Home Ownership

[Nebulous]

Well Ive been researching a little bit online about home ownership. You know... seeing if it would be possible for me to actually buy a house. I am a young-ish (almost 27 year old), single guy with bad credit & a blue collar salary.

Ive seen a few houses on the market in the area starting at $40,000 (which is dirt cheap). Actually the reason I started researching is because a house in my neighborhood had a for sale sign out front. I googled the address and seen that the house was going for only $60k. 5 or 10 years ago that house would be selling for like $300k at least.



I stumbled upon http://www.hud.gov/buying/comq.cfm and it gave me a little bit of confidence.. There is a few programs available for people like me so I suppose its worth making a few phone calls seeing what happens.

 

[Flurry]

Well at any rate man. Good luck on it! Owning is far better then renting. Course a negative is you have to hire or fix things yourself.

 

[Evil Eye]

What Sci said.

If you plan to keep it for... well a long time... it'd even be cheaper

 

[Nebulous]

Well it appears that I can have bad credit but I have to have all the stuff on there paid off before I can qualify for a govt. loan.



I was just checking my credit report and according to my calculations, I owe almost $6000 in bills I flaked out on over the years (I did pay off a $266 bill I owed today though).... Down payments on a loan are usually $5000.



Anyone have $11,000 or 12,000 I can borrow? lol

 

[Jazzy]

@Nebulous: Have you ever considered a lease with option to buy: (often simply called a lease option or, somewhat inaccurately, rent to own) may help you move in. Lease options, in which you lease (rent) a property and have the option to buy the property at the end of the lease term, can allow you to control a home that you want even if you don't enough money for a down payment yet. A lease option may also be helpful if you need some time to improve your credit before you can get a good mortgage rate.



More information: http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-a-House-Using-a-Lease-Option

 

[Nebulous]

@Nebulous: Have you ever considered a lease with option to buy: (often simply called a lease option or, somewhat inaccurately, rent to own) may help you move in. Lease options, in which you lease (rent) a property and have the option to buy the property at the end of the lease term, can allow you to control a home that you want even if you don't enough money for a down payment yet. A lease option may also be helpful if you need some time to improve your credit before you can get a good mortgage rate.



More information: http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-a-House-Using-a-Lease-Option

I dont want to do that, but thanks for the advice.

 

[DrLeftover]

And don't forget.... city taxes, utilities, county taxes, appliances (usually the ones that come with a place are crap), property title transfer taxes, trash fees, VOCTECH school district taxes (usually separate from regular property taxes but written into another tax bill), homeowners insurance in case the guy trying to break in falls through the window and hurts himself and sues you, and the ever popular sewer bill!

 

[Nebulous]

utilities, appliances (usually the ones that come with a place are crap), trash fees, and the ever popular sewer bill!

renters have to pay those too.

 

[Jazzy]

TBH, with the economy and the jobless rate right now, I would think long and hard about buying a home. Especially if I had bad credit and owed money that I can't now pay off. As a homeowner myself, I can tell you right now it's very expensive to upkeep and the taxes alone are over 5k a year where I am. Plus there is the home owners insurance which is far more than what a renter would pay for rental insurance. I'm not even carrying a motrgage and have a separate account just for my home expenses. There are months, however, that the separate account gets low and I have to dip into my personal account. The housing market right now is ripe for cash buyers and investors but bad for people seeking to obtain a mortgage loan. It's great to own your own home but you have to weigh the pros and cons.

 

[Nebulous]

Well it appears until I get the stuff on my credit report paid off, I wont be able to qualify for a loan so I suppose I'll work on that for now...



With houses being so cheap right now, I could have a mortgage payment that is half the price of my rent. Too bad I have other problems to deal with right now.