Wife and I want to buy our 1st home in Northern VA

[Anonymous]

I'm new to these boards, love them by the way.  My wife and I our interested in purchasing our first home in about 7-8 months. (Spring, 2008)  For those unfamiliar with the Northern Virginia housing market, home prices are quite high in comparison to the country as a whole.  We're looking at spending $250,000 to $290,000 for our first home which will be a townhouse.

A little background on us, my fico is currently a 572.  I have a judgement on my record from 2001 in the amount of $775.  This is due to drop off in Dec, 2008.  Also, I have 3 outstanding credit collections records for medical bills on my report, with 1 of them that is not paid yet.  Other than that, all my trade lines have been paid on time for at least the past 2 years.  The other thing holding my score back is high utilization of my revolving credit.  Utilization is around 80%.

As far as my wife, her fico is a 667.  She has no collections or judgements, however also has high utilization of revolving credit.  I would estimate her utilization to be around 80% as well.  She has some 30 day lates on her record, but they were at least 2-3 years ago.

We have a plan to have all our credit card debt paid off in 6 months.  I am going to pay off my medical collection and my judgement in this time as well.  Our combined yearly income is $90000.

I'd be greatful for anyone's advice.  Will we be able to purchase a home in spring?  Will I be able to get my score up to a respectable level in 6 months time paying everthing off?  Thanks for reading my book!! 

[Anonymous]

You can do this. You will want to get your utilization on your credit cards down to less than 35%. If you get your CC utilization down between 1% and 9%, FICO loves this and will reward handsomely.

Also, offer PFD (pay for deletion) for your collection account that is unpaid and try a GW (goodwill letter) for the other two. If there is any innacurate information, even the dates, dispute with the CRA's.

Good luck.

[VLGaffEsq]

I agree EXACTLY with everything cfstr1 said...follow that advice precisely and you should be just fine.  Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Great, I am glad to hear these replies.  As far as the PFD, is that just a matter of me contacting the collector (in writing) and saying I will pay you IF you remove record from the bureaus?  Thanks again.

[Tuscani]

Welcome.. Please read the Scoring 101 thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=2654

[Anonymous]

Yep.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if you've heard of the program, but my wife and I are purchasing a home through a program called Naca (http://naca.com). We live in the Columbia, MD... we actually just locked in our interest rate today. With interest buy-down, our rate is 4.25%. Naca's goal is to fight predatory lending and provide loans to create stable neighborhoods. There's no income requirement per se, but they do look at your debt to income ratio and credit score. Your rate isn't determined by your score... The reason I mention it is because they have an office in DC. We could've searched in Northern Virginia, as far as Baltimore, even Bethesday.... their coverage area is quite expansive. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. FYI, Naca loans are through Citigroup and Bank of America. There's a lot of information on the website.

[Anonymous]

You have the right idea and that's the good news! The bad news is that the market is changing at a very fast pace and guidelines are getting very tight. On top of that you just tell what lender are going to be around.

Get that judgment paid asap and save the release. If you need contact information go to http://www.netronline.com/. As for you credit read Tuscani's Scoring 101.

Now that you know when you want to buy your new home, you're working on your credit, and paying of all judgments and tax liens... You're on the right track!!! Start working on your assets! Save some money because no matter what bank you get your loan at they will love assets. Your goal needs to be to have your down payment, closing cost, and 3 - 6 months of reserves in you account.

Keep in mind that if your score is below 575 that you will need to put 20 percent down. This guideline can change so just work on getting that score up.

Keep us update on your scores so we all can tell you how you're doing!

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Barracuda wrote:

I'm new to these boards, love them by the way.  My wife and I our interested in purchasing our first home in about 7-8 months. (Spring, 2008)  For those unfamiliar with the Northern Virginia housing market, home prices are quite high in comparison to the country as a whole.  We're looking at spending $250,000 to $290,000 for our first home which will be a townhouse.

A little background on us, my fico is currently a 572.  I have a judgement on my record from 2001 in the amount of $775.  This is due to drop off in Dec, 2008.  Also, I have 3 outstanding credit collections records for medical bills on my report, with 1 of them that is not paid yet.  Other than that, all my trade lines have been paid on time for at least the past 2 years.  The other thing holding my score back is high utilization of my revolving credit.  Utilization is around 80%.

As far as my wife, her fico is a 667.  She has no collections or judgements, however also has high utilization of revolving credit.  I would estimate her utilization to be around 80% as well.  She has some 30 day lates on her record, but they were at least 2-3 years ago.

We have a plan to have all our credit card debt paid off in 6 months.  I am going to pay off my medical collection and my judgement in this time as well.  Our combined yearly income is $90000.

I'd be greatful for anyone's advice.  Will we be able to purchase a home in spring?  Will I be able to get my score up to a respectable level in 6 months time paying everthing off?  Thanks for reading my book!! 

---

[Anonymous]

Just an update...

My scores are now TU 658, EQ 608, EX 639.  These are from MyFico.  TC scores are TU 641, EX 636, EQ 651.  I recently got a collection deleted by doing a PFD.  I have 2 other collections on my report that are paid, and I'm hoping to get them removed by disputing them.  Also, the judgement that is on my report I'm hoping to have removed by filing a Nonsuit.  The plaintiff agreed to this.

We're still on track to purchase our home sometime around March of next year.  But a variable has been thrown into the mix.  DW is pregnant!!   She is due May 3, 2008.  Will be our first child.  So, getting our own home is of even greater importance now...  Wish us luck!!

[Anonymous]

Congrats to you and DW!

Time for high gear - I would suggest getting all the credit issues done ASAP - and plan on looking and getting under contract in the early part of January with a settlement in February - moving will be rough on her in the latter stages of pregnancy.

Go FHA (even an FHA 203K on the 'right' property) -- limit is $362,790 and FHA is not score driven!  As for housing - there is plenty (and some real nice townhouses!) in that range if you can be somewhat flexible on location. I'm in the DC metro area and sell houses so I am familar with the inventory.  There are also some real nice foreclosures out there in both PW and Loudon counties along with Fairfax.

Message Edited by Lady_Scarlet on 11-11-2007 12:16 PM