Down Payment Assistance and Advice for Mortgage

[Anonymous]

Hey All,

My wife and I are looking to buy a home within the next 6 months. We've been aggressively paying off our debt, and her scores are around 750 +/-. Mine are around 640 +/-, but I have 2 cards scheduled to be paid off next month, and my calculator shows the scores should increase as low as 680 and high as 710.

Normally we wouldn't rush this, but we have a child on the way (a good surprise!) that is due in February. I also have shared custody of my daughter (she's 6), and the place we're renting is a 2/2, so not nearly enough room for us.

We know what city we're moving to. My parents and my wife's mom both live there, so it'd allow us to get free babysitting which saves us a ton of money in the long run.

The challenge is, in the midst of paying off credit and debt over the past year and we paid for our wedding last August, we haven't saved nearly enough for a down payment. We have about $1,000 right now, and could likely save another $2-3k in the next few months, but I am not sure if we could save much more than that. We make pretty good - $120,000 combined annual incomes.

Homes we are looking at range from $220k-270k in the area we need to be in.

Anyone have any down payment advice, such as mortgage loans that you can use for down payment, Chenoa Fund, etc? We're in Alabama, if that helps. Going to our 401k is not an option we have right now. Our DTI is about 23% for me and 22% for her, and that number continues to fall as we've paid off cards.

I would not qualify as a first time buy as I had a mortgage and sold my home in 2017. My wife cosigned on a mortgage, and that was over 7 years ago, and she has rented ever since.

Thanks for any advice in advance!

[pgtackle2003]

I am not an expert by any means but I am not aware of any down payment assistance programs in that income range. Especially since you don't qualify as a first time home buyer not sure there is a program out there. You may have no choice but to wait until you have some more money saved. You could likely qualify for conventional adnd get 3% down but that's still 3% you need.

[NC_Mtg_Loaner]

There is a program thru Chenoa Fund that has no income limits, but it does come at a longer term cost of a higher rate which isn't ideal for anyone, imo.

Besides, your income monthly is high enough that without too much effort you could realistically cash flow your 3.5% down payment for FHA or 5% for conventional. 

[Anonymous]

Your income is $10k a month. You should be able to save a reasonable downpayment over the next 3-6 months. I'd suggest  being patient for a few months, save your money, and build up your scores. Higher scores mean lower rates.