Frequently Asked Questions

California offers several first-time buyer assistance programs: California Forgivable Equity Builder Loan (up to 10% of purchase price, forgiven after 5 years), Dream for All (shared-appreciation loan), and CalHFA programs covering down payment and closing costs. Most have AMI thresholds and minimum credit-score requirements, so a free consultation is the first step.

The California Forgivable Equity Builder Loan provides first-time homebuyers with up to 10% of the home's purchase price toward down payment or closing costs. The loan is fully forgiven after 5 years of using the property as a primary residence. Eligibility: income below 80% of Area Median Income (~$106,880 for the Bay Area), minimum 640 credit score.

California Dream for All is a CalHFA shared-appreciation loan that helps first-time buyers cover down payment and closing costs. The state contributes funds in exchange for a share of future appreciation when the home is sold or refinanced. Application periods open in limited windows (most recent: February 24 to March 16, 2026) and funds typically run out within weeks. Lily helps buyers get pre-approved with a CalHFA-listed lender ahead of the next window.

Yes. Recent immigrants and visa holders (H-1B, L-1, O-1, EAD, green card in process) can buy a home in California. Most lenders prefer 2 years of US credit history for conventional loans, but ITIN and foreign-national programs exist for buyers without an SSN or with a short credit history. Lily works with lenders who specialize in immigrant transactions and helps build a path to purchase even before permanent-resident status.

An early, exploratory pre-qualification can now be run with a soft credit pull, which does not affect your FICO score and is invisible to other lenders. That soft pull shows you which loan programs you qualify for, a realistic price ceiling, and an indicative rate, usually within a couple of days and at no cost. The formal pre-approval letter that goes out with an actual offer does use a hard pull, which dings the score modestly, but that step comes later, only when you are ready to write offers. The lender runs all of this, not me; I connect you with a licensed lending partner for the no-cost soft-pull diagnostic.

Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is the coverage you pay when you put down less than 20%, and it is real money on top of your loan payment. Online listing-site calculators like Zillow and Redfin do not know your actual credit profile, so they default to a worst-case rate built for the weakest borrowers, which commonly overstates real PMI by roughly two to three times for a strong-credit buyer. The only reliable PMI figure comes from a licensed lender applying your real credit profile to the current rate sheet. Do not let an inflated online estimate talk you out of a purchase your finances would actually support.

Think of these as two different underwriting boxes with different criteria, not two flavors of the same loan. A conventional loan (the mainstream, non-government-backed option) sets stricter qualifications, typically higher credit-score and income requirements, and suits buyers with clean, well-documented finances. An FHA loan (insured by the Federal Housing Administration) uses deliberately easier thresholds, a lower credit-score floor and more forgiving treatment of a past late payment, which can open a path for buyers the conventional box turns down, for example someone still rebuilding credit. Which box fits you is something a licensed lender confirms before any rate conversation; I help you get in front of one early.

Often, yes. Conventional underwriting usually wants two completed years of self-employment tax returns, but a bank-statement loan (a program that reads your income from your deposits instead of your returns) underwrites self-employed and 1099 borrowers against roughly the last 12 months of bank statements. These programs typically ask for a larger down payment, around 15%, and carry a somewhat higher rate in exchange for that income flexibility. There are other routes too, such as a W-2 spouse as co-borrower or a stretch of temporary W-2 employment, and a licensed lending partner can tell you which pathway produces the best result for your actual numbers.

Yes, you can own property in California regardless of immigration status; the real question is which loan you can access (this is a factual point about financing, not immigration-law advice). Conventional owner-occupied underwriting weighs whether your status is reasonably expected to continue over the life of the loan, so a temporary status like short-term humanitarian parole or a student visa can be treated less favorably for that specific product. Workarounds exist, including a higher-down-payment investment-property purchase, a cash purchase, or simply waiting for a status change, and long US tenure with established US credit helps your case. A licensed lender determines which product you qualify for; I help you map a realistic path to ownership.

California charges a standard county documentary transfer tax (a one-time tax on the sale, about $1.10 per $1,000 of price) on every sale, but some cities add their own city transfer tax on top at closing, and the amounts vary a lot from one city to the next. Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward, Richmond, San Leandro, Alameda, and Albany are among the cities that levy one; most Bay Area cities do not. Who actually pays it, buyer, seller, or a split, is negotiated in the purchase contract, not fixed by law. Because a city tax can add meaningful money on top of your usual closing-cost budget, I have the escrow or title officer confirm the exact figure for your specific city before you write an offer, not after.

California Dream For All is a down-payment-assistance program from CalHFA (the state housing finance agency) that contributes a share of your down payment, up to roughly 20% of the purchase price, in exchange for a share of the home's future appreciation when you sell or refinance, so it is a bridge to ownership rather than free money. It is aimed at first-time buyers, carries income limits and other eligibility rules, and is funded in limited windows that historically run out fast, so day-one readiness matters. You also have to be pre-approved with a CalHFA-listed lender to use it. I help buyers prepare ahead of an application window; a licensed listed lender confirms your eligibility and the current terms.

Readiness is less about one magic number and more about which lending box your profile fits: a steady W-2 salary history, self-employment income you can document, deposit flow a bank-statement loan can read, or assets for a larger-down-payment purchase. Each profile trades strength on one axis for flexibility on another, so a stronger credit history can lower the down payment required, while thinner documentation usually means a larger down payment. The fastest way to find out is a no-cost soft-pull diagnostic with a licensed lender, which shows your real price ceiling and the programs you qualify for without touching your credit score. My consultation is free and there is no obligation; I will tell you honestly whether now is the right time or whether a few months of preparation gets you a materially better result.

The 2025-2026 Bay Area market is a 'split market': some neighborhoods see multiple offers above asking, others require price reductions. Buyers have meaningful negotiating leverage in segments they did not have for over a decade. Whether it's the right time depends on your finances, target neighborhood, and time horizon, not on a generic market call. Free no-pressure consultation: 415-910-3958.

The Bay Area's chronic inventory shortage and rigorous lending standards distinguish today's market from 2008. A meaningful price drop across the entire region would require either a recession or a wave of new construction, and neither is imminent. Specific neighborhoods may see corrections; others won't. The right answer depends on your scenario, not on a general market forecast.

A buyer's agent represents the buyer and owes a fiduciary duty to advocate for the buyer's interests: negotiating price, reviewing disclosures, identifying risks. A listing agent represents the seller in reverse. The two should never be the same person in the same transaction (called 'dual agency') unless the buyer fully understands the conflict. Lily represents either side individually but never both in the same deal.

A typical Bay Area home purchase closes in 21 to 30 days from accepted offer, with cash offers sometimes closing in as little as 7 to 14 days. Loan-financed purchases can extend to 30 to 45 days depending on the lender. Lily manages timelines tightly and coordinates with lenders, escrow, inspectors, and appraisers to keep contingencies on track.

Yes. Lily maintains a curated off-market network through Centermac Realty and her broker relationships across the Bay Area, surfacing homes before they hit MLS: Coming Soon, Pocket Listings, and Off-Market opportunities. Subscribe at lilygaripova.com/off-market/ (English) or lilygaripova.com/ru/off-market/ (Russian).

House hacking, owner-occupying and renting spare bedrooms, can offset 40-70% of a Bay Area mortgage depending on the city and home size. The math works best for 3-4 bedroom single-family homes in San Jose, Fremont, Hayward, Castro Valley, and the East Bay flatlands where room rents typically run $1,200-$1,800. Lenders treat documented rental income from short-term roommates differently than long-term tenants, so the financing structure matters. Lily helps buyers evaluate which neighborhoods support this strategy (zoning, ADU potential, transit-adjacent demand) and which to avoid (HOA restrictions, low rental demand).

The 2025-2026 AI compensation wave created a sharply uneven market, not a uniform boom. AI-money demand concentrates in 4-5 zips near major company offices: Hayes Valley, Mission Bay, Cole Valley, South Park in SF; Palo Alto and Mountain View on the Peninsula; specific Cupertino and Sunnyvale neighborhoods near AI employers. In those zips, single-family homes are seeing 5-15% YoY growth with multiple offers. Outside those zips, in most of Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Concord, and the SOMA condo market, prices are flat to softer YoY and buyers have real negotiating leverage. Whether the broad "AI boom" applies depends entirely on which zip you're shopping.

Often yes. Many still-private AI companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and Stripe, now run employee tender offers (also called secondary sales): company-sanctioned windows, common since around 2024, that let employees sell some shares while the company stays private. Those proceeds settle as documentable cash, so you do not have to wait for an IPO or a lockup to expire to make a credible offer. Lily times the closing around when your tender proceeds actually settle and assembles the proof of funds a seller expects. Whether and how much to sell is a decision for your financial and tax advisors, not the agent.

More than a few years ago. Luxury in the Bay Area starts around $3M, and in 2025 the median luxury down payment ran about 35%, up from roughly 28% before mortgage rates rose in 2023, close to $200,000 more cash at closing on a $3M home. The driver is local: a dense AI workforce with new liquidity, much of it arriving as cash rather than a loan, so large-down and all-cash offers now set the pace at the top of the market. Lily builds your offer around your real liquid position and the proof of funds a seller expects. More on high-value and off-market representation: luxury real estate in the Bay Area.