Being out of sync, moving and credit scores........
I tend to get really down on myself when things aren't just so. This whole last week I just haven't been in sync with my family, myself, my routines. The house is a wreck. It seems I work all day on it, when normally it takes just an hour or two a day and even after an all day effort, the place is still a wreck.
I get like this when I think we are moving. It's like, if I don't know for sure where we'll be in a month, I don't want to put any effort into the rental that we're in. We moved here in August. But our lease is up in February. We could stay, I think. Our landlord seems to like us. But we rented this place knowing it was too small, (we've got 3 kids stuffed in one room). We just wanted something affordable that would get us here. Now we're here and more settled and Matt's job is good. There's a real cute place down the street (a house) for rent. It has an extra bedroom and a yard and it's closer to downtown about 1/4 mile, instead of a 1/2 mile, where we are. It's only $200 more than we're paying. We're currently in a triplex, so having a single family home would be wonderful.
The thought of packing it all up makes me cringe, though, but if I tell myself that it's only 2 weeks out of my life, I think I can do it. This guy will drop our rent if we sign a 2 year lease. THIS WOULD BE GREAT! I'm so tired of moving!
We had to come up with an enormous deposit for the place we're in now. I'm nervous about getting it back. The landlord is nice, but you can tell he doesn't have it, to give back. Which I know is his own problem, but I'm thinking of our last experience, before moving here.
I've been OBSESSING about owning a place. Our credit is worse than ever, since moving and being out of work. I have no idea where to start. Obviously paying off the debt on our report, but it's overwhelming. It seems sometimes like the whole system is a joke. I mean, credit is really a game. There are so many rules and bizarre things... like for instance, I just read about how you don't want to cancel your oldest line of credit, because then it shortens your credit history. Who knew that?? Plus, I mean, it's really hard for someone to get financed who has a normal credit score, right now, so I don't know what I'm thinking! I'm just really discouraged about the whole thing. Does anyone know about CCCS? I've heard that it's a good thing and then I've heard they're actually bad for your score too. I just need someone to hold my hand during the entire process and tell me what to pay and when and how much. Is there actually such a person that holds a job like this?
"Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we're here we might as well dance".- Maya Angelou
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Find a good realtor. I wish you were in Minneapolis, because I could hold your hand the whole way. Don't think that it's impossible. It may be, but there is still plenty of credit out there. You can also still buy a house with as little at 3.5% down. And, you can ask the sellers to pay up to 3% closing costs, which will cover most of the closing costs. A good realtor can get you connected with a good mortgage consultant. The mortgage consultant will take a look at your credit report and talk you through what you need to do in order to improve it. They should be able to set up a whole plan for you to raise your credit in 6 months to a year.
If you and your DH are handy at all, there are a lot of foreclosed homes that just need a little TLC. And there are many that need a LOT more than TLC and I would be very wary of these. Again, a good realtor can walk you through and help you get a good deal.
Also, many people don't know this, but realtors are paid when they sell a house by the other agent's broker, so having a realtor as a buyer is pretty much free (there is usually a broker fee of $300-$400 that are included with closing costs), so it's definetly worth getting a hold of one and finding out what your options are.
Have you owned a home before? There is a federal $7500 tax credit for first time homebuyers. If you purchase in '09 before you file '08 taxes, you can get the credit with your '08 return. So, basically, you could buy today, file your taxes and get your $7500 tax credit within a couple of weeks. It's a fantastic deal, especially considering the low interest rates right now.
It's a great time to buy! PM me if you have any questions.
is that all the same for buying land?
family earthprint
Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness. ~Seneca
I haven't done any land-only transactions, but my guess is it would be the same. You would close on land just like a house, it would definitely be worth talking to a realtor about.
thanks! 
family earthprint
Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness. ~Seneca
I am chomping at the bit to file my taxes. My appointment at the free agency (that I barely qualify for, w/landlording) is in a week and a half, and I'm almost gleeful getting my documentation together for everything. I'm taking the full first time homebuyer credit, which my mortgage officer told me about like two days before I closed on the house. At first I was going to take it to replace a bunch of windows in the house, and I might do that with it eventually, but first I'm taking a few grand to pay off medical & dental bills, buy my ticket to my best friend's wedding, and get my TATTOO that I've wanted for five years. Oh, and do some major maintenance on my car. Maybe throw some in my IRA. The rest is getting parked in a CD or MM account as a safety net through this crazy economy, at which point I may start working on some window replacement.
I'm sorry, I just hijacked this. I really am chomping at the bit, can you tell?
24/MN. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD1.5
25/MN and WA. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD2.5.
I want a brown petroglyph-style bird (technically, a dove) on my left side, my ribcage. Fairly large, probably the size of my hand. On/In/Around it I want the words "la sabaduria y la fortaleza," Spanish for "wisdom and strength." I used to be really picky with how I wanted everything arranged, but at this point, I want to propose it to an artist and let her/him have at it and show me a design.
Spanish-speaking mamas, if you have a better translated word to recommend, let me know. I explored with my Oxford Spanish Dictionary and it seemed to be appropriate, but the nuances can sometimes be so tough to anticipate.
24/MN. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD1.5
How do you find a good realtor? what should a person look for? specifically, when interviewing realtors, if you aren't given a recommendation from someone to them, what questions should be asked and what answers to those questions should you look for? my fear of realtors are that they work on commission so i have a hard time trusting them, but if i'm going to find my dream home someday, i may need to find me a little trust!
one thing i recommend, love, is that you write all your bills out and subtract them from your monthly income and see how much you can afford with a mortgage. like, if you know you can have a mortgage of 800 bucks, you'd need to think about that when looking for a house in your price range. i wouldn't trust anyone else to figure that out for me, ya know? and you have to take taxes and insurance into consideration. like if they say, yeah! you can get this house for 800/month easy! you then ask, "with or without taxes added in???" cuz with those added in, you could be looking at a few hundred more depending on where you live. you can do it, one step at a time. and exhaust your resources, ask lots of questions along the way, even here.
PS, Love: and from my experience, that 200 bucks more is the difference between eating well or eating beans and rice every night!
Call a local broker in town. If your credit isn't stellar, you can still get a loan, just not from any large banks. A good friend of mine and her dh just bought a home for $105,000, a foreclosure, and both of them have bankruptcy on their credit. She said, you only need to be 3 years out of bankruptcy to get a loan. The trick is finding a cheep home. A realtor can help you find a home, but they can't do anything with the financial part, you'd have to find the loan and that is where a broker will be needed. Call a broker first, have them pre-approve a loan for you, take your info, ect. and then you'll know if its time to get a relater to help you look for a home within your price range.
The benefit of talking to a realtor first is that they most likely have great suggestions for a mortgage broker. You don't want to just find some random person online who has low fees - you should be willing to pay a higher origination fee for someone you can meet with face-to-face. I've seen a lot of transactions fall apart at the closing table because someone used an online mortgage broker and low-and-behold, the money didn't make it to closing. I want a broker who will be there at the closing. As a realtor, we have teams of people. For my clients working with my brokers, there's no question that the money will be there and we will all be taken care of. And if there are any issues - we'll all know immediately.
You are right though - a realtor will want you pre-qualified before you go out looking at houses. Otherwise it's a waste of everyone's time.
yeah, i'd be nervous about on-line brokers, too. definitely recommend local. and its good to know that a realtor can help ya find one they trust, too.
Personally, I would not purchase a mobile home. And I don't have anything against trailers or anything, I grew up in one until I was 19! And there are some nice ass ones out there, they make them luxury these days. But, they only depreciate in value, you would not be getting a good investment. I may be wrong here, but I live in an area heavily populated with mobile homes and that's all I've ever heard or read, that it's just not a good investment. Maybe our realty gurus here can give you more info on that, or let me know if I'm incorrect here.
Honestly, if I were in your situation, I'd probably rent for a year or two more. Either stay in the same place or another place that you can save money and start paying down your debt. You don't want to jump into home ownership too fast, it can go downhill quickly. I'm not trying to be a downer, I've just totally been there. DH and I bought way before we were prepared. We got in serious debt way fast cause that $200 extra a month kicked our ass. And jobs were lost, unexpected house repairs came up, life happened. Anyways, just wanted to throw my .02 cents out there, for what it's worth. I hope you guys can find an option that works for you, vibing you good luck with it!
based on what mamasan said I just called a realtor asking about a bit of land I've had my eye on, and set an appointment for me and Mercury Man to go over some stuff with him. But basically you need to have something down, and then they can work with the credit (meaning the lower your credit score, the higher your interest). If you don't have any money to put down, at least 3% (aim for 5% if you have bad credit, I feel you on that) then you are basically wasting their and your time because you probably won't be able to get financing. It's kinda like buying a car; you can have the worst credit in the world but if you have at least a grand to put down you can walk out of most car places with a financed car.
My preference was to buy land upfront then pay on the house as we went along building it (it's gonna be straw bale) but unexpected stuff keeps happening, life and all, so looks like we will have to finance.
family earthprint
Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness. ~Seneca
What I did was look in the phone book and called a broker. I told him that I wanted to buy a house but needed to know what $ I'd qualify for getting. I knew the banks wouldn't give me a loan cuz my credit was pretty low when i got my first mortgage. that 1st convo he took my information to check my credit score. he came to my house and showed me three different loans that i qualified for. i decided which one to take (this is where i was totally lost, i didn't pick the best one and only realized that a few years later). i already knew i was buying my dad's house for 75,000 $, so that helped. he told me all the stuff i needed, i was at a new job, was renting from my dad so i had to get all kinds of notes and letters from previous landlord and back tax return info - lots of information was needed - it was a pain in the ass and very stressful. finally, the closing date was set, he kept calling to get more info cuz the underwriter and the lawyer and everyone in their brother needed my blood, then i finally signed all the papers at the title company.
my friends who just got a loan with bankruptcy on their credit got a 5% interest rate (prolly fixed for 3 years then flex, but within three years one's credit can go way up and re-financing for a better loan is an option - which is what we did, twice. now, we finally got a good loan on our home. we now owe 125,00 - because we pulled out equity - but the payments are low cuz the % was lowered each time we refinanced). if you call the realator first, it sounds like they will walk you through the broker end of things (there mortgage conclers, i believe, are essentially on-site brokers).
it wouldn't hurt to first sit down and write out all your current debt and monthly payments, figure out how much extra you got right now every month. that will help you determine how high of a mortgage you can afford. and if now is the right time for you to seek out buying a house.
we didn't put any $ down, but my friend's had to put down 3%, and i think that may be the norm right now in this economy.
For starters - ask around. It seems like everyone has a realtor to recommend. If you don't know anyone, call a big name real estate broker in your area - Coldwell Banker Burnet, ReMax. In Minneapolis Edina Realty is the largest broker in town, above the competition.
I understand the commission-based issues - but at a certain point you just have to trust someone. You are much better off having someone negotiate on your behalf than walking into an open house and dealing with the agent at hand. While a realtor can represent both parties, I wouldn't recommend it (unless it's me, of course). That agent's objective is to sell the home for the most amount of money. Their seller is their #1 client. If you have your own agent, that person is going to make sure that you get the best deal possible.
I'll also tell you - commission for an agent doesn't change that drastically based on sale price. If I have a seller who wants a house for a certain price I'm going to try and help them get the lowest price possible even if my commission is a little lower. Having my clients buy a house and feel great about their representation means they are going to tell all of their friends and family how great I am, which means referrals. Referrals is how we survive, not commission, if that makes sense.
On a lighter note - choose an agent that you want to hang out with. I spend many hours with my clients out looking at houses, writing offers, having lunch, etc. You should at least like to hang out with that person!
I know this may not mean much when you really have your heart set on owning, but renting can be soooo much easier sometimes!! Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with wanting your own piece of land and home to call your own. But you hit it right on the head, with the unplanned repairs and etc. I can say from experience, renting definitely beats owning in the ass when it comes to that stuff. It sounds like you guys have a good plan there, good luck with it all!
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YAY! That IS exciting! What kind of tattoo are you getting? "Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we're here we might as well dance".- Maya Angelou