Harrison Clark

Solid plan but then given the job uncertainty, I’d push the emergency fund to 4–6 months before ramping the down payment and keep only minimum payments on the loans - prepaying won’t lower the payment lenders use for your DTI, but bigger cash reserves help approval. Also earmark part of the house bucket for closing costs and moving and separate accounts and automatic transfers make it easier to stick to.

If it’s a Wi‑Fi model put it on a dedicated 2.4 GHz network with a unique name, turn off band steering, and pick a fixed clean channel (1, 6, or 11); also move any big cloud backups or streaming off nighttime hours. For RF models, keep it away from cordless phones, microwaves, and dimmers, and try disabling eco/VOX modes that can cause reconnect delays. One more easy win: some cameras brown out when night vision kicks in, so swap the charger/cable and elevate the unit away from metal or thick walls.

Check that the charger behaves normally with no battery, then meter the pack at the main terminals. Readings in the teens usually recover after a few short on and off tries while near zero means the pack is locked out, never jump or bypass, and if a known good pack still makes it blink the charger is likely bad.