Looking to buy our first home

by Jessie G.
(Osage Wyoming USA)

Hi there Jeff,

My name is Jessie. My husband and I live in Osage, Wyoming and have been offered to buy a nice little space in the community we live in for CHEAP!!

It's got quite a bit of land with a couple trailer houses on it and lots of TREES!! The owner is selling it for only $40 grand. The only problem is neither of us have very good credit.

I'm from Canada, I have only been a resident for about or just over a year. My husband is a Wyoming resident and works at a coal mine making very good money. I work as a bartender in town.


I am curious to know what chance we have in possibly receiving financial aid whether it's by means of loans, grants...

I don't know how long the owner is willing to wait for us because I hear others are interested in buying it also.

Could you give me some advice or help? I was referred to First Time Home Buyers by my boss.

She said that if I were to go to a bank for a loan they would charge a lot of money. Plus, I am sure I wouldn't qualify for a loan of $40 grand anyway.

Thank you

=====ANSWERS=====

Hi Jessie,

Thanks for stopping in at my website and asking your questions. Also, be sure and tell you boss thanks for the referral. I love to hear how people found me.

You say that you and your husband do not have good credit. First thing is do you know what your credit scores are? If your husband has good income, credit scores of at least 620 you may not have problem getting a mortgage.

It's very hard for me to know exactly but with a little investigation on your part you can find out. Use the links in this reply to help you.

Also you have to know what your DTI (Debt TO Income) is. For FHA the qualifying ratios are 29/41. So 29% of your gross income can go towards housing with 41% towards housing and other term or revolving payments. Feel free to use my mortgage calculators to help you find this out.

So, with all of that said, if all else fails ask the seller to take back a contract. Sell him on the idea of the interest rate. You could offer him a higher rate of interest than what he can earn in a bank. I would think a 7%-10% rate would be attractive to him.

You would also have to come up with a decent down payment, say 10%-20% down.

Anyway, those are just a few ideas for you. Do your homework here at my website by using the links and the navbar to find your information.

Hopefully you find this helpful. If you do, please share my website with others by "Liking" us in your FaceBook account or shouting out in Twitter.

Thanks and I wish you the best,

Jeffrey Ragan