First Time Buyer, Out of School in Baltimore - Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Evening, everyone -

Looking for some opinions.  A bit of backstory, I've been working at Northrop Grumman here in Baltimore MD as a digital engineer for the last year since graduating from Penn State in the spring of 2017.  Have been spending ~$1800/mo in rent down here; with my lease ending in the early summer, I'm looking at relocating and have started looking at local real estate in the process.  I have no intention of leaving the area in the near future, and am told by NG that feeling's mutual.

Long story short, ignoring the discussion of buying now versus waiting, are there any mortgage options out there for someone in my position?  I suspect not, but it seemed worth investigating.  Median housing in my price range (in terms of monthy payments) is ~$320,000 down here; my understanding is that I'd be looking at additional mortgage insurance after the 5-8% down payment I can comfortably pull out of my brokerage account right now, and would have no problems with payments on a 30-year fixed, but without a long enough history of employment I'm told my chances of receing said loan are effectively zero.

I have accounts with PNC and JPMorgan/Chase whom I'll reach out to tomorrow once business opens, along with the NG Credit Union since they're probably familiar with these sorts of situations.  Looking to educate myself here and get life rolling... any thoughts?  I suspect my only option right now is to keep being reamed by the apartment prices around the BWI airport for the time being, but I'd gladly be wrong on this one.

Other information available on request, figured I'd spare the wall of text.

Thanks,

- Matt

[JVille]

Your question can’t be answered as you didn’t provide any details. Depends on your income and how much debt you are carrying (newly out of school = student loans). You need to sit down with a mortgage loan officer and have them run some numbers for you. Then you will have an idea of what you qualify for and the resulting estimate of payments and costs of getting a loan.

[Kree]

Greetings, As a fellow DMV resident,  Here is my best advice.

Look 30 minutes further away. If you do the calculations. You might find that when you add an hour round trip commute and reaverage your pay per hour.  The amount of time spend commuting will be worth less than the amount of money you save in a mortgage.  IE if an hour of your time is worth 30 bucks, and you spend an extra 200 hours commuting each year,  That comes to 6000 monies spent commuting.   This is equal to 500 monies a month.  So if you can save more than 500 monies by moving half an hour further away. Hooray.

Even 15 minutes can often save you 50k on a house depending on where exactly you are looking.

[NC_Mtg_Loaner]

AS JVille mentioned--not knowing #s doesn't really allow anyone to determine how realistic your approval status would be.

The myth about employment stability in your case just isn't true---I think you'll learn that with your educational history included/combined with your current employment HX that there are plenty of mortgage banks that would be happy to approve you for a 95% conventional loan.  (assuming DTI #s are acceptable)  Depending upon the county where you choose to reside and purchase--you may also fit within FHA limits that will allow for 3.5% down payment.

FOOD for thought and my $.02:

With interest rates at record lows my advice would be to seek out a home in a community with a reasonable commute.   I've been in HR and have always seen trouble with "lousy commutes" and if the difference between saving 30 minutes each way or one hour round trip is only $50k in purchase price differentials, that's really only $200 per month more in a mortgage payment (assuming an interest rate of 4% fixed) which is $50 per week or $10 per day. 

[Anonymous]

@NC_Mtg_Loaner - That's good news to me.  I understand everyone's opinions on commute-vs-cost, and to sum things, having a reasonable commute is worth the extra money to me.

@Jville - In a way, you did answer some questions, since it sounds like approval isn't going to be stopped dead in the water by having little reportable history... I'm going to disregard having been told that.  To elaborate:

Annual income (before taxes): $72,000

Liquid assets: $28,000

No prior debt obligations

Credit score: ~735 ± 5

...Didn't want to come across as "Here's my infomation, someone give me a prequalification."

To be even more specific, one specific property I've been very interested in is this right here, makes a good example.

[JVille]

So first to be clear you are virtually debt free? No Student Loans in Deferral, car Loans etc? The Fico Scores are those Mtg Scores or the free Scores Fico 8 available everywhere? Fico Mtg Scores are available on this site with a 3 Bureau Report you will get 3 Mtg Scores and Lenders Use the middle score.
Once again I encourage you to take your final paystubs from 2017 (or W2 2017) and most recent paystubs from 2018 and sit down with a loan officer since you actually have a house in mind. What is the sales price? Annual taxes, HOA dues if any? FHA vs Conv depending on the sales price will be your options. A good LO will help you sort thru any other choices available in your area.

Good luck and come back and share your results. It helps others to here experiences.

[VALoanMaster]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Evening, everyone -

Looking for some opinions.  A bit of backstory, I've been working at Northrop Grumman here in Baltimore MD as a digital engineer for the last year since graduating from Penn State in the spring of 2017.  Have been spending ~$1800/mo in rent down here; with my lease ending in the early summer, I'm looking at relocating and have started looking at local real estate in the process.  I have no intention of leaving the area in the near future, and am told by NG that feeling's mutual.

Long story short, ignoring the discussion of buying now versus waiting, are there any mortgage options out there for someone in my position?  I suspect not, but it seemed worth investigating.  Median housing in my price range (in terms of monthy payments) is ~$320,000 down here; my understanding is that I'd be looking at additional mortgage insurance after the 5-8% down payment I can comfortably pull out of my brokerage account right now, and would have no problems with payments on a 30-year fixed, but without a long enough history of employment I'm told my chances of receing said loan are effectively zero.

I have accounts with PNC and JPMorgan/Chase whom I'll reach out to tomorrow once business opens, along with the NG Credit Union since they're probably familiar with these sorts of situations.  Looking to educate myself here and get life rolling... any thoughts?  I suspect my only option right now is to keep being reamed by the apartment prices around the BWI airport for the time being, but I'd gladly be wrong on this one.

Other information available on request, figured I'd spare the wall of text.

Thanks,

- Matt

---

Hi Matt,

As has already been stated, your work history will not be an issue when it comes to qualifying for a mortgage.

The home you're interested in is in an area that would make you eligible for a conventional loan with as little as 3% down & which offers lower monthly private mortgage insurance (PMI) than a standard conventional loan.

[JVille]

7 Conforming Loan Limits for Maryland
County Name Metropolitan Designation 2017 Loan Limit 1 Unit
ANNE ARUNDEL BALTIMORE-COLUMBIA-TOWSON, MD $517,500

It appears the sales price of $350,000 conforms with FHA limits and reasonable taxes of $2400 Annual