Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with homebuying

Helping a first time Canadian home buyer!

Meagan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:40:20 -0800

Share with me your Canadian mortgage knowledge! I've been thinking about buying my first house, and an amazing opportunity has presented itself in the past few days. I will be going to see the house and meet the owners this Saturday. As a result, I'm putting myself through a crash course of Canadian homeownership and mortgage knowledge.

I am already becoming aware of the "hidden costs" such as land transfer tax, at the same time I'm becoming aware of the many opportunities to help first time homebuyers such as myself like tax credits.

Some more information: the property (a 70 acre farm) was listed previously at $249,000 but was dropped to $219,000. It is in Ontario, Canada. I know the property tax is $2000/yr. I have already been preapproved for a mortgage that I applied for in the past few days and am waiting on another from a different bank - both are bi-weekly accelerated payment mortgages with the option to further pay down the mortgage each year. I will be getting a full house inspection and a property line evaluation. I have a massive list of questions to ask the current homeowners ranging from when the house was built to what type of pasture has been grown.

So far I have done all of this on my own. I have not consulted with a mortgage broker. Should I be? Also, as far as I can tell, this will be a private sale, as a result I will likely be retaining a real estate lawyer to complete the required paperwork, if you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them.

I would appreciate any knowledge, tips, suggestions, pitfalls, etc that anyone has experienced, whether it's about a mortgage, about buying a home, about owning farm land, about what questions I should be asking them, any information you can offer will be appreciated!

How about 2%?

kitty teeth — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:13:13 -0800

How exactly does one negotiate a lower rate on a (new) mortgage? My partner and I may be buying a house sometime soon. Neither of us has ever bought a home before, so the whole process is new and a bit daunting. I've been reading up a lot on all different aspects of home buying, and one thing I've learned is that the rate that the bank offers you on your mortgage loan is negotiable. But how and when do you negotiate?

We were pre-approved back in late August, and in our pre-approval packet there was a rate listed, but it's my understanding that since the rates change each day, the actual rate we will be offered will depend on when we find a house we like (which has not happened yet) and actually apply for a loan.

So how and at what point during the process do we ask for a better rate? Should we try to get pre-approval from a few different lenders and then use that as bargaining power? I'm somewhat reluctant to do this because 1) handing really personal financial documents (tax returns, bank statements, etc.) over to a bunch of different people makes me nervous, and 2) if I understand right, a mortgage lender pulling your credit report can negatively impact your score.

We are in California, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance!

Mortgage Shopping 101

Happydaz — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:27:06 -0800

What strategies would you recommend in selecting a lender and negotiating lending fees for a first-time home purchase? (Purchase is in rural Oregon). My wife and I are looking at homes in the $100,000 to $140,000 range, which is fortunate as the real estate market has tanked in the area where we're looking (Douglas County, Oregon.) We've made an offer on a house, and it qualifies for a USDA rural development loan. The big thing I'm trying to do now is decide whether to go with one of my Lending Tree offers or go with a local lender.

I've received good faith estimates from local lender, a trustworthy and friendly guy who goes to my church. I have also received good faith estimates from a Portland bank which responded to my Lending Tree request. I am not terribly concerned about appraisal pricing, or home inspection or title fees or other third-party costs they can't control. But I would like to know what's customary for a mortgage and what I can get waived. Right now, the local lender's price is coming in at $1,400 more than the Portland bank.

Here's what I think are the variables: Origination fee. Processing fee. Wire transfer fee. Underwriting fee. Credit report. Settlement/closing fee. Appraisal review fee.

Am I missing anything? What tips would you recommend in shopping for this mortgage? Am I taking a big risk by going with the Portland lender instead of the local guy? Both loan rates are at 5.25 %.

Need help finding a realtor in Olympia WA

Kat Allison — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:29:48 -0800

Seeking recommendations for realtors in Olympia, WA. Failing that, seeking suggestions for how to find a good realtor if you don't know many people locally to ask. Nervous potential first-time homebuyer seeks knowledgeable, highly competent, non-icky buyer's agent. Anyone out there had good experiences with anyone in particular? And how *does* one go about finding a realtor if you don't know people locally who can provide suggestions?

help me sort out real estate agents

ibfrog — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:00:41 -0800

Does having a buyers real estate agent limit what the selling agent can tell you? Also: what are the benefits or disadvantages of having a buyers agent? I'm a first time home buyer and I'm just starting to look. I don't have a real estate agent yet, which is something I ended having to tell each selling agent I saw at the open houses today. Once of the selling agents told me she wasn't permitted, by law, to tell me anything about the place if I was already working with an agent. Has anyone heard of this before?

I live in Minnesota if it matters from a state law perspective.

Also, I know that the seller usually pays the agent fees and that a buyer's agent can simplify some things but I don't have a solid understanding of what good and bad can come from a buyer's agent. What are the pluses and minuses of having a buyer's agent as opposed to doing it alone?

Moneyfilter: Withdraw from my 401K for my downpayment?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:10:45 -0800

Is it a bad idea to use money withdrawn from a IRA for buying a house? I want to buy a home but I'm having trouble with the down payment and closing costs and I've got a 401K that's just kinda sitting there from my last job. I've found a older house on the market for about $45K, It needs some work done but I didnt see anything that jumped out at me as being show stoppers. I work and make a decent salary, Not quite 40K a year. My big problem is my savings amount to about $1500 in the bank and thats not enough for the 3.5% down I need or the closing costs which are estimated to be in the $3-5K range currently. My credit score is good enough to do the whole 203K loan otherwise according to my agent.

I have $31K in a 401K I cant access unless I transfer it to an IRA due to the 401K being from my previous employer, Yeah I'm dumb and should have done something about it 8 months ago when I left.

Anon because I dont want to share info about my worth with the world under my name. Throw away email 401korbust@gmail.com.

Why doesn't Provident Lending want my business?

genug — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:35:30 -0800

I am in the process of refinancing the mortgage on my home. My lender wants to blow up the deal at the last minute. 1) Why? 2) What are my options? Went all the way through the process. Signed closing papers on Friday. 30-day lock expires today. Lender informed us today that one of the (many, many, many) signed pages of paperwork has an extra penstroke on the date line. My hand got tired from all the signing and it slipped, put an extra stroke on one of the numbers (for the date). They are asserting that this looks like the date has been crossed out and changed, and thus voids the close.

Question #1: why are they doing this? Rates have gone up in the last month, so breaking the deal is going to cost me money, but what is in it for them? Obviously I won't be going back to the same firm if this process has to start again.

Question #2: do I have any recourse? I have no idea how mortgages work, of course, but in the abstract it seems like there might be some protection from bad lenders, or at least some regulators with an interest in knowing about bad business behavior.

The company is Provident Lending, for whatever that is worth.

What's the right way to offer to purchase a short sale home in Arizona?

gummo — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:19:52 -0800

What's the right way to offer to purchase a short sale home in Arizona? I'm looking for some advice. I know that nobody is a lawyer, or at least not my lawyer, but any insight would be appreciated.

My situation is:

I found a real estate agent that was recommended by a friend of a friend. She's been great. I like her and trust her.

We've looked at a BUNCH of houses. A couple days ago I found one that I like, and I want to make an offer. It's a short sale. As is almost EVERYTHING we've seen. She gave me a copy of the contract she wants to submit to make the offer so I could look at it.

I have an attorney in the family, and he offered to help me wade through paperwork and make sure I wasn't making any mistakes. He's not a real estate attorney.

The contract that my real estate agent wants to use to submit the offer is a standard Arizona Association of Realtors purchase contract. It's 9 pages. My 'attorney' was a little uncomfortable with the contract. He's wondering why it's not a simple offer to purchase, similar to ones he's used in the past that he or someone else wrote that were simple 2 page contracts. This 9 page one is basically a purchase agreement, and seems to commit me to more that he thinks I should be committing to at this stage.

He is also concerned about a few clauses in the contract that specifically release the real estate broker from any liability for various things. He sees no reason this language should even exist in a contract between a buyer and seller. It's as if the real estate association (in benefit of real estate agents) mixed a release of liability contract into the purchase agreement.

I've searched on the net for what kind of purchase contract I should be submitting. I can only find info in two categories. Legal document web sites trying to sell me stuff (lots of these). And a few sparse mentions of the standard Arizona Association of Realtors contract that everybody uses, recognizes, and understands.

The last bit of info is, my real estate agent has told me that she believes that short sales are very hard to accomplish. They take a long time, months usually, and the banks are very difficult to deal with. She has suggested that if we alter the contract, it will at the very least prolong the process. And it will very possibly make the process less likely to succeed.

I've looked at a lot of houses. I like the one I found and want the best chance to get it.

Is it perfectly standard to use the AAR contract? if I went to a real estate attorney, would he give me something else (something better for me, and not necessarily written for and by real estate agents)? Or would he probably just tell me everybody uses that standard one, and just adds stuff to the Additional Terms and Conditions section?

Any other advice/thoughts?

Help me give facts to a friend looking to invest in a second house in Scottsdale, AZ.

blastrid — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:52:07 -0800

A friend of mine owns a house in Phoenix proper. He wants to rent it for nearly his mortgage amount and purchase a bigger house in Scottsdale, intending to have his money in property investment as opposed to sitting in the bank. Help me give him facts that may support or prove inauspicious his idea... He says his mentality is that of Warren Buffet's - when all the money is being pushed in one direction, put yours in the opposite direction. He can make a few thousand by letting a big chunk of money sit in the bank, or he can put that big chunk into a down housing market and let it grow with his investment. He has and will have a well-paying steady job in a field relatively unaffected by the current crisis (at this point). But he seems to think the curve is within 6 months of the bottom, and I very much disagree. Please help me give him solid data and weblinks that show him why this time, everything's different, and now is definitely not the time to invest in property in Scottsdale, AZ.
So far I've gathered:
RealEstateDecline.com
Marketwatch
Financial Sense
and a few news stories from the AZ papers.

Realtors, who needs 'em?

Bardolph — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:18:15 -0800

We're considering purchasing a home by ourselves, without using a buyer's agent. General pros/cons? And if it's possible to save on commissions by doing this, how should we introduce that idea into the process? From what we've read, buyers' real estate agents are useful for:

finding houses to consider, booking appointments
providing advice during the price negotiations
overseeing the paperwork at the end.

all three of which (in this buyer's market) seem completely do-able by ourselves, with the aid of zillow/realtor.com, lots of reading, our shark-like negotiation skillz and a competent lawyer and inspector. Partly, we've been unimpressed by realtors we've seen in the past; but mostly, it doesn't seem worthwhile to pay 3% of the home price (=~$6-9K!) for services we've got pretty much covered already. (I know both commissions are technically paid by the seller... but if nobody needed to pay that 3%, then the home price could be 3% lower, right?)

Some great general advice here and here, but if anyone has firsthand experiences of going buyer's-agent-less, or suggestions on how to navigate the process, let's hear them! More specifically, though, I was wondering-- if we'd like to try to get the unused 2-3% buyer's commission taken off the home price (or refunded us by the seller's agent?), how and at what point in the negotiation process should we bring that up? Are seller's agents likely to be resistant, even though it theoretically doesn't represent any real difference to them, since otherwise we'll just bail or get a buyer's agent anyway? Any suggestions on working this maneuver out to everyone's satisfaction?

Are we making a huge mistake?

OmieWise — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:29:20 -0800

Is it insane to buy a house in this market? We're pretty far into the process (just finishing up the post-inspection negotiations), and we really like the house we've bid on. We intend to stay there for several years (at least), if not indefinitely. We can afford it and we have the money to close. Our jobs are both relatively stable. We know real estate is local, and my particular area has declined much less than others. In addition, a whole bunch of new people are likely to start moving in to the area in the next few months, as I live in (or around) DC.

We're not at all eager to back out of this deal. We like the house and the neighborhood quite a bit, its basically as close to perfectly situated as we could want.

But...since we bid there have been front page articles in both the WP and the NYT about the tanking real estate market. We understand that we could end up owing more than the house is worth for a while, but I wonder if there are other things to consider. We will be first time home owners.

(We are not going to try any sort of hardcore renegotiation of our offer. We just don't have the chops for it or the interest in engaging in that.)

Can a seller pay closing costs for a buyer with and HPAP loan?

i_love_squirrels — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:25:23 -0800

Anyone gotten an HPAP loan in DC? I'm buying a condo and the seller is wiling to pay my closing costs. However, the big question is will HPAP let someone pay my closing cost for me? I can't find any documentation for this online. Any general words of wisdom about HPAP would be appreciated. Also, any info on the Bond program would be great. I am buying in a neighborhood that qualifies.

How did mortgage HAPPEN so quickly?

Amizu — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:36:20 -0800

How late is too late to negotiate with mortgage broker for fees? And how can I track mortgage interest rates to get a better rate before closing? I'm in the process of buying a home (I hope!). I shopped around for mortgages and about Sept 4, I found one with a great rate (5.875) that was otherwise better than any of the other packages offered to me by other mortgage brokers, my credit union, found online, etc. I locked in that rate, and one thing seemed to lead to another, and now my mortgage broker has done all kinds of work for this mortgage (appraisal, gotten title company researching the title, processed our paperwork), etc. I have the GFE. But nowhere in there did I have a conversation with her about which fees might be negotiable, and I'm feeling like an idiot.

She also says if rates go down between now and closing (mid-Oct), she'll give us the better rate.

She is really nice, has a good reputation, and is a friend of a friend.

I'm in DC.

So the questions are:
(1) How late is too late to keep shopping for a better deal and go back to this mortgage broker and ask her to lower her fees?
(2) Mortgage rates seem incredibly varied by location and personal finance details. Is there any way for me to track mortgage rates and figure out when mortgage rates go lower than they were when she gave us the 5.875 rate so that I can proactively approach her and ask for a lower rate? (I have been to bankrate but it seems very general.)
(3) Any special tips about home buying in DC would be appreciated as well.

Should I close my old store credit card accounts?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:55:30 -0800

Should I close my old store credit card accounts? I have a handful of store credit cards (GAP, J.Crew and the like) that are around 4-5 years old. I just got my free annual credit reports and all is well (minus the one 30 day past due on my old bank credit card right after college - that account has been closed for awhile at my request). But I have a bunch of these store credit accounts that I don't use at all and haven't for a few years. My credit history goes back about 12 years, including credit cards (currently paying off), car loans (all paid off), and educational loans (open for eternity, I'm sure).

I'd like to close them to simplify things, at least in my mind, but I'm wondering if I should leave them alone? We are looking to buy a house in the next few months. I know that there are complex ratios of available and used credit and length of accounts and whatnot involved in calculating your credit score. These cards all have fairly low limits.

So do you think it would be in my best interests to close these accounts or leave them alone for now as it relates to our future home-buying?

Hello, Maytag Man?

Edelweiss — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:16:59 -0800

Help me launder my (perfectly legitimate) money. ***Disclaimer: I do not really want to launder money. I just need to know how I can "prove" it's legitimate so my mortgage lender will OK it for my home purchase.***

My husband and I have been saving cash and coins for the past 10 years. We recently deposited it in order to purchase our first home. Now the lender tells us that we have to pretend the money doesn't exist in order to get the financing to go through, because its origin is unclear. (As I understand it, the bank may think the money is from a loan we haven't declared, which would affect the debt-to-income ratio.)

Now the problem - we need about $2k of this money for the purchase. Without it, we won't have enough for the down payment, closing costs, insurance, and taxes. How can we make this "unusable" money usable?

In case it matters, the money was first deposited into our checking account and then moved to our savings account, so there's no way to "hide" it in one or the other.

Back to the Sooner State

Edelweiss — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:42:04 -0800

What should a Florida teacher know about buying a home (i.e., getting a mortgage) in Oklahoma? I'm just about to finish my first year of teaching in Florida, after which my husband and I are moving to Oklahoma, where I'm originally from. We'll be crashing with my mother for a couple of months until we find a home to buy. My questions are:

1. Do I need to secure a teaching position in OK before I can start looking for a house to buy, or will mortgage lenders rely on my prior proof of income (FL paycheck stubs)?

2. What else do I need to know about this whole process? Any general advice about making this move?

Where can I find the best real estate data?

BirdD0g — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:00:22 -0800

I want some serious, hardcore real estate data so that I can analyze what's really happening with the market in my area. Obviously, realtors have access to this local data, but the general public has no way to get at it. Does anyone know of any workarounds or resources that make this info available to the general public? Obviously, I don't want the personal information of homeowners, but I do want very specific information on properties. I'd like to be able to see how long a house has been on the market (especially if it's on its second or third listing renewal). I'd like previous sale prices, recent nearby purchase prices, etc. over certain periods, etc. I just want all the raw data.

Every realtor I talk to says things are going fantastic, and yet the national real estate market (overall) is practically in freefall. I think this is borderline fraud on the part of realtors, considering they've got a near monopoly on the statistical data.

Note: Madison, Wisconsin is a super strong real estate market due to the University of WI and the State Government among other things. This drives me even more crazy because local realtors basically claim our market is unstoppable, even though I know it's slowly receding.

Is it more fiscally wise to rent or to buy a home?

arnicae — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:50:41 -0800

Buying a house (vs. renting): How much more does it cost to buy than rent? Is it worth it (tax, asset, etc) in the long run? A fair number of people think that renting a house in the long-term is better for some people than buying. I understand that might be the case if you plan to stay in your home for less than five years, buy in a hot market, or have lots of repairs.

I'm trying to compare the costs of home ownership and renting, and hoped you guys could chime in in terms of how much more owning a house will cost, year over year, and the benefits.

Right now as a renter I pay:
monthly rent
utilities
renter's insurance
parking tickets when my street-parked car is caught by the sweepers

As an owner I'd pay:
*monthly mortgage
*utilities
*homeowner's insurance (which costs more than renters?)
*landscaping upkeep (time and/or money)
*home repairs and upkeep (money)

Right now Mr. arnicae and I have a lump sum of enough to put a reasonable down payment on a home and salaries that could pay the mortgage and plan to live in the area we're looking at for a looong time.

Also, a family member has offered us a sum of money roughly equivalent to our down if we buy in the next two years (complicated story that would make this AskMe even longer, please ignore why/how)

Is it a better financial decision to buy or rent for the long-term? Any specifics (like how much more it has cost you monthly or annually to own a home because of X and how much you've saved in taxes, if anything) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Working with lender's real estate owned (REO) department?

BirdD0g — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:30:37 -0800

Does anyone have any insight or experience into dealing with lender REO Departments (Real Estate Owned) when it comes to purchasing a foreclosed property? My wife and I are interested in purchasing our next primary residence from the bank prior to any sort of auction. Essentially, I'm wondering if we can put in an "order" of sorts with the bank and have them contact us should something that meets our criteria become available. However, I'm not familiar enough with lender REO procedures to know if this is even a possibility, much less if we really stand to find a great deal in this manner. Are they willing to unload foreclosed property efficiently if they have approved buyers waiting in the wings?

Well, maybe we could play skee-ball during dinner parties...

TryTheTilapia — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:46:37 -0800

Should we pass on this great apartment we've found because the floor slants a bit? We've found an apartment in Brooklyn co-op we interested in buying. There is one problem - the floor slopes a bit in the hallway and into the master bedroom, and there is noticeable crack in the wall above the bedroom doorway where the foundation has settled. Welcome to New York real estate if you're not a millionaire.

The apartment is in great shape otherwise and a good size. The problem is concentrated to one patch of floor. The price is a little high, but the seller is motivated (he has a job offer in another state) and we feel we could get the asking price down to within a more comfortable range. We love the neighborhood and the street, there's public transportation nearby, the building has no underlying mortgage so our maintenance would be considerably lower than other places we've viewed. The building is well-maintained and managed, and the co-op board consists of all of three people. Average approval, we're told, takes one week.

The building was built in 1930. We're told by the real estate agent that co-op investigated the matter and it was determined there wasn't much that could be done - old buildings settle, and so forth. One owner in a lower unit apparently had their floors evened out for about $13,000. Of course, the agent is trying to sell the apartment, so we're taking this info with a grain of salt.

Questions - how big a problem is this? Anybody have experience leveling out a floor like this? Would this be a deal-breaker for you? Is this just the price of wanting to live in a Pre-War building? If we went for it, what kind of reduction in the asking price would be appropriate? Too big a risk? Any experience, advice, cautionary tales, encouragement or insight appreciated.

Speeding Up the Sullivan Co. Real Estate Closing Glacier

LGCNo6 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:08:49 -0800

Buying a house in Sullivan County, New York. Need your best recommendations for people to work with (lawyers, title folks, inspectors)... The sellers accepted my offer tonight, so that part is done. I have a good real estate agent who has some (not tons though) of recommendations for people in Sullivan County (and/or the Port Jervis area) that we can work with on moving towards closing. (And yes, I've got a buyer's agreement with the real estate agent, so please don't offer names of real estate agents--it is too late for that.)

However, in this state and county, things often move super slowly because of arcane contract rules, so I want to hear if The Green has any good recs or pointers on the best people in the area to make this all go smoothly and quickly. I'm not a first-time homebuyer, but I have never bought in Sullivan Co. .

What should we do now that we've discovered a major flaw in our new house?

amanda — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:31:08 -0800

We are about four days from closing on our house and just did the final walk-through and came upon a real gut-punch of an issue. The next door neighbor has the framing up for his new garage -- we knew that he was building this and where it would be but we really did not know how tall it would be.... .... it is easily 25' high and, I will guess, that once he puts the roof on, it will be at the 30' max. It is 5' from our property line. We did not do due diligence and pull the permit papers as we should have weeks ago; we learned that the permit he had was for a new bedroom addition, single story and a garage. We had seen where the footings were placed for the garage so we had some sense of how close it would be.

Our prospective house is on a small lot and we have about 5' on either side from the property line. The backyard is not very substantial and the rear neighbors are about 1' off the property line but with our 6' fence and the fact that they have a 1-story house, while not ideal we accepted it. To the south we have two somewhat dense fruit trees so our real sky view is to the North -- soon to be obstructed.

The seller was there and told us how this neighbor required a variance for his structure and that he and some other neighbor's signed something agreeing to it! He also told us how this guy wanted to have his garage even closer to the property line (not allowed) and was convinced to move it. I am distraught.

Questions -- we are going down Monday to the zoning office to see if we can get these permits pulled so we can take a look at them and see what the hell he has planned and also to see what variance was issued and whether he has any other violations of code going on. We are hoping to see if an inspector will get out there and give it the eyeball.

In our disclosure from the seller, there was, of course, no mention of this building going on next door or the fact that he had given his approval for a variance to be issued. This is Oregon and there's nothing on their little check-box form that specifically asks this. The seller appeared himself to be a bit surprised at how the framing was going.

We are supposed to sign papers on Wednesday, get the keys on Thursday and start moving in on Friday. Obviously, we're first going to hunt down this permitting/zoning thing and see what that tells us. I'm just not sure what else to think. If we are able to pull out now, we'll surely lose our earnest money. Will there be an option for the seller to reduce his price? Unlikely, right? Was this something that should have been disclosed or is this one of those, "sorry, you're s-o-l, dumbass." Also, we are worried that we'll end up in this house having royally pissed off a new neighbor -- if we're willing to set the inspectors on him, should be we even more ready to just back out of the whole deal? He's lived in this neighborhood for about 15 years and it seems the seller found him to be a great source of help -- he's apparently a really handy guy who is quick to help out a neighbor.

Oh, I'm just really sick over this. This is our first house and the whole thing has been a roller coaster and we were so looking forward to moving there. I'm just really afraid that this big wall (all the bedroom windows in the house will face it) is going to be a real stinker when we go to sell in 5 years or so.

Oh, and, you know, any thoughts about how to lessen the impact of a 25' wall dominating the back yard -- go ahead and bring 'em.

How to Get an MLS Map for the Wall

rush — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:07:49 -0800

Where can I get an on-dead-trees map of MLS areas and zip codes? We're looking for a home in Austin, TX, and we're trying to get a deeper understanding of location, location, location. I'm more than happy with the numerous online resources, but my wife wants a big on-dead-trees map of MLS areas and zip codes to put on the wall. Where can we get one?

Tips for getting a mortgage with bad credit

dial-tone — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:32:08 -0800

The path to a house when you have bad credit... My wife and I are interested in purchasing a house within the next few years. She has a decent paying job, while mine isn't amazing, with a combined income of just under 60k. The trouble is that in the past I declared bankruptcy due to financial mistakes I made when I was in college (approx 5-years ago). To try to recover, I have taken out a few credit cards, and am in the process of paying them off.

With the credit cards, I haven't made a single late payment and always more than the minimal payment. I also pay my student loans and other debts on time. Our combined Credit Debt is equal to approx 12% of our yearly income. We also have more than 40k in students loans between the two of us, but I'm under the impression that student loans don't count horribly against you when going for a house.

My wife has better credit, though she may have made a reported misstep or two in college (five years for her as well). According to her last credit report, she only has one mark against her.

We're looking to buy a home eventually, with a long-term mortgage (15-30 years). To accomplish this, first we're paying off the credit cards, and then trying to save up the 10%-20% downpayment. We've found houses we'd love for 60k-100k.

We want to be in the best position possible when we start looking for a loan.

1) Should we cancel the credit cards as we pay them off which will apparently hurt our credit score in the short term, leaving only one with the highest available funds, or should we pay them all off and leave them open?

2) What other steps can we take to assure banks that we're the type of people they should lend money to?

3) How will we know when it would be worth trying for a mortgage (how much money saved up/bills paid off/etc.)?

Will I be able to live with myself if I contribute to "gentrification"?

n'muakolo — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:41:11 -0800

Ethics question. Should I contribute to gentrification or not? I'm thinking of buying into a neighborhood in DC (Petworth - http://www.petworthdc.net - to be exact) that appears to be in the beginning stages of gentrification. Without getting into the safety concerns, what are your feelings on contributing to gentrification? I am young, white, and can't afford much of anything in the rest of DC. (And am not quite ready to move to suburbia.) Petworth (besides the safety concerns) also has a lot to offer (more residential, more space, yards, basements, possibly a great investment). Should I only buy in areas that already fit my demographic, or is it okay to contribute to gentrification (by which I understand that I would be a factor in making poor, mainly minority people have to leave the nieghborhoods they now live in). I've read the pros and cons, but I wouldn't mind hearing them again here (might be some I haven't heard of), and also I'm interested in your gut feelings about this issue.

(Full disclosure: I want to feel okay about this b/c I want to be able to buy a house in this (or similar) neighborhood, but my gut tells me it's morally wrong. I don't have a ton of faith in my gut on complicated issues like this, though. Hence the question.)