Steve Tomaselli Mortgage Broker

06/24/2026

Are you a veteran in need of mortgage financing? Try my custom built VA mortgage calculator to get your funding fee and payment!

Get Texas VA home loans with zero down payment. Chat free with our VA Homebuyer Advisor for instant answers on eligibility, affordability, credit & next steps. Steve Tomaselli (NMLS #358920) – 32+ years experience.

06/09/2026

You walk into the model home, fall in love, and buy a brand-new build that afternoon. It happens constantly here in New Braunfels — and a lot of buyers never look at the resale two streets over in the same community.

In a neighborhood that's still building for years (think Veramendi, Meyer Ranch, Mayfair), a resale home is often the smarter buy.

The upgrades the first owner paid a premium for at the design center? You get them at a discount.

The neighborhood? You can actually see it instead of betting on a rendering. And you've got room to negotiate on price and financing — not just a builder incentive.

New construction still wins sometimes. But it deserves a real comparison first. I broke down exactly how to think about it. 👇

06/06/2026

Real estate agents — here's a negotiation play most buyers never THINK about.

Your buyer's in a tight spot and the seller offers a concession. Everybody's first instinct is to knock it off the price. Feels like a win.

But here's what almost nobody runs the math on: that same dollar amount, applied as a seller-paid rate buydown instead of a price cut, often lowers the monthly payment MORE.

A price reduction trims the loan balance a little. A buydown lowers the interest on the entire loan, every single month, for 30 years. Same money from the seller — bigger impact on what your buyer pays each month. (Not every time — but you won't know unless you check.)

I built a free tool that runs both side by side. Enter the price, the down payment, and the seller's concession. It instantly shows:

✅ The adjusted price under a straight price cut

✅ The bought-down rate under a seller credit

✅ Which option produces the lower monthly payment

It's a one-screen, mobile-friendly closing tool. Pull it up at the kitchen table, show your buyer two paths, and prove which one wins. That's the kind of thing that gets you referred.

Link in the comments. Use it on your next offer. 👇

Steve Tomaselli | NMLS 358920 · Edge Home Finance · Licensed in TX, FL & MA · 830-590-1337

05/20/2026

Mortgage rates were finally easing, then global uncertainty stepped back in.

In my latest post, I break down how the war in Iran is affecting interest rates, why oil and bond-market volatility matter to mortgage pricing, and why calmer conditions could help rates settle back down again. The article also includes practical guidance for buyers and homeowners weighing their next move.

Read more in the 👇👇👇 first comment below

Learn just how war in Iran affecting interest rates is the story of 2026, why uncertainty is pushing mortgage rates higher, and why rates may settle down as markets stabilize.

05/12/2026

Two cities. Twenty miles apart on I-35. The same house costs $28,000 less in San Marcos than New Braunfels — and yet the cheaper house actually costs you more every single month.

It's not a typo. It's the property tax inversion that nobody mentions until after closing.

The Texas Current is back with Episode 6 — a data-honest, locals-eye comparison of New Braunfels and San Marcos covering the stuff Zillow can't tell you:

— The 2.79x growth gap reshaping both cities
— Why San Marcos prices corrected nearly 11% while New Braunfels barely moved
— The "cheap printer trap" on property taxes (Comal vs. Hays counties)
— What the school ratings actually mean once you control for income
— Austin commuters vs. JBSA commuters — and why the I-35 split at Buda decides where you live
— Tyler picks one city. Maddie picks the other. They disagree for good reasons.

21 minutes. Honest data. No spin.

Link in the first comment. 👇👇👇

05/04/2026

"Should I buy now or wait for lower rates?"

If you're house-hunting in the Texas Hill Country, you've probably asked this 14 times this month. Here's the straight answer:

This isn't the wild seller's market of 2021. It's also not a collapse.

It's a strategy market.

The buyers winning right now aren't staring at the rate. They're looking at:

✅ Seller concessions
✅ Builder incentives
✅ Rate buydowns vs. price reductions
✅ The full monthly payment — taxes, insurance, HOA, MUD, the whole picture

"Marry the house, date the rate" only works if you can actually afford the house BEFORE the refinance. Otherwise that cute little saying turns into a financial faceplant.

I just published a 2026 mortgage strategy guide for buyers in New Braunfels, Boerne, Seguin, Canyon Lake, San Marcos, and Spring Branch.

If you want to know what to actually negotiate in this market — read it in the comments below 👇👇👇

04/20/2026

Your buddy in Colorado closed a cash-out refinance in 10 days. Yours will take four weeks, cost more, and come with a stack of papers an inch thick. He's not a smarter borrower. You just live in Texas. 🤠

Here's what most homeowners don't realize: Texas is the ONLY state in the country where home equity rules are written into the state constitution. Not lender policy. Not CFPB regulation. The actual Texas Constitution — ratified before the Statue of Liberty was built.And those rules catch more homeowners (and out-of-state lenders) off guard than almost anything else I deal with.

In 33 years of writing mortgages and my time in Texas, I've watched:

✅ Texas homeowners blindsided by the 12-day cooling-off period

✅ Out of state investors assume Texas works like every other state and lose thousands in unnecessary fees

✅ Borrowers stuck in a 50(a)(6) label they didn't know they could escapeSo I finally sat down and wrote the complete 2026 guide. It covers:→ The 80% LTV constitutional cap (zero exceptions)

→ The 2% fee rule most lenders fumble

→ The 50(f)(2) "exit ramp" added in 2018 that nobody talks about

→ A real Canyon Lake scenario with the math on a $650K home ($213K in net cash)

→ Why investment properties play by completely different rules

If you're thinking about tapping equity in 2026 — or you did a cash-out during the 2020-2022 low-rate window and you're wondering what happens when you eventually refinance — read this before you talk to another lender.

Questions? Drop them in the comments or send me a message. Happy to run your numbers — no pressure, no pitch, just the honest math.Steve Tomaselli | NMLS #358920
Edge Home Finance · Licensed TX · FL · MA



Article in the Comments Below 👇

04/15/2026

April is off to a good start for rain and re-charging our aquifer.

Texas has always been a land of extremes — cracked earth one season, rushing rivers the next.

And if you've been watching the drought headlines, here's something worth knowing: the weather pattern that's been keeping Texas dry for the past few years is finally shifting.

NOAA just issued its Final La Niña Advisory. El Niño is expected to emerge by this summer — and historically, that's very good news for Central Texas rainfall. 🌧️

We just published a deep dive on everything you need to know about water in Central Texas:

✅ Why drought and flooding are actually two sides of the same system
✅ How Biblical flood events recharge the Edwards Aquifer almost overnight
✅ What the La Niña → El Niño shift means for New Braunfels, San Marcos, Georgetown & beyond
✅ Which communities have the strongest water infrastructure
✅ What every relocating buyer should check before closing

The short version: Central Texas water concerns are real — but so is the resilience of this region. And the outlook right now is more hopeful than it's been in years.

👇 Drop your water questions in the comments — or tell us what you've noticed about drought conditions where you live!

🔗 Read the full guide in the link in the comments

04/06/2026

I got a text this morning from a woman named Sandra.

She said she'd been "extremely frightened" of even considering buying a home — but she needed to do something for her family.

Sound familiar?

Here's what I told her: getting preapproved depends on exactly 3 things.

✅ Credit
✅ Income
✅ Assets

That's it. Everything else is just steps.

Sandra is a school teacher. Combined household income of $110K. Credit in the low 600s. No savings to speak of.

By the end of our conversation, she had a clear 30-day plan.

If you've been putting off homeownership because the process feels overwhelming — I wrote this guide for you.

It covers:

👉 What credit score you actually need
👉 Down payment options (including Texas programs that don't require repayment)
👉 The mortgage qualification process, step by step
👉 What closing actually looks like

No jargon. No pressure. Just a clear roadmap.

Drop a 🏡 in the comments if you've ever felt like Sandra — and I'll make sure you see this.

04/04/2026

🏠 vs 🏢 — Which one wins in 2026?

If you're renting in New Braunfels, San Marcos, Boerne, or anywhere along the I-35 Corridor right now, you've probably asked yourself: "Should I just keep renting, or is now actually a good time to buy?"

Here's what the math actually says for Central Texas buyers in 2026:

✅ On monthly payment alone — renting looks $1,400+ cheaper per month
✅ By year 4 — the buyer pulls ahead in net worth
✅ By year 10 — the buyer has built nearly $70,000 more wealth than the renter

And that's BEFORE factoring in Texas assistance programs like TSAHC down payment grants (up to $16,250) or the Mortgage Credit Certificate that puts up to $2,000/year back in your pocket at tax time.

The break-even in most Hill Country and I-35 markets right now? 3 to 5 years. If you're planning to stay longer than that, the numbers almost always favor buying.

I broke down the full analysis — with real Comal County numbers, a county-by-county property tax table, and answers to the most common questions I hear after 33 years in the mortgage business.

🔗 Link in first comment 👇

Steve Tomaselli | NMLS #358920 | Edge Home Finance LLC | Equal Housing Opportunity | Licensed in TX, FL & MA