Want to buy a home by the end of the year - do I have a chance?

Question

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums, and only a "lurker" for about a week or so. There are too many factors involved to explain why, but my wife and I want to buy a house by the end of the year; so we're calling December 15 our deadline. As you read through our situation below, please keep the following questions in mind. I have the opportunity to use about $3000 to pay down some debt; what do I pay down, and what do I leave with a balance (and use for purchases)?Should I open a personal loan to pay off some cards and have a "new" type of loan on my credit report? Or will the added inquiry hurt more than the new line will help? I get constant offers from crap places like Prosper, but maybe with a better company...Should I refinance my NJ Class loans at a lower interest rate?Should I refinance my car loan at a lower interest rate or longer term?Should I go into repayment on the Federal student loan now so I can choose the repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment (30-year "extended" or "graduated extended") and have it show up on my credit report with a low monthly payment? Or will it not come up on my credit report as such (will it still show a high payment)? Or will the payment amount be ignored by the mortgage company (I've heard some use something like 1% of the loan amount per month)?Since my wife's employment situation is not ideal, can I get approved with only my credit and income and whatnot (making me the only one legally responsible for payment), but still have "joint ownership" of the property?It looks like a downpayment of 5% on $240k ($12k) turns into about $20k of up-front expenses when you count closing costs and escrow-tax-insurance-somethingorother (technical term, right?). What are the chances that after settling on a price with the seller, they'd accept bumping up the price by the amount of my closing costs, and then paying my closing costs for me? So basically, I'd be financing the closing costs. I've seen it mentioned in another form ("I offered $###k with seller-paid closing costs"). If the chances are low, how else can I reduce those closing costs? I've seen negative points, personal loans and cash advances (not sure if legal to use borrowed funds?), and downpayment-assistance programs (reduce downpayment = more cash available for closing costs, but I haven't seen this offered in NJ outside of taking a second mortgage for the downpayment in certain cases only) mentioned, but does anyone have a definitive list of how to lower the financial burden of closing costs?Based on my income, debts, interest rates, monthly amount I can put into savings, and general "homebuying timeline," when should I get pre-qualified? Please do not limit your advice to that related to the questions above... I hope to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can  1. Mortgage Credit Scores:  
What are your fico MORTGAGE credit scores for each mortgage applicant?I don't really want to pay to get mortgage scores now because I'm not ready to get prequalified... still paying down credit cards, so to me it's useless to get the score until my credit situation is stable. Here are free scores from credit cards and whatnot:
 Myself:Discover 6/21: 773Citi 5/26: 744Capital One 6/18: 746Mint.com 4/7: 686 (score to be updated July 7th) My Wife:Discover 6/14: 749 Based on these, and the general deviation between them and mortgage scores (<50 points?) I think I would be able to qualify for a conventional loan, skipping FHA (ugh... mortgage insurance for life?). Some low-downpayment loan programs like Fannie Mae's MyCommunityMortgage (MCM) require higher scores (especially for DU), and I do think I would have the required 680-or-so, but as I mention elsewhere in this post, I haven't found an NJ MCM lender (other than brokers). But ideally, a 3% downpayment (like MCM) and reduced (compared to FHA and conventional) MI (again, like MCM) would be ideal... Obviously, there's no guarantee that these are anywhere close to the mortgage scores, so once I feel like I've paid down my cards as far as I need to (i.e. I feel I'm ready to get pre-qualified), I'll make sure to buy the mortgage scores. I'm thinking that point will be in about a month, but that depends on your answer(s) to question 8 :\ 2. Credit Negatives:  None except for a late payment more than 24 months ago on a student loan that was in "interest-only deferment." I believe that's on TransUnion, which is what Capital One pulls. 3. Gross Income./4. Source of income.   Myself: $65,000 (+ bonus that some years is as low as $500, so won't include it)My wife: $13,000 (±$2,000) All income is from employment (hers is part-time, and with two retail jobs, very likely to vary; mine is a salaried position). I may get an added part-time just to boost my savings, but it wouldn't be reported to them (I'm thinking a 3-6 month deal). 5. Monthly debt payments. Here are all my cards and loans, including month opened, APR, balance, limit, and payment. All balances as of today: Currently in my name w/wife as authorized user:Elan Financial CC, opened 6/2013, 20% APR:$-10 ($10,600 CL); payment $0Discover It CC, opened 5/2013, 15% APR:$2,900 ($5,000 CL); payment $59 **current APR 0% since entire balance was transferred from Elan at one point with a 0% offer that expires in AugustCapital One Quicksilver CC, opened 2008, 16% APR:$678 ($4,000 CL); payment $25Citi ThankYou Preferred CC, opened 8/2013, 14% APR:$700 ($2,600 CL); payment $25BankAmericard Cash Rewards CC, opened 8/2013, 15% APR:$616 ($2,000 CL); payment $25 My credit limits all went up within the last 6 months. Before then, they were $6,600 for Elan, $4,000 for Discover, $1,000 for Capital, $2,000 for Citi, and $800 for Bank of America. BofA was the only one that didn't automatically raise my limit or tell me I should request an increase, and when I requested it, they were the only ones that hit me with a HP. The Kay card below has also had a constantly-rising credit limit, from an original of $500, to $2500 a year ago, to the current $4000. Just in my name:Kay Jewelers CC, opened 4/2012, ridiculous (25%?) APR:$0 ($4,000 CL) - payment $0Macy's CC, opened 5/2014, 25% APR:$0 ($600 CL as of March) - payment $0M&T Auto Loan, since 9/2013, 5.3% APR:$10,310 ($14,218 original) - payment $231 (72 months total)HESAA/NJ Class, in repayment since 6/2015, 7.5% (approx. avg.) APR:$13,014 (originally less, but interest has accrued while in school) - payment $131FedLoans Direct Loans, in grace until 11/2015, 5% (avg.) APR:$56,237 (originally $52,000, but interest has accrued while in school) - payment $403 under standard repayment, <$250 under extended repayment ("Mortgage Letter" shows $403 unfortunately, since I can't pick a repayment plan now unless I forfeit the rest of the grace period) Wife's name w/me as authorized user:Discover CC, opened 5/2015, ridiculous (>20%) APR:$1,304 ($1,500 CL) - payment $35 So basically, I have a crapload of debt and quite a few recent inquiries. However, my credit score shot up when:The 5/2013 accounts aged to 2 years (and thus the inquiries were removed);I paid down cards and increased limits; usage went from ~$13k of ~$19k revolving limit used to about ~$6.5k (at one point) of about ~$25k (at one point) revolving limit used; now it's at about $5k used of $29k;I was added as an authorized user on my wife's card (at card opening).I think those point to a nice boost to the credit score when (1) I pay down the cards even more [to end of July], and (2) the three inquiries from BofA, Citi, and M&T disappear [2 in Aug, 1 in Sep]. Sounds like my pre-approval should be early October, making my intended closing date near-impossible . Maybe I can still qualify with a good rate despite the inquiries?
6. Employment (for those who are employed). Myself:Went from $16k/year to $26k/year part-time while in school, now $65k/year (as of last month) and salaried, all at the same company for 4 years now, and the boost was due to graduating; surely they can throw out the 2-year requirement? I plan on staying here for many years, and am about 99.9% certain there will be no reason for that income to drop in the forseeable future. Wife:Nothing's sure, and it's very low pay. As noted above, $13k/year at the moment, but she's unhappy with both (retail... ugh) jobs, so that's not guaranteed. She's looking for a break and a decent office job, but even if she gets it, I'm pretty sure the short length of time that she'd have it before getting a loan would make the difference in income useless. I'll add here our budget: In our current situation, with about $5000/month net income ($1k from her, $4k from me), we can comfortably save $2000/month. July and October are 5-week months, so that goes up to $3000 those months. However, I'm using the $3000 surplus from this month to pay down cards. So that's $7k added to savings thru October or $9k thru November. Hypothetically, I could "skip" paying off cards (or pay down all but Discover) in order to boost up savings.
7. Assets/Reserves. This is to determine how much you could potentially have as a down payment and also as reserves to help qualify (for example if your debt to income ratio is high this could help qualify you anyway). Savings: $5000Checking: Everything that goes in, goes to paying credit cards or into savings. I haven't made a purchase transaction with a debit card in over a year because I get points on all my cards. So call it $0 available for moving to savings.
8. Location:  This is to determine govt guaranteed loan limits, what special programs might be available for you, how much property taxes & homeowners insurance will likely be, amongst other items. Central New Jersey (Somerset, Middlesex, possibly Hunterdon counties). I don't know where I can find a "conforming" 3-3.5% down loan here that's not FHA, since no local banks seem to advertise something like it. I've been looking at MyCommunityMortgage and they seem awesome - 3-5% down with mortgage insurance that is typical for 10-15%-down conventional loans - but when I do search for "Fannie Mae + your home state" as recommended, all I get is HomeFirst and general info on MyCommunityMortgage (since the income/value limits are higher for NJ, that info gets included in all their documentation on the program).
9. Property Description:  Single-family, "single home" (no townhouse/condo). No foreclosures, short sales, or other "as-is" situations.
10. Property Value.  $200,000-$250,000
11. Occupancy.  Currently? Rent $550/mo. As far as every credit application I've filled out is concerned, it's my responsibility. However, since the contract IS in both our names, I could hypothetically call it $275/mo (even split) or $440/mo (split based on relative income). Not sure what that would help/hurt with; I've heard of sticker shock being a concern for some, but if all goes according to plan ($2000/mo into savings, basically the amount the mortgage+tax+insurance would be), I don't see that being an issue. 12. Transaction Type. Purchase - primary residence. ----------------------------------------- Sorry for the extremely long post... and thank you all in advance

Answer 1

Georgie_Boy wrote:
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums, and only a "lurker" for about a week or so. There are too many factors involved to explain why, but my wife and I want to buy a house by the end of the year; so we're calling December 15 our deadline. As you read through our situation below, please keep the following questions in mind. I have the opportunity to use about $3000 to pay down some debt; what do I pay down, and what do I leave with a balance (and use for purchases)? You want to get as many of your ccs to zero as you can ...optimum scoring is one account carrying a balance of 3-9% of your CL, all others at zero ...the mortgage lenders will count each account with a balance as a monthly debt due equal to your minimum payment when calculating your dtirs ...those minimum payments quickly add up and can seriously impact how much you can get approved for.Should I open a personal loan to pay off some cards and have a "new" type of loan on my credit report? Or will the added inquiry hurt more than the new line will help? I get constant offers from crap places like Prosper, but maybe with a better company...Ignore the personal loan offers. You have a decent credit mix now between your ccs and auto installment loan. A personal loan would only hurt your scores at this point.Should I refinance my NJ Class loans at a lower interest rate? Not personally familiar with these but it looks like a SL from the other info you've provided. Generically you should refinance when the total cost of doing so is beneficial to you. That said, a mortgage lender is going to look at total student debt, and use the greater of your current payment or 1% of the total ...thus refinancing for mortgage purposes may not result in any dtir benefit to you. Should I refinance my car loan at a lower interest rate or longer term? If this is a new car loan, yes ...if its a used car loan, it depends on age and value because your current rate isn't outrageous for an older car loan ...generically, if you can refinance to a lower monthly payment at a reasonable cost, you should do so in order to lower your dtir ...but its a trade-off because the HP will probably cost you a few points on your scores.Should I go into repayment on the Federal student loan now so I can choose the repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment (30-year "extended" or "graduated extended") and have it show up on my credit report with a low monthly payment? Or will it not come up on my credit report as such (will it still show a high payment)? Or will the payment amount be ignored by the mortgage company (I've heard some use something like 1% of the loan amount per month)? All of the govt guaranteed loan programs have recently moved to using the higher of your current payment or 1% of the total in your dtir calculations ...do the math and act accordingly. Be wary of any lender that is not using the higher figure when giving you preapproval numbers, uw will inevitably catch it and it could torpedo your loan after you've signed a contract and spent on prepaids and fees.Since my wife's employment situation is not ideal, can I get approved with only my credit and income and whatnot (making me the only one legally responsible for payment), but still have "joint ownership" of the property? She is either on the loan or not ...you can't have it both ways. At the time you apply, your LO will look at both of your incomes and tell you what will work best in your situation. As long as her income can be documented via tax returns, it should be "useable"It looks like a downpayment of 5% on $240k ($12k) turns into about $20k of up-front expenses when you count closing costs and escrow-tax-insurance-somethingorother (technical term, right?). What are the chances that after settling on a price with the seller, they'd accept bumping up the price by the amount of my closing costs, and then paying my closing costs for me? So basically, I'd be financing the closing costs. I've seen it mentioned in another form ("I offered $###k with seller-paid closing costs"). If the chances are low, how else can I reduce those closing costs? I've seen negative points, personal loans and cash advances (not sure if legal to use borrowed funds?), and downpayment-assistance programs (reduce downpayment = more cash available for closing costs, but I haven't seen this offered in NJ outside of taking a second mortgage for the downpayment in certain cases only) mentioned, but does anyone have a definitive list of how to lower the financial burden of closing costs? This is very specific to the loan program ...conventional with 5% dp limits seller concessions to 3%, FHA is 6% regardless, USDA is technically unlimited ...be aware that every lender will have their own overlays which may affect those numbers. It is also affected greatly by your market conditions which at the moment vary greatly by your locale ...in a buyers market, you can expect seller concessions ...in a sellers market, probably not. USDA offers the best govt guarantee program for closing costs since they will allow you to include closing costs in the loan up to the appraised value. New Jersey's web site is screwed up (at least for me) and I can't nail down exactly what dp/closing cost assistance programs are available to you but it looks very dependent on the specific location you are buying in.Based on my income, debts, interest rates, monthly amount I can put into savings, and general "homebuying timeline," when should I get pre-qualified? DO NOT get "pre-qualified" ...get "pre-approved" ...a pre-qual is virtually meaningless ...a pre-approval means they've actually looked at your documentation and, short of verification, are reasonably sure they can get you to closing ...its a huge difference ...as far as when? ...yesterday would have been great ...rates are rising ...its almost certainly going to get worse ...so bite the bullet ...find a decent realtor in your target area, ask them to recommend lenders they have worked with that can actually close their loans ...talk to those lenders ...get a pre-app ...go shopping ...if your credit scores/dtir improve significantly because of cc paydowns, ask your lender to rescore you ...mortgage pulls within 30-60 days all count as one HP. Please do not limit your advice to that related to the questions above... I hope to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can  1. Mortgage Credit Scores: Its essential to your question of "when" that you know your actual mortgage scores ...the Discover scores are actual Fico cc scores, the others are FAKOs afaik ...but the Fico cc and mortgage scoring models differ in several important ways and vary easily by +/- 50 points depending on what is in your CRA files ...mine actually track fairly closely but others have seen very negative differences ...its worth the $40 imnsho to know where you actually stand ...anything you do to improve them in the next month will only help but is not sufficient reason to delay ...again imnsho.  2. Credit Negatives:  Have you tried to have the late removed from the CR? Depending on the SL source, some programs have been very responsive to GW requests after a good payment record has been reestablished ...ymmv but you lose nothing by trying.  5. Monthly debt payments. Get the Discover to under $500 if possible ...and ask for a CLI asap ...Discover has been handing them out like candy lately ...keep a balance open 3-9% if possible but if not, as low as you can ...its more important to zero the other ccs first.Capital One Quicksilver CC, opened 2008, 16% APR:$678 ($4,000 CL); payment $25 ...pay it to zeroCiti ThankYou Preferred CC, opened 8/2013, 14% APR:$700 ($2,600 CL); payment $25 ...pay it to zeroBankAmericard Cash Rewards CC, opened 8/2013, 15% APR:$616 ($2,000 CL); payment $25 ...pay it to zero HESAA/NJ Class, in repayment since 6/2015, 7.5% (approx. avg.) APR:$13,014 (originally less, but interest has accrued while in school) - payment $131FedLoans Direct Loans, in grace until 11/2015, 5% (avg.) APR:$56,237 (originally $52,000, but interest has accrued while in school) - payment $403 under standard repayment, <$250 under extended repayment ("Mortgage Letter" shows $403 unfortunately, since I can't pick a repayment plan now unless I forfeit the rest of the grace period)Its almost certain that the last two will be seen as a combined 69k SL with $690 used in your dtir calculation Wife's name w/me as authorized user:Discover CC, opened 5/2015, ridiculous (>20%) APR:$1,304 ($1,500 CL) - payment $35 ...pay this to zero Credit score almost certainly isn't your major problem ...debt-to-income is Total income = 78k =6500 moTotal mo debt = 134cc/231auto/690SL= 1055 + ~1600 mo PITI+MI (220k@5%/5%dp) NJ taxes are higher than national avgs = 2655 total monthly paymentsThats a be ratio of 41% ...ideal is <36% but many programs will go higher
6. Employment (for those who are employed). Do not count on reason and logic being used in the mortgage process ...this will come down to finding a lender who will work with you ...if the 4 yrs is same company and the line of work matches your degree, it may not be a problem ...but its one reason you want to get the pre-approval process going now ...to find a lender who knows your exact situation, has reviewed the documentation, and given you a pre-approval knowing all the facts ...av pre-qual will look at your score, ask you for your current income, and promise you pie-in-the-sky until the rubber meets the road and his uw upchucks over your employment history ...goodbye loan and all the money you paid ...get a real pre-approval  8. Location:  Hunterdon county has a lot of areas eligible for the USDA program and your income is well within the limits ...if the commute is acceptable, its a good program. Somerset/Middlesex are mostly ineligible. The NJ website for dp assistance programs isn't working for me but take the effort to ask your prospective lenders about these programs and their experience with them. Any that pooh pooh them should be scratched off your list. 11. Occupancy.   Sticker shock WILL be an UW issue but you appear to have it addressed. Current rent will not factor in to dtir for your mortgage.  ----------------------------------------- Sorry for the extremely long post... and thank you all in advance ...I could only wish that everyone would supply as much info as you have ...please feel free to ask if you dont understand ofr if I misunderstood something ...hth