So this is another update in our saga to get a house since we could not find a rental with 2 cats and 2 dogs in the Bay area!
Original Story:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Mortgage-Loans/FHA-loan-in-California-with-subprime-credit/td-p/3941...
Update:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Mortgage-Loans/Happy-update-tp-quot-FHA-loan-in-California-with-subp...
So we made it to underwriting - phew - everything was going pretty well. Until 2 weeks ago when I get a text message from my husband asking me to call him at once.
Due to restructuring, he was let go from his job. We were devastated, we were panicked, we were sure that our adorable little dream bungalow was history. So we called our mortgage lender and let him know. Then we searched the internet, crunched numbers and there was a glimmer of hope. Just a slight glimmer. If we subtracted his alimony from my income instead of counting it as debt we might still be able to qualify. Once again Dan (dpeezy on the boards) worked with me and by Monday we found out we might still get the house. Our patient and wonderful realtor got the seller to agree to an extension. By Wednesday (5 days after my husband lost his job) we were back in underwriting. We got through it with flying colors (two docs to provide - one of which was from my husbands former and hard to work with employer) We never got the final doc but once again we crunched, Dan worked his magic and all was well.
Today we got the news - final docs are being pulled and next week (before the original contract close date) we will have the keys to our dream and our home.
Lessons to be learned:
1. Ask a professional to evaluate your situation. We were able to dramatically fix credit due to his focused and "dead on" advice.
2. Be absolutely honest and disclose everything up front. Means no surprises from you.
3. Act fast and be as prepared as you can be. Respond immediately.
4. Believe that it can happen. I do not think anyone could have had the deck stacked higher against them at the beginning of May through now. We had subprime credit, no downpayment, my husband lost his job, our lease ended and we had to move in with a friend, it was one thing after another. Some of our important papers ended up packed are are inaccessible.
In the end we are buying a property we love in our #1 choice of location. We are spending less on the mortgage than I budgeted for rent and we will get the tax break. And we met some amazing professionals in our loan officer and realtor both. They worked with knowledge and heart to help us out.
Dreams do sometimes come true. And honestly the best ones have a long tale between "Once upon a time" and "They lived Happily Ever After"
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