Buying in 3 Months - Need Advice

[MovingForward_2012]

Hi Everyone!  I am new to the mortgage thread on myFico.  I need some desperate advice.

We have lived in our current home renting for 3 1/2 years (never late...always paid on the first) and now my landlady wants us to purchase her home.  She is really pushing this deal.  She wants it done ASAP even though the lease runs through May. However, we have gone back and forth on this several times as we don't feel completely sure buying her home is the right decision.  The home was built in 2000 but it hasn't been maintained by her since she put it up for rent and shuffled no paying tenants through it.  We initially rented the house 3 1/2 years ago because our credit was in the dumps and we couldn't move anywhere that required a credit check because of the 4 year old Ch 13 (that is now discharged and completely removed from our reports now).  The house was in bad shape when we moved in even though it was nice elegant home underneath the previous tenants' destruction.  When we first moved in, we didn't know we had the option to buy in the future...that came down the road and we also had a landlord tell us we had the option to buy before and then backed out of the deal so we know it isn't a deal until the deal is done. 

Anyways, since we are "supposed" to be buying in 3 months, my landlady has stopped making repairs on the home.  And whatever repairs done, have been cheap and haven't been sturdy (so to speak).  The air conditioner broke twice and the dufus she hired initially put the new capacitator in wrong and sparks were shooting out of the unit threatening to set the house on fire.  We went over her and had a "professional" inspect the unit, and he found out the initial job was botched.  He also said the air conditioner was 13 years old and on its way out.  She refused to replace the air conditioner, instead we got another "patch" done to it and she said she would give us an additional $3000 at closing in addition to our rental credit ($1200) and security deposit ($1500) to put in savings for a new air conditioner unit.  We have a faucet that when you turn it on it's shooting water out of the base and you can't cook much or clean very long otherwise the floors get soaked because there is a leak somewhere else.  She and her "handyman" (the guy looked like he just came out of retirement to work on this particular home) came over on Friday to look at the items broke on my list and to REPAIR the faucet and put a new garbage disposal in but NOTHING got done!  This is the 2nd time we are saying nope, we aren't buying this house!  We want to buy something WE WANT and that meets our needs as we will be living in it for the next 10 years to forever.  Our landlady has made this house very undesirable for us over the years with her "patch-up handymen".  Who knows what else has been fixed faulty and will break soon.  Then she said she would pay for a 1 year maintenence plan that would be a $50 deductible if something breaks; thinking that gets her out of making repairs like we are stupid and don't know a maintenence plan doesn't cover what is already broke. That's not enough for us.  How often does all the things going out break in a year?  And also when she was here Friday she was trying to get a consensus from her handyman that something wasn't broke like the Microwave that has been broke since we moved in.  We spent 15 mins playing with the microwave as the burning smell was making me nauseous!  Finally she said, "yep it's toast!".  Get out of here!

So I will be the only qualifier on the loan.  My husband is a stay at home Dad.  I make 92K a year and we are looking at qualifying for this special program we have offered in our state, where if we take a first time homebuyers class and have a mid credit score of 620, 2 years min employment (I have 13 years), we will qualify for a second mortgage that will cover up 3% down payment and closing costs.  That is the only thing standing in our way right now is the money.  I do NOT want to withdraw from my 401K.  So we really need this special financing program because moving will cost us quite a bit as I am disabled and my husband needs packers to help him. I can do a little but not very much.  If we can get this special financing, we can qualify for a home we REALLY want, with a basement (our home doesn't have a basement and we have grown to hate that) and a slightly newer home. We found some really nice homes built in the year 2005 near my child's school or in my child's current district and most importantly things are working!!!!!  The fact that our landlady didn't fix anything on Friday is because she wants us to sign on a dotted line somewhere saying that we are going to buy the house which by the way is against the law!  She is still obligated to make repairs as the lease isn't up until May 2013.

We are not happy and we truly feel like we are be pushed into a house that will be more of a headache and cost us $$$$ over the years.  I know the inspector is going to come back with a boat load of issues that she is going to try to talk us into accepting.  This is becoming a very stressful process and we haven't even begun the loan process yet!!!  If she would replace both toilets upstairs, the microwave, the pond (she said she isn't fixing it because it is frozen in the winter time...another cop out as I know there are times when it is warmer and it melts down at least twice a month).

We are about certain now we don't want this house.  I feel trapped already with my chronic pain and the prospect of having to move is overwhelming but I feel I will be truly trapped if we purchase this piece of crap!  I could have gotten new toilets etc, but why would I do that so that helps her with appraisal value of the home as I just paid her double! Once for the new toilets, and twice for the cost of the new toilets rolled into purchase value of the home.

Sorry so long winded but I have had enough and we don't have to settle for this.  Our credit has improved A LOT and we will easily qualify for the special financing program in Feb/Mar.  The only kicker requirement is the household income has to be below $103,000 for 3+ persons, which is fine because I don't plan on exceeding that total for 3-4 years from now.

I truly think it is time to move on.  Pack up and leave the house in the perfect crappy shape it was in before we moved in.  What are your thoughts?  Is my landlady pushing a good or bad deal?  Does it make better financial sense to move to a home that has been cared for with professional maintenence?  I had planned on going through with the deal if the repairs on my list were made but she has backed out of that deal and is trying to justify not fixing one darn thing!  She is wishy washy and goes back and forth so much it is obvious to us that she is taking advantage of us trying to make the most money off of her investment whether or not it is fair.  A few months ago, she said the house would appraise at $181K and now she is saying it will be $205K.  We have found some STUNNING $205K homes across the darn street that have a wet bar and a basement!  This feels like a complete RIP OFF!

Thoughts?  Thanks in advance for reading it all and commenting.  It is very much appreciated. 

[Blackhawks_girl30]

If I were you no way would I sign anything with her. Go out and look at homes in your price range. Compare to what you are currently living in and then decide if where you are currently living is truly where you would like to be living. I'm not sure all of your details but if you go FHA you only need the 3.5% down payment and then you could try to negotiate the seller paying closing to help you with cost. Good luck and keep us posted how this turns out

[MrChairman]

OP, RUN in the opposite direction of this scammer. She is playing on your unwillingness to move and uproot from a place you've made your home for almost 4 years. It is evident she is trying to get over on you by kicking repairs down the road since she assumes your a shoe in to buy her house. I wouldn't even entertain this nonsense from her. Go find a house that is move in ready and won't cost an additional 60K in repairs.

[Cloudlb]

trust  your instincts.  Tell her no, no thank you (and hell no) and plan to move when your lease is up. 

keep in mind though, that all homes will have problems.  You can fix problems.  You can't fix the lot, the location, the view, etc. 

also, I'm a bit confused that you say you qualify for a "second" mortgage.  You have another one?

[MovingForward_2012]

Thank you to the both of you for your replies. I appreciate your comments very much!

I was thinking the same thing as both of you but I wanted to post what I am going through here to see if others are seeing the same red flags I am and both of you see them. I should add something else about the pond. The pond was "patched up" for the 2nd time 2 summers ago and the repairs lasted literally hours! I came back outside 4-5 hours later and the pond wasn't pumping water and we couldn't revive it. The handyman that fixed the pond was her ex-husband and he came over ticked off that she sent him here. Pond hasn't been working since and has become somewhat of a biohazard.

Had a broker run my credit in July and mid fico was around 710 back then. The highest was 754. Because of the BK, we have to go with a FHA loan which as you stated is only 3.5% down. So with 3% of the down plus closing costs rolled into a 2nd mortgage, we only have to come up with the difference which is 0.5%. That is $1,500 for a $300,000 home and then the savings can be used to hire professional movers and get some new furniture. We found two dozen homes that are in the $250-290K range that we like.

Thanks to you all and my gut conscious, I have made my final decision to not buy this house. After all I have been through with my credit, I have vowed that I would not make another bad financial decision and I can see the repairs of this house eating us out of house and home. She needs to get what she deserves for scamming us like this. Instead of giving us a fair deal, she made her bed and has to lie in it. She WILL have to make the repairs for another buyer or come down on the price significantly. If she would have made the timely repairs, she wouldn't have to deal with everything at once. No ones fault but her own. Thanks again all.

[MovingForward_2012]

Thank you Cloud as well. I just saw your post. I answered the second mortgage question in my last post but also provided more info for you below..

I do understand other homes will have repairs but I would like a home that has nothing broken initially and that inspects well so that we have time to revive our finances a bit to be able to make the repairs. That broken pond will probably cost $2,000-3,000 to repair properly. After closing, I don't want to come home to a place that has broken things right off from the start. I want to come to a home that I can focus on just paying the mortgage, normal maintenance/upkeep, and recouping the savings spent to buy the home. I'm worried her "handymen" may have added damage by repairing what has been repaired wrong and that their poor workmanship will cost us $$$$ in professional repairs.

So like I said, we have a special financing option in our state to roll 3% of the down payment and closing costs into a second mortgage if we take a special homebuyers seminar, have a mid credit score of at least 620, and make no more than $103,000 a year. There are only certain lenders that work with this program and the website has several in our area. There is no cap on the purchase price of the home either. The website is www.chfainfo.org . This is a awesome program called the CHFA Homebuyers Plus program that helps you get the house you want to buy by offering a second mortgage to cover your down payment and closing costs. I am so glad I found out about it.

[MovingForward_2012]

Whoops bad link. Here is the correct website:
www.chfainfo.com