Gross Income: $68k [$5,666/mo] (standard w-2 salary full-time job, 4yrs at current employer)
Looking at single family houses, primary residence, in $200k range. I know this is a bit on the higher side of the range for my income, but income will be increasing again in the not too distant future (probably up to $73k/yr in a couple months) and I'm single without much in the way of expenses. I just gotta feed myself, pay for utils and car. Taxes are a bit high in the areas I'm looking at (~$285/mo).
FICOs from May2
EQU: 643 (FICO)
TSU: 671 (FICO)
Revolving utilization at the time of those scores was 90%. Now down to 65%.
EQU: AvgAge:2
EQU: Oldest: 7.6yrs
TSU: AvgAge: 4
TSU: Oldest: 17.3yrs
Only negatives are two judgements, both satisfied, one 01/2006, one 07/2005. No late payments to be found.
New car loan four months ago. I probably should have waited, but in my mind, I'll have a car payment for at least for the next 8-10 years. So I don't give much thought to whether it's a new loan or old, but probably the banks do.
Current debt payments:
$458 - car
$217 - revolving minimums
$228 - 401k loan (not on CR, source of the $7k I have in cash and sent some to pay revolving balances down a bit)
I have
$9k in my 401k (can't borrow against this due to loan mentioned)
$7k sitting in my checking
$9-$10k in stuff I can sell quickly (classic car parts for which I have buyers, if I need them) but would only sell what i have to.
I'm thinking FHA would be the only option in the short-term, but I'm not even sure if that would be possible.
As I stated, this would be my first purchase, so I'm looking for feedback/thoughts. In addition to the $9-$10k on liquid saleable items listed above, I could probably squeeze a few more grand out if I sold some things that I would prefer to hang on to. I would only consider that if I see a property that was too good to pass up.
Obviously that $7k wouldn't even get me to closing on a $200k home. So I've accepted the fact that I will need to sell some stuff if something pops up requiring quick action, but I'm not sure how much, and whether I should keep it in cash, or knock some more off those revolving balances.
In the event that a house popped up tomorrow for $200k that I wanted to act on, what would you recommend?
Here are my current open tradelines (there are others closed - All accounts, both open and closed have perfect payment histories):
| Open Date | Type | Bal | Limit |
| 8/1/2004 | Credit | $4800 | $5000 |
| 6/1/2008 | Credit | $0 | $500 |
| 7/1/2008 | Charge | $0 | $600 |
| 3/1/2009 | Credit | $0 | $1500 |
| 3/1/2010 | Credit | $2150 | $3500 |
| 9/1/2010 | Charge | $1320 | $1500 |
| 2/1/2011 | Installment (car) | $26k | |
