I swear I'm not an idiot. . . until it comes to loans. :P
My question is this - say I was looking for a house that was $100,000. I'm not ready to immediately go out the next day and buy said home, I want to find out what a bank will cover, and then knowing that, decide what to save on my own. Say I go to the bank, I have poor credit, they say I only qualify for a $75,000 loan. Does that qualification ever expire? Can I find out that's what they'll give me, then basically go, "Alright, that's great, I'll come back and get that loan when I save $25,000 (or more, for potential home repairs after moving in) on my own?"
Also, my sister told me that job history is a big part of qualifying for a home loan. My husband's job history is great, mine is horrible. I've quit jobs a -lot,- soon, for dumb reasons, and now that I've grown up I put my whole heart and soul into a job and wound up getting fired for someone with more experience in a month. I want to relocate when I buy a home, to Colorado, and want to know if I should get a job here and save money, save money, save money in THIS state, then move to CO and buy a house, or if lenders will require that I have a job history IN the state I'm buying in.
Any answers would be helpful, as would any suggestions you want to give someone so obviously uneducated about this process. Are there books I can read? Experts I can talk to? It seems really overwhelming right now.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrs Stogs,
~Calling the moon by the name that she chose, as Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten rows.~
Hi, Mrs. Stogs, welcome, I'm sure a lot of people here will have good information and opinions for you!
Here are some thoughts: 1) check your FICO and your husband's scores. You can do this once a year, for free, online. 2) apply for a loan of a set amount from a good lender; ask to be pre-approved. Some people here have said the pre-approval typically expires in 60 days; when I did this, my credit union gave me 6 months and said to email them every month as to my status, but that if I didn't buy something in that time, I would have to pay to re-apply. 3) you may want to clarify with the lender that you would like a loan for $100K, for example, but that if they can't approve you for that amount, could they please tell you if you might be approved for a different amount? 4) go to bankrate.com and look for the various calculators they have on the site. One of them will tell you what you can afford if you put in the requested data. This is cheaper than doing #2 and #3.
Hope this is helpful?
This message has been edited. Last edited by: ACWhite,
Whenever you decide to buy, in whatever state you choose to live in, and irrespective of your job history at that point, you can never go wrong by stock piling as much cash as you can for your home purchase. It will only help, and not hurt, in your ability to buy a house.
Did you say you have poor credit, or was that a hypothetical? If you do have poor credit, you will need to take a few years to get your score up. With this credit crunch we are heading into, even people with good credit are having a hard time financing any set amount of a loan. Even FHA and other gov based programs are setting their standards higher. 580 is the absolute minimum for FHA, conventional loans will be higher. Find out what your score is and if it's low, take time to rebuild your credit first before taking the plunge.
You would normally get a pre-approval letter from the bank before you house hunt. They tell you how much you will qualify for. This still is no quarentee you will get financing, and it is usually only good for a month or two.
Your job history does play a major part. Your husband will be ok to transfer to another state if he stays in the same field he's working in. You may run into obstacles. When they see too much job change, they have to wonder how much of a risk it would be. Especially if there were time lapses in between jobs. Work on having a job for atleast one year would be my advise. This will better your chances.
Work on your credit history, your job history and use the time to save up money for a down payment. It will never hurt to have too much money saved up, but a loan could fall through without enough money saved up. Many conventional loans are now requiring 20 percent down.
Thanks for the input, guys! Yeah, Renee, I think we have bad credit, because the woman we rent from told us, "Well, I've looked over your credit history and there are some things that concern me, but I think we can work something out." We haven't checked yet (on the to-do list!)
I agree with everything you said, and it's basically already my plan. My IDEAL is to save 30,--- before buying a home, I'm willing to wait as long as I need to so that I have at least that much in the bank before even applying, and have a job for over a year. As for job fields, my husband was an electronics tech for the Air Force, now he's one for the Army under contract, he has great job experience, history and security. HIS credit is poor, though, mine doesn't exist yet, I need to get a small credit card and buy little things here and there to build credit of my own. My questions simply come from wanting to take the next two, two and a half years of -saving- for a house to study.
Again, I appreciate everyone's input!
~Calling the moon by the name that she chose, as Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten rows.~
Lots of questions, "Mrs. Stogs," and, no, you are not an idiot! Just uninformed and you are have taken the first step to change that by posting here!
My first suggestion is to work on your credit that you say is "poor" and start saving for a down-payment. Make a budget, reduce it by 10% and put that amount in a separate account EVERY month you NEVER raid no matter the reason why.
If you think you can't do this as so many people think and say "but every penny is already spent; I don't have any left over to save," yes, you can! How?
Eat only at your own home and buy groceries on sale even if choices aren't what you want to buy. If you must eat away from home, pack your lunch from home. This means NO restaurants or fast food places or coffee shops - none!
No more buying clothes with the exception of underwear. It doesn't matter if you don't have the latest style; if your clothes cover you, they are good enough. If you absolutely must have something "new," buy only from thrift or consignment stores. They do have nice things.
Get your hair cut at places that don't require appointments and charge less than $15. Give yourself home manicures/pedicures with nail polish you buy from the dollar stores.
Find out where ALL of the dollar stores in your area are. Shop at them BEFORE buying groceries from the name chains. You will be surprised at the quality of the bargains you can find there.
Do you have a car loan? Sell the car, pay off your loan and buy one in the $3000-4000 range as many cars in that range are perfectly good and functional. Your insurance costs for an older vehicle will also go down. More money!
Except for work, drive only one day a week and do all of your errands at one time. Takes a bit of planning ahead but you can do it.
Do you have any active credit cards? Make all payments at least one week early and for more than the minimum even if it is only $10 extra.
Do you use more than one credit card? Choose the one with the least amount of interest and set it aside. Put all of the rest of your cards in a pan of water and set it in your freezer. You will still have them in case of emergency but before the ice thaws, you might have time to consider if the use is absolutely necessary.
Sounds like a lot of NO, NO and NO but it really isn't; just tell yourself that every time you say "no" to spending, you are really saying "YES" to the dream of your own home.
My husband and I were once in the same position as you and your husband; now we are living in our dream house that we bought with 20% down and a loan with very good terms because our credit was excellent.
It can actually be a lot of fun to meet the challenge of saving money; even more fun than actually spending money on things that are momentary; our house is here to stay!
"AC White," Not to veer off topic here but your post indicated you could get FICO scores free once a year. I get our credit report free every 4 months by rotating the requests but have yet to be able to get our actual score except for signing up for the extra service and then cancelling within 30 days.
Do you know a better way to get actual scores? If so, would you share it? And, I hope your cat is still doing well; glad you posted back with the good news. TIA
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Idaho Resident,
Thanks for all the tips, Idaho! I do a LOT of those things now - I'm a HUGE dollar store shopper, we try not to use our credit card, but omg. For whatever reason, I'm in a FREAK all week long, I want a house, I want a house, we have to save money, don't spend, stay at home, and then Sunday hits, and I go, "Ugh. It'll be years before we're able to afford anything anyway, my teeth have to be fixed, who knows what other medical expenses or tax issues may come up . . . to heck with it, let's just order a pizza!" And all week long I tell myself, "Don't do that this weekend, you know it's coming, just fight it," but it happens. It's so frustrating knowing that this year alone I'd have 1,300 extra dollars in savings if we hadn't given in and ordered pizza or gone to dinner.
I think I just have no willpower, and that maaaay be something a person should correct before buying a home. :P
As for the credit score thing, I believe there's a government website where you go that will give you one free look a year as part of a law, but I can't remember to the letter what it was. I found it by going on Wikipedia and typing in "freecreditreport.com" or a variation of it, because it sounds suspicious to me, and sure enough they said freecreditreport.com had come under lawsuits, and the redirects on that wikipedia article lead to a legitimate government program. Hope that might help you!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrs Stogs,
~Calling the moon by the name that she chose, as Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten rows.~
First, I would relax. Save money. Pull your credit report and repair any issues first. Get your fico score up to 675-700's. Concentrate on job stability for now. Have fun and kiss your husband.
Thanks, Real Estate Lady. Yeah, that last post of mine did come off a little hectic, but I actually meant it to be funny! I'm definitely going to check our credit score, and the second someone around here is willing to hire me - no one has yet, because I'm not bilingual, but hopefully I can work as a maid or dishwasher or something where it's not as important - I'll probably throw everything I've got into that job.
~Calling the moon by the name that she chose, as Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten rows.~
You can pull your credit report free once a year through freecreditreport.com and others. But to get your score, you have to pay. But atleast the report will give you a good idea how long it will take. Anything that may be a charge off, get that taken care of immediately. Get ahold of the company, make arrangements to get it paid off, with the stipulation they take the charge off off of your report. A late payment is better than a charge off. On the report also, it should say how much longer that mark will be on your report.
"Mrs. Stogs," Read the portion of your post that said you were having difficulty getting a job because you were not bilinqual. If you choose to, could you explain what you meant by that?
Your posts are well written in English so do you live outside of an English-speaking area? Just asking as there are free classes for learning a second language along with job assistance help depending on your situation.
Answer only if you wish to share information about where you live and why the language problem is causing a hardship on gaining employment; I wouldn't even inquire except to acheive your goals you need employment to start saving toward a house!
I live about five miles from the border of Mexico. I'm in America, in Arizona, but because the population here is dominantly Mexican (over %50, in my city), no one will hire me without speaking Spanish. It's a really touchy subject for some people, others tell me to suck it up and learn Spanish. I'll look a little longer for a job where I can speak my native language, but if I still can't find one, I know I'll need to do the adult thing and learn.
I have a slight learning disorder, it takes me a considerably longer amount of time than many other people to retain things that carry a lot of information, such as a language or number problems, and I want to work -now,- so even if I have to learn Spanish, I'll continue trying to find an English speaking job just on the off-chance, so I'm not sitting on the sidelines doing nothing while I learn a language that could take me months.
I would -love- to find a job online, but I don't know what I'd be qualified for.
Like I said, I know this is a touchy subject for some people, so I hope I didn't offend anyone!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrs Stogs,
~Calling the moon by the name that she chose, as Tennessee wandered in moth-eaten rows.~
I think it is www.annualcreditreport.com, as recommended by the G O V ernment. I am not sure about the other site, it is the one that is advertised. On annualcreditreport, you can request a report from each credit agency once a yr. I would do that today! It only takes a few minutes. You will be able to see what you need to increase your credit scores. You have to pay for your credit report. When we bought our first house, my credit was not great, but DH's was, we had no problem getting our loan, that was in 1999. At that time I was the breadwinner. A couple that bought our home had the wifes name on the mortgage only, but DH ont he deed, I suspect, his credit was too bad to get approval. KEEP SAVING AND take a look, your landlord could be way off, or did not even check. That is a rude thing to say to you. Good luck! Delta blues
Posts: 1593 | Location: SE Missouri | Registered: Jan 02, 2007
Knowing a second language, especially with the the amount of spanish speaking population expanding everywhere, is always a good thing to learn. I've learned most of my spanish by communicating with our spanish speaking floor crew guy at work. He's teaching me Spanish, I'm teaching him English. For a long time we communicated with body language, but eventually we figured out what one was saying to the other word wise. Of course, we still call each other names in our native toungue that neither of us understands, which can be a good thing, cause there's been a few times he's knocked over my shippers and I've called him every name in the book.
One more suggestion from me. Get a copy of your credit report. Find a local state agency or gov agency that deals with mortgages, first time homebuyers classes, and credit counselors. Here's a link to some in your area.
Bring your report there, recieve some credit counseling. They would have the most knowledge as to what you should clean up first, and how long this may take you. They may even have some type of program that you can get into soon. Take the homebuyers class. This way, you go into the home buying with knowledge on your side, and knowledge is power.
Originally posted by Idaho Resident: "AC White," Not to veer off topic here but your post indicated you could get FICO scores free once a year. I get our credit report free every 4 months by rotating the requests but have yet to be able to get our actual score except for signing up for the extra service and then cancelling within 30 days.
Do you know a better way to get actual scores? If so, would you share it? And, I hope your cat is still doing well; glad you posted back with the good news. TIA
Hi, IdahaResident, thanks. I may have misspoken or maybe not. I went to: FTC Free Credit Reports
and clicked on the link for the free report. I thought the FICO would be part of my report by definition.
The link then took me to several pages where I had to make a choice of which of the 3 big agencies. I chose one (Equifax), and then was surprised to see them give me limited choices - pay $7.95 for the FICO score, and get a free credit report (but there was no mention of whether it included the FICO score), or buy credit protection that you pay for monthly unless you cancel and get both the score and the report for free. I decided to pay $7.95 for the FICO score, plus free report, only. I clicked on the FICO score result, and got it. But then when I opened the free credit report, I found that the FICO score was within it also. I wondered then if I could have avoided paying the $7.95 for the separate score, since it was redundant with the report. Very confusing, possibly on purpose to get people who accessed the site to get free info to buy more than what they want or need. So I think if you ask only for the free credit report, you also get the score.
As for the credit score thing, I believe there's a government website where you go that will give you one free look a year as part of a law, but I can't remember to the letter what it was. I found it by going on Wikipedia and typing in "freecreditreport.com" or a variation of it, because it sounds suspicious to me, and sure enough they said freecreditreport.com had come under lawsuits, and the redirects on that wikipedia article lead to a legitimate government program. Hope that might help you!
Hi, I linked to the government site in my post above. I think it will redirect you to the legitimate sites.
Also, "Idaho Resident" thanks for your good wishes on my kitty. He is doing better and better!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: ACWhite,
