Down Payment or PFD..which one shoudl I do?

[DallasLoanGuy]

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hopeful wrote:
I'm not trying to throw cold water on your dream of home ownership, BUT...I'm going to have to throw you into a cold shower.

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hopeful, i dont think your advice was asked for was it?

i believe the op was asking about how to buy a home for her family.

while paying everything off dave ramsey style would be good for anyone, i do not believe your spam helps answer the question.

if i was looking for a recipe for cherry pies, would you tell me to pay off my debt before buying the ingredients?

[DallasLoanGuy]

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MichiganMommy wrote:

Yes, the second one denied me after a month of being in manual review. My LO has not told me much of anything, just that I was denied and that I should call him when the recently received revolving  CC hits my report in about a week. He thinks my midscore will be over 580 (it is 547 now) and he will then try an automated.... He also mentioned some "plan" they have for people who cannot get approved, but said to try the automated first. I am working through Flagstar bank... The LO works closely with my realtor (whom I love) and my realtor says that if it can be done, this LO will do it...

I have also been encouraged by a pal of mine who has a similar situation to go through QuickenLO online that he used and got an approval in just two days.

As far as the report is concerned, do you think the one they have would be different than the one I can get from FICO??? I am not sure how much good it would do me. A few significant things have fallen off since he pulled my credit early MAY. My score has, gone up over 15 points on each CR since then.

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the lo report should be similar to myfico reports

[Anonymous]

Dallasloanguy - your sarcasm surely isn't helpful. This is a forum that is supposed to help people with debt issues. It has certainly been helpful to me over the years. I see that you are relatively new to the forum, and I take it that you have been able to provide some good advice. HOWEVER, I am shocked that so many people are not being given honest answers to their questions, and I have to assume that you are in the mortgage business -- which means that your primary goal is to sell mortgages. That's great for you, I guess, but it means that you are looking at questions from the point of view of someone who wants to SELL homes. I look at this lady's comments and I see someone who is potentially in big trouble down the road if she takes out a mortgage without sufficient cash reserves. She has an ex who won't adequately support her children. She has two teenagers who are expensive (clothes, schooling, especially college in the near future). And she owes so much on a medical collection that it is going to wipe out her down payment savings. She says that she and her husband make PLENTY of money and that income isn't the problem. If income isn't a problem, then why hasn't she been able to save more? Why would paying off a collection wipe out her savings? Doesn't this signal that maybe she isn't as in control of her finances as she likes to think she is? This should be raising all kinds of red flags -- and yet professionals in the mortgage industry (realtors, brokers, loan officers) are encouraging her to go into heavy debt. Yes, in some ways a home can be seen as an investment, but try telling that to someone in California whose $350,000 home is now worth $225,000. It's this same attitude that we had from 2003-2005 -- sell, sell, sell. You mortgage people were so interested in selling homes that you didn't care about whether or not the buyer would be able to pay for the mortgage in five years. What the heck do you think is going to happen to local property taxes in the next five years? They are going to skyrocket. And while it's true that you can currently deduct these taxes on your federal income tax, who knows what changes in the tax laws lie ahead? My point is that -- absent any contrary advice from you and others who are intent on getting as many people to buy as possible -- anyone who could seriously consider buying RIGHT NOW in this market is crazy. Of course, home buying is a very emotional issue, and I'm sure she won't listen to me anymore than she would listen to her first loan officer. And if she goes ahead and buys RIGHT NOW, then I expect she'll be in foreclosure within three years. If she can't handle her money right now (that is, save sufficiently), then how is going into debt for $100,000 going to be any different? You won't tell her the truth because you want to tell her what she wants to hear. How is that helpful? It's amazing to me that people do not want to see reality: the way mortgages were approved between 2001-2007 is OVER. We are now going back to the way mortgages were approved in the 1950s and 1960s. People who read this forum for advice should listen to ALL advice and not just the advice given by those whose aim is to sell mortgages.

[MichiganMommy]

WOW! DallasLoanGuy and Hopeful,

I did not mean to start such a firestorm.

Dallas, you have been nothing but helpful AND honest to me on this and many, many other threads. I am quite capable and intelligent enough to understand that people read and will reply from several different vantage points. It is not a matter of "listening" to anyone. It is a matter of understanding where I am, where I've been and where I need to go in the best interest of myself AND my family.

Hopeful, you have assumed a lot. I have quite a bit in savings, quite a bit in retiremnt and quite a bit in a 401K.... I choose not to touch those savings for the many of the reasons that you have mentioned in your replies.

You have also inferred that I am having trouble making ends meet, that is simply NOT so. I would have paid off the collections, little by little over the course of the last year if a previous LO had not told me not to worry about the medical collections. I had other options, like taking my ex-husband to court. I chose not to do that, because that was not in the best interest of my children...I HAVE NO RECENT medical collections. I was paying them off because I was concerned that they are part of the problem (just the sheer number of them).

It is true that I have two late payments within the last year. If you must know, my father had a stroke and my mother had both breast and colon cancer within a 4 month period timeframe. Due to all of the traveling and craziness of my life during that time, I missed a few payments. That was LAST July and September. I HAVE HAD NO LATES SINCE THEM. Those are the GW letters that I have written.

So, in conclusion of this thread, I feel capable and ready to take on a mortgage. A credit report and credit scores only tell PART of the story. This thread only tells part of the story. Since I know the entire story, I plan to move forward with my quest for homeownership and will keep you all posted.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I think we should all be careful to impose TOO much of an opinion on anyone that we don't know and don't know their entire story.... You don't know the personal personality or state of mind of the person on the other side of the thread. Being too critical, could not be in the best interest of anyone. If we stick to what is asked of us on the Forum, we cannot go wrong! Enough said!

God Bless and thanks for your advice.

[Anonymous]

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@MichiganMommy wrote:

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I think we should all be careful to impose TOO much of an opinion on anyone that we don't know and don't know their entire story.... You don't know the personal personality or state of mind of the person on the other side of the thread. Being too critical, could not be in the best interest of anyone. If we stick to what is asked of us on the Forum, we cannot go wrong! Enough said!

God Bless and thanks for your advice.

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We're all adults here and we are all the keepers of our own fates. You will do what you want to do. BUT, you posted here on a public forum and, although you didn't state it in so many words, you were looking for affirmation of your decision to purchase a home and trying to decide whether (a) pay off a medical collection and put no money down on a home or (b) not pay off the medical collection and make a down payment. Inherent in that question is the information that you don't have the money to both pay the collection AND make a down payment. That alone raises red flags to those of us who follow this board (for example, does that mean you will exhaust all of your reserves?). I'm sorry it's not what you want to hear. I don't mean to upset you, and, as unkind as it may seem, sometimes the kindest thing you can do for someone is to tell them the truth. You are certainly not going to hear it from people whose aim is to increase home sales. Based on the few facts that I have -- although these facts speak volumes about your financial situation -- it's my opinion that you shouldn't get into a mortgage. But you are determined to go into deeper debt, so for your children's sake, I hope you prove me horribly wrong. Good luck.

[DallasLoanGuy]

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MichiganMommy wrote:

WOW! DallasLoanGuy and Hopeful,

I did not mean to start such a firestorm.

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no firestorm.

some people think that this is the money management forum.

anyone who can mistake the MORTGAGE FORUM with a dave ramsey financial advice forum loses credibility in my book. especially when that person makes assumptions about a person based on a few posts.

i make no assumptions. i answer mortgage questions and throw in my opinion WHEN IT IS ASKED FOR!!!!!

hopeful is right... this forum is about debt. MORTGAGE debt.

hopeful even made assumptions about me.... thinking that i am selling you on a mortgage(i dont solicit here). however, all i have done is answer questions about home loans so you can better yourself and you family. he/she even assumes that i put people in mortgages when i know that people cannot afford them in 5yrs like the unscrupulous lenders you hear about in the news. dang, i guess he/she has cracked my hard drive and found out my evil plot.

he/she says people should not buy in this climate.... even though he/she can and did recently(a mere 4 months ago?)..... i guess he/she is better than you?!?!?!? can handle a mortgage that you cannot?!?!?!

he/she predicts that you will be in foreclosure within 3yrs because you cannot handle the debt like he/she can.

and lets forget that he/she thinks that you cannot handle your money. maybe you should give it to him/her to manage it for you.

hopeful has been a jerk to both you AND me. and my only sin has been to answer your questions openly and honestly in an open forum for all to scrutinize for accuracy.

keep asking questions if you wish.

[Anonymous]

This thread is getting way too heated-

I hope the OP's questions have been answered, if not please start a new thread and post a follow-up question.

Please be positive and suportive-

Message Edited by Timothy on 06-22-2008 07:13 PM