Buying a house for the first time

[FinancialNewbie]

Hey guys, I'm new to the board and finances in general, but I have a goal that I've set for myself, and that is to educate myself on real estate and the business around it; And I think the first step in educating myself is to find out where I stand in the world of owning real estate.

From San Francisco, California. I am 23 years old, male, single, and like to think I'm good with saving money. One thing I really want to do is get a house, but living in San Francisco (The Bay Area) is just too expensive and I'm thinking about relocating to Washington (Seattle/Tacoma area) where it's cheaper to live.

I make about $30,000 a year with my day job, no benefits, but it's easy reliable work. I also drive for rideshare companies such as Uber/Lyft on the side and I rack up a good extra hundred dollars on the side. Annually, I would say no more than $10,000. But I can probably do it full time and make $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

My plan is to get approved for an FHA loan. My credit score is about 680, and I am thinking of buying a house up in Seattle/Tacoma of Washington. My budget is about $150,000 - $200,000. With the position I'm in financially, do you guys think I will be approved to get a house?

[DallasLoanGuy]

what line of work?

how long in that line of work?

how long have you been doing the ride share job?  <=  will need 2yrs to consider part time extra work.

do you have work lined up in Wash?  we cannot give you a loan on income that you will have to leave to live in the house.

can you get a job up there in the same line of work and live in temp housing until you find a home?

[FinancialNewbie]

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@DallasLoanGuy wrote:

what line of work?

how long in that line of work?

how long have you been doing the ride share job?  <=  will need 2yrs to consider part time extra work.

do you have work lined up in Wash?  we cannot give you a loan on income that you will have to leave to live in the house.

can you get a job up there in the same line of work and live in temp housing until you find a home?

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Thanks for the reply.

I work in security, and I've been in that line of work for the past two years. I've been doing the rideshare job for almost two months now.

I was thinking of relocating to Seattle, and renting out an apartment for two years. I am confident enough I can find a job that pays the same. However, I would need to have that job for at least two years before applying for loans, am I correct?

Some details I forgot to mention is that I have a car loan that I'm paying off right now. I should be able to pay it off by next year. I also have a few credit cards that I will be paying off by the end of the year. My CC limit is $9,500 and I'm using about $3,000 but the goal is to pay it all off by the end of the year.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

At $30k/year, a $150k sales price will be about your max.  If it's full time employment, then you won't need 2 years at your new job in order to qualify, usually just need 30 days on the new job.  At $40k/year of income then a $200k sales price should be doable.

I think Uber, Lyft and other rideshare companies are a great idea, but I think there will be increased regulation with them sooner or later since they are very similar to taxi cabs, which are regulated.  Not sure how that will impact the profitability of those companies and their drivers.