who need to stay in a specific high school zone
3. 3-5 driving age individuals in the home needing neighborhood compliant parking options

This doesn't mean that you need to buy a $750-$1 million dollar home for your first house though.

The reverse ideas apply. What can you make work for a few years before those same kids go off to college? Will your parents be with you for decades or will you move them to long-term care eventually?

So many jump to the 4,000 square foot home because of circumstances or keeping up with the joneses.

First time homebuyer programs still work for many of these buyers. Florida bond programs have income into the mid $100k range and California down payment assistance goes to over $200k. And we even have Nationwide programs with no income limit or first time homebuyer requirement.

In St Johns County Florida and Sacramento, CA, a $450k-$1M+ home can go to the same schools.

What is the best home in your price range that meets your current and future expected needs? How does that mortgage payment compared to renting the same home TODAY?

The additional tax benefits (now that state taxes, property taxes and mortgage insurance are deductible again without limit as of 2027), home value increase and stability from owning a home if you plan to stay there 5+ years often make buying a home a no brainer.

Have a decent down payment but 500 credit score? There are more loan options than ever before.

Have a little down payment but not enough for closing costs? We may be able to negotiate seller credits to pay for your mortgage insurance or buy a lowe rate or keep your out of pocket low.

Wanting to look at down payment assistance to keep cash in your pocket? There is no such thing as free money and it comes with trade offs like a second mortgage payment or paying back the debt when you sell/refinance or a much higher rate for forgivable loans, but it is an option for those who need it.

Heck, you can even buy land and put a house or manufactured home on it with 5% down these days.

We have literally never seen as many options in home buying, home selling (buy before you sell) and second mortgage line of credit financing as we are seeing right now.

What are you going to do about that?

If you want to chat, my DM are always open or you can text/call 916-834-5999 😊

Ashley Willard
Nmls 1026152

My first time homebuyer webinar, seller credit negotiation and down payment assistance replay is now available: https://...
04/22/2026

My first time homebuyer webinar, seller credit negotiation and down payment assistance replay is now available: https://youtu.be/o_wG0DY6M5o

Down Payment Assistance begins around minute 17

04/22/2026

Many homebuyers miss opportunities to lower their out of pocket or payment when negotiating their home loan. Check out my homebuyer webinar linked in bio for best practices when purchasing a home.

2 Huge improvements to mortgages and tax returns are included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. First, mortgage insura...
04/11/2026

2 Huge improvements to mortgages and tax returns are included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

First, mortgage insurance is tax deductible again beginning with 2026 taxes filed in 2027. When you don't put 20% down on a home, you may have mortgage insurance for part of or the entire time you have a loan. Now it's back to being tax deductible for many.

Second, SALT which stands for State and Local Income taxes which was previously capped at $10,000 that you could write off is now a $40,000 write off! This means that those in states with income tax and high property taxes can actually take deductions dollar for dollar for what they are spending.

Why is this huge: The standard deduction has been a gold standard these last few years since many write offs had disappeared. The 2027 tax filing season will see some of the largest write offs since the pandemic.

For full details and income limits, check out irs.gov

Address

Sacramento, CA

Telephone

+19168345999

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