Hi all, My eventual goal is to homestead but for now I am looking to buy a pretty cheap house to live in while I finish school to be a midwife and so my boyfriend can live in the larger town for a while to work on his films. We have four pets, two dogs and two cats, and the dogs are hard to rent with as they are a pit bull and a chowchow. We were thinking that if we would qualify for a FHA loan that we could probably afford a 60,000 to possibly 80,000 house for less than rent. The problem is that I have been working part time and he has been selling on ebay so although I have worked full time most of the two-three years I have been working the last few months I have been making very very little, just enough to pay for classes. However that was my plan, and I could easily work more. My boyfriend has no records of his money as he just has an ebay business. Anyways, I have good credit (just not much credit) and I make above minimum wage, have had the same job for over two years... Should we even bother with a FHA loan or just forget it all together. We're really in a bind, right now we live in a mobile home my dad "rents" to us but I feel like a giant moocher really, like I should take more responsiblity for my life. It's not a matter of being able to afford it, it's a matter of proving we can. What would be my options? I don't think a bank would consider a loan as I couldn't even get a personal loan to pay off my 2,000 tuition for midwifery, so I'm making monthly payments (which I have been having no problems doing).... I want a cheap house I can fix up over a course of years and have a little garden in the back. I'll be an urban homsteader for a while.. if we can just get a house !
I think the best bet for you would be look only at houses that are for sale by the owner, and that the owner will carry the contract on, rather than trying to borrow the money from a lending institution. That way you can strike a deal with the owner and make the payments directly to her/him. However, if you do buy a house on a private contract like that, be sure to have an attorney check over the contract before you sign it to make sure everything is OK.
What are the planning regulations where you are concerning alternative methods such as cob, mudbrick, strawbale, poleframe etc?
So my man and I are kind of the same boat. Though our problems are different. First you need to get pre-approved from a mortgage co before nearly anyone will even show you a house. Second you need credit and third you need a bank account that has an adequate amount of cash in it. Depending on where you are you should be able to get pre-approved. You need to be pre-approved and not pre-qualified. Today the housing market is for the buyer and not the seller so you have the upper hand. You should go and talk to a realtor or a mortgage provider. They will tell you how much you can borrow based on your income, credit and assets. We were easily pre-approved for an FHA. But you need to have cash for closing costs. Which can be high we were looking at 7,000.00 for a 120,000.00 home. Now you can negotiate that some of the closing costs be covered by the seller. There is a good book if you are looking for buting homesteading land called "finding and buying your place in the country" that is the BEST book on buying rural land. You need to familiarize yourself with things like water quality and timber rights. No point in buying you dream wooded property if the previous owner comes in in 5 years and cuts down all your trees. There is another good book called mortgage free by Rob Roy. You should be able to get a mortgage and even if your credit is not great, most lenders will take a chance on you because they want your $$. I would at least talk to a realtor. They'll want your business and even if you don't buy anything right away they can helpget the ball rolling on financing and even look out for places for you. They get a commision from the seller not you. Good luck!
I totally agree. Owner financing is the best way I've seen for a poor man to buy land. Getting bank/credit union/ etc to finance land is almost impossible. I've gone the owner finance route 3 times. Never a credit check. I bought my current farm (well, it was just woods then) with $1000 down, 10% interest, for 10 years. "have an attorney check over the contract before you sign it" - Always good advice, but even more so with owner financing. Peace, poor_old_dad
It definitely can be easier. My wife and I have bought two houses this way. Although the interest rate may be a little higher, you can always refinace after you have established credit by making the payments for a while on the private contract.
I'll offer my two cents on this one, when I talked to banks and such they said you need about 10 to 15% down payment for mortgage on a house and 30 or more % of cost for land. so savings and little or know debt should be a priority... and the bf having a home buisness can be good, depending how you are with your finances one solution (probably not a good one) would be to use his income to pay for stuff like food and clothes and stuff that doesn't leave a credit trail and the rest of the bills be paid by you so that there is a buildup of good credit history in a short period of time... that way if you do need to get financing they would most likely look at your records and see that all is well, esp since you are the only one employed on paper... just my thoughts good luck
