What should you do before buying a house?

[Anonymous]

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alkizz wrote:
If you make less than $100k/year. Even if not it still sucks to spend an extra $5k/year on your house payment

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I'm not singing the praises of PMI, just that the damage can be reduced. If you can get out from under it, by all means do it.

Message Edited by Noah_Bodie on 07-03-2007 12:46 PM

[Anonymous]

FHA / VA is a good way to go but HARD to get. For now to get a 100 percent loan you need a 640 fico.

Becareful about taking a bad loan in hopes of getting a prime loan. Thats can put you in a very bad spot!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=17531

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monro411 wrote:

I really had it with my landlord.  My lease will be up in November.  I have been focusing on improving my credit with the hope of buying a house in May next year.  But after today I plan to speed the process up.  My credit scores are 542  552 and 585.  I have several disputes pending, but everything is paid off except one that I plan to get a PFD for.  I also have a couple lates that may or may not get taken care of.  My plan is to have all scores over 600 by the end of august.  My wife has slightly better credit with all three around 600.  Is it possible to get a sub prime loan with a score below 600?  Any thoughts?  I am leaning toward a high interest loan first, then settling for a refinance at a prime rate later.

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[Anonymous]

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OneMortgageGuy wrote:

FHA / VA is a good way to go but HARD to get. For now to get a 100 percent loan you need a 640 fico.

Becareful about taking a bad loan in hopes of getting a prime loan. Thats can put you in a very bad spot!

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I've heard FHA/VA described as harder than conventional, but not by much.

There's bad loans and there's subprime loans. They aren't necessarily the same thing.

Still kicking self for not getting into a subprime 2 years ago, when they were all but giving them away. Worst case scenario I woulda had to sell and accept a $100K plus profit, then buy something else. However, this is the King County Washington real estate market. Not every market is flaming hot.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone.  I did talk to a subprime lender today.  They told me that if I get my scores to 600 I can possibly get a 100% loan.  But they would have to look at my situation.  Quick question for the Mortgage professionals.  I plan to  be out of my situation at the end of November.  When should I start shopping for a Lender?   I don't want to start too early, because I may be understating my position. I am hoping my credit increases by at least 50 points. I also don't want to wait too late. 

[Anonymous]

You can talk to one now, if they'll talk to you. Some might not give you the time of day until they pull your CRs, but that's probably not a broker you really wanna work with.

Ideally, you wanna find a guy or gal who will sit down with you, look at your printouts from MyFico (recently pulled), and give you a good rough guessimation. A good broker can look at the FICO scores, any adverse stuff, and get you into the ballpark and pretty close to calling the play. Broker might call a triple, but you pull a double when it comes time to buy.

No need in letting them start pulling CRs now, adding to your inquiry count, particularly if you know there are things you can improve on your own between now and when you are ready to buy.

[Anonymous]

In this day and age you don't have to get a high interest rate mortgage.  There are many programs out there for people who are willing to take control of their finances and prepare themselves for a home loan.  If you are willing to budget yourself and pay your rent on time to prove you are ready for homeownership. These programs are free of charge and offer counseling. I am in Illinois and we have rural housing program which in available in most states.  My sister is in Maryland and recently closed on a $189,000 home loan with no PMI through a non profit organization called Acorn go to www.acornhousing.org  I think. Acorn has office throughout the US.  They are everywhere I believe her mortgage rate was 6.2 and her credit scores were in the low 600's.  I love the neighborhood assistance corporation of america's program go to www.naca.com  and wanted to get a loan through them but they can be a bit slow in the process. NACA also has offices throughout the US.  There is no PMI and their rates are great, no fees, but you must be able to budget and prove you are able and ready to pay a mortgage.  NACA actually helped me to prepare for a mortgage but due to a lot of changes in staff in the Chicago office which made the process very slow so I had to seek my loan through a mortgage banker who was willing to find a program that could get me into a home in my time frame. It doesn't matter what your score is with NACA you just have to show that you're ready for a mortgage.  If your score is super but you aren't showing you're able to pay your rent and budget, you will not get a loan from NACA.  My loan is through the FHA bond assist.  It's a program for first time home buyers and they actually give you 3% down of the purchase price.  There is PMI but it's a lot lower than the normal pmi on a conventional loan. You actually get 4.125 percent down but 1.25 percent goes toward fees.  The great thing is you can write off PMI on your tax return now.   So I ended up getting 3% from FHA bond assist and got the sellers to agree to pay the closing cost. My low score was 570 my middle was 619.  There are many great programs out there that advocate against high loans so you don't have to accept that, and please don't get a bad loan.  It's best not to have a home loan if you get a bad one.  I am grateful that I waited and was led to these programs which makes homeownership a beautiful reality instead of an endless nightmare.

Blessings to you

Message Edited by RMONEGAIN on 07-05-2007 09:38 PM

Message Edited by RMONEGAIN on 07-05-2007 09:48 PM

Message Edited by RMONEGAIN on 07-05-2007 09:49 PM

[Anonymous]

I wanted to mention also that prices are geographic meaning the price varies greatly. I see 2 bedroom 1 bath starters are 450 - 500K in California. I live in the south and starter homes 3 br's 2 baths can be had for less than $200,000 easily. Houses brand new 1800 - 2200 sq ft.

Since the prices are so much less the PMI etc is also much less. My PMI was about 155.00 a month. Guess it matters most the kind of work you do and if you can relocate or want to? I only answer this to let people know this is available. Also down here a lot of home sellers will finance the buyer themselves.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is you can still get a first home for you and your family a lot easier without going to a bank to get a mortgage. No harm intended. I have nothing to gain.

Message Edited by posterbob on 07-10-2007 05:25 PM

[Anonymous]

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Noah_Bodie wrote:

 However, this is the King County Washington real estate market. Not every market is flaming hot.

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Holy smokes, we're neighbors!!!!! I'm in King County too.

Message Edited by Lori344 on 07-10-2007 11:32 PM

[Anonymous]

Also, check out what programs your city might have. Chicago has something called "City Mortgage"...depending on your income you can get a 6.xx loan, no pmi, a "gift" of your closing costs( up to 4%) and if you are 80% of median income, you can get more back. You have to take some classes (3 hour class)to go over everything from from scoop to nuts on owning a home or condo. Also, some builders have special deals for a percentage of units depending on income so that they can get zoning variances or expedited permits.


It never hurts to look.

Kevin

[Anonymous]

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posterbob wrote:

I wanted to mention also that prices are geographic meaning the price varies greatly.

...

I guess the point I'm trying to make is you can still get a first home for you and your family a lot easier without going to a bank to get a mortgage. No harm intended. I have nothing to gain.

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Very much correct.

While there's not a lot of seller financing up here that I can see, I do see a lot of lease-option deals particularly around the South Sound area (Pierce County).