In 2005 I purchased a home on my own. In 2007 I got married and in 2008 I lost my home to foreclosure.
My husband has nothing to do with that house, loan...nothing what so ever. Now we are thinking of buying a house together. Would he qualify as a first time time home buyer with good credit ratings, even if I had a foreclosure?
I've heard that it does not make any difference; if we are both on this 'new' loan, they would treat him the same as me in regards to the foreclosure.
What are our options?
======ANSWER=====
Hi Dali,
Thank you so much for leaving your questions here. You have some good questions and I want to answer them for you.
You are correct when it comes to the both of you going on a mortgage. If you have a bankruptcy on your credit report, even if his credit is perfect, your bankruptcy counts against you both when applying for a new mortgage.
I see that you have two options;
1) If your husband has a good job history (2yrs on same job) and if his income is enough to qualify for the loan by himself, then this may be the way to go. You can still go on the deed but not the mortgage.
2) You say your bankruptcy was in 2008. Well depending on what month and day, if it has been 3 years since your bankruptcy, then FHA would consider your income and then you both can go on the mortgage. However, your personal credit would have to be spotless since the BK.
You may want to check out my best FHA home loans web page since it describes how these first time home buyer programs work.
You have to try and look at this like the lender for just a moment. Even if one person has perfect credit and the other one does not, they put you both in the same bucket. Sadly, the bucket is the one where they consider you high risk.
Funny thing about lenders. They assume you are guilty until you prove your self innocent. They will assume that the person with the bad credit history will rub off on the one with the good credit history.
So you are both looked at as having a bankruptcy in your case. This is only when the two of you want to use both incomes to apply for the mortgage.
Like I mentioned above, if your husband can qualify for the mortgage without using your income, then the lender does not see your credit history so they may just lend the money to him on his own credit history and they do not consider yours.
If your bankruptcy was in the first half of 2008 and you have not had any blemishes on your credit since the BK, you should be able to apply with him.
Hopefully you have established some credit since then. This would be most helpful.
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