[doctorcathy]

there's this lady that advertises here saying that if you have bad credit and no money....then you can still find a house. we met with her two years ago and she wanted us to put down like $20,000 and we could only get a house that was $350,000.

do any of you have any real estate experience and can give me some help?

like what questions i should ask and stuff. or...if you ARE a california real estate agent---would you like to help us??

we have $0, cynthia has terrible credit. i have no credit. BUT, last year cynthia made close to $200,000 or something like that. so we have her tax papers or whatever. and i made like $13,000 last year---if that helps any. lol.

how do HUD homes work? isnt it cheaper or something?

anyway, the reason i want to do this is because right now my sister and i are paying $1850/month on our rental.

i'd like to cut out some money.


OH...and is it possible: like lets say that a house is $400,000. could i borrow $500,000? and then with the extra $100,000 i could spend on fixing the house, paying off bills, and then with the rest---cynthia could trade it. cynthia's a stockbroker, but because of her bad credit (that she's been trying to fix in the past year--that came out to over $25,000) and she wants to continue paying creditors off--but she cant right now. anyway...she cant get a job as a stockbroker because she has bad credit.

so thats why she started the herbalife thing. and we've been totally doing the flyer thing this past week like crazy.


if any of you could help me...that'd be sooo great

 

[Elegant]

Hey Doctorcathy,
I have a friend that works in real estate here where I live. I'm sure she could help you. What areas are you looking at? HUD homes are generally in "bad" areas that need revitalizing. So they usually need extensive work, they may have lead problems, mold, etc. But, they even have 100% financing programs and may even pay back or credit you money...but I don't know the actual program. I know they have teacher and police programs.

If you want, PM me and maybe my friend could help you.

~Elegant

 

[MaltTease]

I'm not a RE agent, but I can try to help.

First of all, both you and Cynthia MUST build up your FICO score. That is the measure of your credit and it's the best way you can get a good loan. I don't know why Cynthia's credit is bad, especially if she makes so much, but there are things to do to try and repair it. Pay off all credit cards and keep the balances low with respect to the total limit, i.e. if a card has a $10,000 limit, the lower the balance, say $1000, the better your FICO score (as opposed to a balance of $9000). Get rid of all dept. store charge cards and things like that; you only need 2 credit cards, and should use them at least once a month, since any card with no activity is no good. Lenders want to see you borrowing and repaying. Also, try and have both a checking and a savings account of some type, with as high of an average daily balance as possible. This raises your FICO score. Being current with auto loans helps, too.

As for you, it is easier for you to build up your credit. There are things you can do like the above recommendations, but you can also try things like deposit $1000 into a bank savings account. Then take out a loan at the same bank for $1000, borrowing against your savings account. Now, make sure you pay it back every month on time. Voila, you just built up your credit. Same thing goes for applying for a credit card with a $500 limit. Just charge one small thing a month and pay it back. Now you have good credit!

Here is an excellent site that will make you more knowledgeable about the home buying process:

http://www.housebuyingtips.com/

Hope this helps!

 

[doctorcathy]

i havent been to this thread in a while.

well, we're still saving up money and i spoke to elegants friend...who recommended a lender---and he said i can do a loan with only 5% down.

i'll update everyone when we get a house.

 

[littlepeanut]

cool! That's pretty exciting!

 

[Elegant]

5% is not bad at all, don't you think?

Congrats!

~Elegant

 

[doctorcathy]

yeah...5% isnt bad AT ALL. i wish i lived in another state right now. lol. the average SMALL house here is around $500,000 and we were messing around at home search and it was soo upsetting.

i looked at this one house, its like 5 MINUTES away...and its HUGE. and a pretty good price CONSIDERING the rest of valencia.

its basically a mansion with 5 bed 6.5 bath with like 100,000 sq ft lot!!! but its a little under $2 million. LOL.

so i've been buying lottery tickets. LOL

 

[Teddyandme]

Doctor Cathy,

I was a realtor in NJ for years (still have my license but decided for now to do something else), anyway I was one of the top realtors in my area (I only say this so you have some background).

There are good Realtors and not so good Realtors...the not so good ones will try and sell you even if it is not in your best interest. How will you know the difference...by doing your homework.

The first thing you should do is be honest with how much you can afford....not how much you can get for a mortgage...how much you can afford. It does you little good if a bank will give you 100 if you can only afford 80 because you will not be able to keep up and your credit will suffer even more at the least or you could wind up losing the house. As for borrowing more than the price of the house...it can be done but not on a normal loan...you will need to get a specialty loan which is similiar to a building loan, where the bank will expect certain things to be done before they give the money....so if the fixer upper needs a new roof and a furnace or a kitchen...you will get the upfront money to purchase the house and then the first third of fix up money, the bank will then inspect the progress before giving more money. The way these loans work is that you will need to assure that the house will be worth the money you are putting into it, otherwise the bank will say no way. You should find a mortgage person who you trust....countrywide home loans are the best in my opinion because they don't sell the mortgage to others once you close on the house (most of the time anyway).

You will have to know that if the credit you have could be cleaned up it will save you a major amount in interest rates...the worse the credit the higher the interest rate. I have sold homes to people who have had been bankrupt but there interest rate is so high....once you establish yourself you could always get it lower but you really need to think about this.

You can do all of this without a realtor...once you have a preapproval your as good as gold because then you only have to find a home and have the apprasel done which will assure you are paying what the house is worth or lower. My opinion on a realtor is to find one you trust...look for someone who is knowledgable and works in the business full time...I have my brokers license, as well as many accredidations for buyers as well as sellers....this tells you that the agent takes his or her job seriously. Remember that they are working for you so be comfortable with them.

Good luck.

Susan

 

[doctorcathy]

TeddyandMe---thanks for all the great advice.

our plans are a little bit different now...since we know how to be more realistic. LOL. we spoke to elegants friend and we were hoping that it wouldnt cost soo much for a house...that we could borrow more than its worth---but it doesnt look like thats going to happen anyway. i definitely dont want to borrow more than we can pay.

and we're thinking that when we move, we'll have casey move in with us so that he can contribute to the mortgage or bills or whatever. its crappy how things are right now....i remember 6 yrs ago the house that we're living in now was worth like $250,000....now its worth $490,000----and its not even that great!!

and now i'm scared about even buying a house right now cuz we all plan on moving next summer (for when i transfer to college). but then i feel like we're wasting SOOO much money on our rental.

it looks like cynthia's going to get a great job, casey's getting a good amt round now, and i have a new job...so we're starting to save our money....slowly...but its happening. LOL.

thanks for all the great info. i checked my credit score with equifax...it was like a 673 and casey has a 710 or something like that. thats why we're able to get the 5% down offer. if my a*hole bro was nice and verified my employment...i'd be able to get 0% down....but thats not going to happen.

 

[ourprettytessa]

i'm so confused. maybe i'm being nosy, but who is cynthia?