Craig LaBruno - NJ Mortgage and Down Payment Assistance

Craig LaBruno - NJ Mortgage and Down Payment Assistance NJ homebuyers: you probably need less money down than you think. With 23+ years of mortgage experience, I’m not just here to get you a loan.

I specialize in FHA + NJHMFA down payment assistance — including buyers with credit bruises and no 20% saved. 24 years, 4-6 families home every month
👇 Free NJ down payment assistance quiz 🏡 Helping First-Time Buyers Build Legacy Through Homeownership

Hey, I’m Craig LaBruno — Producing Branch Manager @ Guaranteed Rate and Founder of The Impact Lending Team. I’m here to be your Homebuyer Advisor — the trusted guide who walks with you step-by-step through one of the biggest moves of your life. Whether you’re:

A busy mom renting for years, dreaming of a backyard for your kids 🛝

A hard-working tradesman ready to create your family’s forever home 🧰

Or someone who thought you “weren’t ready yet” because of your credit or savings...

We built this team for you.

💡 Our Approach? It’s Called the T.R.U.E. Buyer Formula:

TALK — It starts with a simple, no-pressure conversation. REVIEW — We go deep on your credit, income & goals. UNLOCK — You’ll get a customized, jargon-free roadmap. EXECUTE — We stay by your side, connect you with trusted pros, and close with confidence.

✅ You don’t need to “have it all together.” ✅ You don’t need to do it alone. ✅ You just need a team who truly has your back. We’ve helped hundreds of families stop renting and start building wealth. We specialize in: ✔️ First-Time Buyer Programs (including Down Payment Assisance) ✔️ FHA, VA, and Conventional Loans ✔️ Credit-Boost Coaching via Pivot 2 Purchase ✔️ One-Stop Shopping (agents, insurance, attorneys)

This isn’t about chasing the lowest rate. This is about building your legacy — with clarity, confidence, and care.

📲 Let’s Talk. I’ll meet you wherever you are today, and help you get to where you want to be. Your next chapter starts here.

09/22/2026

If you're renting the upstairs of somebody's two-family right now, this one's for you.

Most first-time buyers in New Jersey shop for a single-family or a condo and never consider a two-family. But all three NJHMFA programs allow two-to-four family homes, as long as you live in one of the units — and you get the same down payment assistance you'd get on a single-family.

Here's the detail almost nobody explains: NJHMFA does not count the future rent from the other unit as part of your household income when it checks the income limit. So a strong rental unit doesn't knock you out of the program.

On the qualifying side, FHA and conventional guidelines can allow part of that rent to help you qualify for the payment. That's a lender and investor rule, so it depends on the property and the file — but it's a real advantage.

Now let me be straight with you, because every house-hacking video online skips this part. Your tenant is not going to pay your whole mortgage. You're not going to live for free. What you get is a lower out-of-pocket payment and a building that works for you. What you take on is being a landlord — vacancies, repairs, and a phone call at eleven at night about the boiler. If you go HFA Advantage on a multi-unit, you'll also complete landlord counseling, which honestly is a good thing.

For a lot of working families in Jersey, that trade is worth it.

Tap the link on this reel and take my 60-second quiz to see if a two-family could work for you.

Per NJHMFA Participating Lender's Guide and program highlights, effective 07/01/2025.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Equal Housing Lender
When Others Stop, We Start!

09/21/2026

"Can I just leave my wife off the loan so we fit under the income limit?"

I get asked this constantly, and on the NJHMFA First-Time Homebuyer program the answer is no — it doesn't do anything.

That program calculates annual household income for all borrowers, co-borrowers and co-mortgagors, including non-borrowing spouses and legal domestic partners who'll be living in the home. Leaving someone off the application doesn't leave their income out of the calculation. And the lender is required to collect their income documentation anyway, so "they'll never know" isn't a plan.

Here's the part that catches people even harder. On that same program, all borrowers, co-borrowers, co-mortgagors, non-borrowing spouses and legal domestic partners have to be first-time homebuyers. So if your wife owned a condo two years ago, sold it, and isn't on the loan — you're still not eligible. I've had to deliver that one more than once and it's never a fun phone call.

Same program, one more: non-occupying co-borrowers are not permitted. If you need your mom on the loan to make the numbers work and she's not moving in, that's a no.

Now the good news, because there is some.

Homeward Bound and HFA Advantage both use the qualifying income calculation instead. Your non-borrowing spouse's income doesn't count. Both programs also allow non-occupying co-borrowers, and those co-borrowers don't have to meet the first-time buyer definition.

Slightly higher rate. A lot more room on who can be part of the deal.

So if you've already talked yourself out of New Jersey down payment assistance because of your spouse's situation or because you need a co-signer — you may have been looking at the wrong program, not the wrong state program entirely.

Comment 22K below and I'll get you my NJHMFA eligibility checklist.

Per NJHMFA Participating Lender's Guide, Chapter 3, effective 07/01/2025.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Equal Housing Lender
When Others Stop, We Start!

09/19/2026

If you've been saying "we'll buy next year" because you think you need 20% down… watch this. 👇

These are the 3 questions New Jersey first-time buyers ask me most:

✅ How much do I really need saved?
✅ What happens if the appraisal comes in low?
✅ What credit score do I need?

The answers are a lot better (and a little scarier) than most people think.

Know someone renting who keeps putting this off? Share this with them. 🏡

Want to know where you stand? Comment READY, or grab a no-pressure time to talk here: https://thebluecollarlender.com/calendar

And yes, I need to know: pork roll or Taylor ham? 😂

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Equal Housing Opportunity. Program eligibility, income & price limits apply.

09/18/2026

Miss your rent and it hits your credit. Pay it on time for ten years and the credit system acts like it never happened.

I've been doing this 24 years and that one still bothers me.

Here's what actually happened last week. The agencies behind most home loans opened up a newer credit score model to lenders across the country. Unlike the old model, this one can factor in rent, utility and phone payments. For people who don't carry much debt and never built a thick credit file, that's a real door opening.

But there's a catch that I haven't seen anybody explain, so I'm going to.

Rent only helps you if it's actually being reported to the credit bureaus. Landlords are not required to report it. Most of them don't. Only about 13% of renters have positive, on-time rent showing up on their credit report.

Now here's the part that really gets me. If you fall behind far enough that the rent goes to collections, that shows up just fine. Miss it and it counts against you. Pay it and it's invisible. Same payment.

The fix is that you don't have to wait on your landlord. There are rent-reporting services that will send your payments to the bureaus for you, and some of them will back-report up to two years of history you've already paid.

Two honest caveats, because I'd rather you hear them from me:

Your lender picks which credit scoring model gets used on your loan. You don't. And not every lender has this switched on yet.

Reporting your rent does not guarantee your score goes up. But it definitely can't help you if it's not on there at all.

If you're renting in New Jersey and you've been assuming homeownership isn't in reach, this is worth ten minutes of your time.

I put together a simple one-pager on what to look for in a rent-reporting service. No cost, no pitch. Comment RENT below or check the link in the comments and I'll get it to you.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Rate | Equal Housing Lender | Not a commitment to lend.

09/17/2026

The name of this program has cost people money, and I'll explain exactly how.

It's called down payment assistance. So people hear it, think "down payment," and plan around that. But most of what the $10,000 to $22,000 actually covers isn't the down payment at all.

HERE'S WHAT IT CAN BE USED FOR:

Your down payment
Your customary closing costs
Your escrowed taxes and prepaid insurance
Your realtor's fees or commission — up to the lesser of 1.5% of the sales price or the amount on your buyer agency agreement

That last one is new as of this year, and almost nobody is talking about it. With buyer agent compensation being what it is right now, that's real money for a first-time buyer who suddenly found out they might owe their agent directly.

HERE'S WHAT IT CANNOT BE USED FOR:

An appraisal shortfall
The seller's closing costs
Paying off debt to qualify
Buyer or seller transaction-related or unrelated debt
Property repairs or upgrades, including well and septic

Number three is the one that ends deals. I have watched buyers sit two hundred dollars of monthly debt away from an approval, with fifteen thousand dollars of assistance sitting right there, and not be permitted to use a dime of it to close that gap. It feels wrong. It's also the rule.

Once you see the pattern, the whole thing gets simple: the money buys the house. It doesn't fix the deal.

If you're close on debt-to-income right now, don't assume you're stuck. You can't use DPA to fix it, but there are other ways to get there.

Comment 22K below and I'll get you my NJHMFA eligibility checklist.

Per NJHMFA Participating Lender's Guide, Chapter 4, effective 07/01/2025.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Equal Housing Lender
When Others Stop, We Start!

09/16/2026

I've watched people talk themselves out of $7,000 because of something their parents own.

NJHMFA's First Generation program adds $7,000 on top of the regular down payment assistance. That's $22,000 total in twelve counties, $17,000 in the other nine.

Here's the rule, and read it carefully: your parents can't have a PRESENT ownership interest in a home. Present. As in right now, today. It does not say "never owned." If your parents owned a house in the nineties, sold it, and have been renting an apartment since — that does not disqualify you.

Now here's the part I've never heard another lender explain.

NJHMFA has stated publicly that it will not define who counts as a "parent." It will not review one-off situations involving divorce, adoption, estrangement, or emancipation. Their words, not mine. The applicant reviews the affidavit and determines for themselves whether they meet the criteria — then signs it in front of a notary.

I want to be careful how I say this. That is not a loophole, and I'm not telling anybody to get creative. It's a notarized document and it carries real responsibility. But it does mean that if your family situation is complicated, the door isn't automatically closed the way most people assume it is.

And if you were ever placed in foster care here in New Jersey, were an emancipated youth, or were designated a homeless unaccompanied youth — none of the parent rules apply to you at all. You qualify on that basis.

If you've been assuming this isn't for you, it might be worth a second look.

Comment 22K below and I'll get you my NJHMFA eligibility checklist.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Equal Housing Lender
When Others Stop, We Start!

09/14/2026

He got approved on a Tuesday and bought a truck on Thursday. By Friday the file was dead.

He didn't do anything shady. He just didn't know the loan gets re-checked days before closing — credit, employment, bank statements, all of it. Underwriting approves a snapshot. Before you sign, they confirm that snapshot is still true.

Four things that flip an approval into a denial after you're already "in the clear":

🚗 A new car payment
💼 A job or pay-structure change
💵 Cash deposits you can't document
🛋️ Financing the furniture before the keys

Rule of thumb: if it changes your credit, your income, or your bank balance, call your lender before you do it.

Save this for the week you get approved — and send it to whoever you're buying the house with.

Craig LaBruno | NMLS #242811 | Rate | Equal Housing Lender

Address

350 Main Road Suite 203
Melville, NY
07045

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