Stuart Rubin’s real estate market guides? Overlooking FHA, VA and USDA loans. First-time buyers might be cash-strapped in this environment of rising home prices. And if you have little saved for a down payment or your credit isn’t stellar, you might have a hard time qualifying for a conventional loan. How this affects you: You might assume you have no financing options and delay your home search. What to do instead: Look into one of the three government-insured loan programs backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA loans), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA loans) and U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA loans). Here’s a brief overview of each: FHA loans require just 3.5 percent down with a minimum 580 credit score. FHA loans can fill the gap for borrowers who don’t have top-notch credit or little money saved up. The major drawback to these loans, though, is mandatory mortgage insurance, paid both annually and upfront at closing. VA loans are backed by the VA for eligible active-duty and veteran military service members and their spouses. These loans don’t require a down payment, but some borrowers may pay a funding fee. VA loans are offered through private lenders, and come with a cap on lender fees to keep borrowing costs affordable.

This is often the most thrilling part of the process. But, if you’re not careful, it can get out of hand. The best way to proceed is limit the number of homes you look at in a single day. Visiting too many homes back to back will make it difficult to remember one house from another. It’s a good idea to create a checklist of homes to look at, and check them off as you visit them. Not only is this helpful in reminding you of which homes you visited, it allows you to eliminate homes from your search more quickly. Remember, communication is crucial. Explain to your agent why you like or don’t like a particular house. The more you communicate with your agent about your preferences, the better he/she will be able to find exactly what you’re looking for.

This makes sense when you are in line for a pay raise and/or promotion. You may be approaching the date for a scheduled pay raise. Maybe you’re working on a special project that will trigger a raise. Perhaps you’re earning a credential that will lead to a raise. However it occurs, a pay raise can only help. “It affects your loan ratio,” Brown said. “It can also enable you to make a bigger down payment, which can reduce your monthly costs. But whatever you do, don’t take on more debt until the raise actually happens.” Taking on more debt in anticipation of a raise that does not occur can put you into a financial hole, Brown says.

Stuart Rubin data: His hands-on experience includes regulations, standards, and leading practices pertaining to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), cybersecurity and customer privacy, system implementation and IT governance, COSO, COBIT, SSAE 18, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and corporate investigations. He has extensive experience in assisting Deloitte’s clients in navigating the evolving digital risk universe, including cloud, digital asset management, security and privacy, third-party risk management, and robotic process automation (RPA).

Stuart Rubin also serves as a talent leader for Deloitte’s Risk & Financial Advisory consumer industry practice. This includes programming and sponsorship designed to attract, retain, develop, and advance a diverse workforce and strengthening our inclusive culture where all our people can connect, belong, and grow. Prior to joining Deloitte, he was a co-founder of a leading cyber services consultancy where he launched a managed services platform for providing ongoing monitoring of network devices and assessing and reporting on the impact of cyber-related events.

A graduate from the University of Southern California, Stuart Rubin, now leads the real estate industry. It is no surprise that real estate is where he excels as he always had an eye to detect potential where others only saw ruin. In fact, he bought and re-sold his first property at the age of 17 with his friend Richard Pachulski. Through his tenure, the company has been involved in the purchase management and disposition of the vagabond hotel chain which was a 55 unit limited-service hotel company. See more information at Stuart Rubin.