Buying a house

[Steve]

Racrx.  I didn't read thru all the posts but I buy and sell houses as one source of income. You can get financed w/ a FICO score as low as 575.  This will be A- and not by a prime lender, ergo your interest rate will be a bit worse than the best available.  Your Fico really needs to be around 620 to qualify for an A paper loan.  Even if you have lots of credit cards, this will not hurt you as long as you keep the available balance on your open cards at more than 50%.  In other words, keep the balances below 50% of available credit limit.  

DO NOT GO AND APPLY FOR ANY OTHER CREDIT.   in other words, don't let a ton of people put inquiries on your report. If it's related to the house purchase it's not that big of a deal but don't let any other lenders get near your credit until you take possession of the house.

People in this thread keep typing FICA.... that's social security.  your credit is FICO.

Don't wait a moment to buy a house unless you have to.  With the market the way it is  in most states you need to buy a house now!

I currently have only one investment house but it has increased in value from 185K to 329K in only 6 months.  Own a house, make money!

There are many kinds of loans one can get.  You can probably getan FHA loan for as little as 3% down. There is so much you should know...... there are many predatory lenders out there and the builders often have in house lenders that are just as bad.  If you are serious about wanting to buy a house, you can either e mail me or IM me at steven_e_bailey  (yahoo) and I'll be happy to get you all the info you need  and......

Finally, I can put you in touch w/ the loan officer that does all of our loans and he will tell you everything you need to know and do to best situate yourself for buying a house.  If you ask him to(and only if you ask him to) he can pull a tri-merge and give you specific advice.

[storch]

Originally posted by myelo
Look at ones between 5 and 15 years old. The younger ones tend to be jittery and spook easy and you won’t get as much mileage out of older ones until they start to break down.

For 150k you can get a really nice one, but they’re very risky investments, especially if you’re a first time buyer.

You can deal with an agent or directly with the seller but do your homework. It’s a buyer-beware type of business and they can smell a newbie a mile away.

Finally, unless you’re getting into breeding, go with a gelding. Mares can be crabby and stallions can be hard to handle.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by midnight Target

Although the housing market in California is INSANE.  

Yes, yes it is. I suspect that it's going to get more insane around here now that the BRAC recommendations are out. I'm seriously considering buying a second house before the wave hits.

[Flit]

This is Flit's wife, Kitty.  I work in the mortgage banking biz (can't originate loans in Ohio, though).  The first thing you need to do is get a referral for a good local loan officer--when you're putting contracts on homes, listing agents are more likely to accept an officer from a local loan officer versus an on-line company or someone out of state.  Your real estate agent should be able to give you the names of a couple of good people.  There's no use speculating about whether you can buy something now or if you have to wait until you have a professional look at your credit report.

A two month gap in employment should be no problem, especially since your current job is better than your last one.

Also, do you have any idea of how your fiance's credit is?  If she has good credit, you may be able to finance the house in her name only and you could give any money as a "gift".  Your name could still be on title, so that you would also have ownership in the property.

Good luck!

[Suave]

Hey Ho! Myelo!

Hey Ho! Myelo!

[Raider179]

700 is a good FICO score.
Mortgages rates just went down....

http://www.bankofamerica.com/loansandhomes/index.cfm?template=lc_mortgage&statecheck=GA&hlexp=x&olexp=x

hope this link works

[T0J0]

Just buy it and dont worry!
I purchased my first house 3 years ago and have since purchased and sold several...  MY first home purchase 3 years ago was about 150K and I just took an offer for 350K on it after said 3 years.
 Dont wait any longer... If you can pay someone else rent you can easily pay yourself and feel much better...

TOJO

[Skuzzy]

Thanks for the correction Steve.  I knew I was mis-spelling the acronym, but could not remember exactly how it was spelled.  Been a while since I had to deal with that stuff.

[RacrX]

Wow, lots of good advice. Thank you all for your input. Started looking this weekend and my head is swimming with all the info I am getting.

My realtor actually suggested I wait 60 days since I just began a new job even though it is the same industry and my pay went up considerably.

I am probably just going to piss him off and buy directly from a builder My future brother in law bought a house last October and it has gone up in value $20,000 already...thats nuts. Hes made a profit on his house in 7 months lol.

Will keep you all posted on the hunt.

RX

[Chairboy]

Treat your house as a place to live, not as a get rich quick scheme.  The rise in home values has gotta plateau, and it might happen sooner rather then later.  This still means 'buy a house!' but it doesn't mean that buying a house = 'We're in the money!'

Buy it as a smart money, place to live thing.  If it goes up in value, super.  But don't depend on it for at least 10 years.

Something to consider, the rest of yous all...  home values have risen on an average of (adjusted for inflation) 1% a year over the last 40 years.  Last year, the values went up 15%.  Based on historical performance, betting that the current increase in values is gonna continue indefinately is probably foolish, definately optimistic.

[Enduro]

these are the people you want to be talking to, RacrX...the BEST BBS on the Net:

http://debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/index.php

Homepage:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/

[parker00]

I just bought my first house as well and i would say go for FHA. It doesn't go off of credit score just recent history. What I was told and it got me a 5.5 interest rate with a credit score under 600 was to forget about any medical bills or student loans you have that are bad because they don't really look at those. What they said would help is get any credit cards you have under 50% used mark and when it comes to paying off old debts you can have those paid at closing. You will need 6 months or more of job history and also a good 6-12 months of no bad credit on your report, excluding medical and student loans. I would also agree to go with fixed as the interest rates are only going up.