what are the minimum qualifications for buying a house or mobile home?

Answer 1

You must be old enough to sign a valid contract in your state and able to borrow the money or have the cash on hand. Go with the house as the mobile will not appreciate.

Answer 2

First of all, buy a condo, townhouse, rowhouse, flat, or detached single family home if you can at all afford it. Mobile homes depreciate it in value, instead of increase in value, and you will always have to pay site rent.

Aside from that, the minimum qualifications really depend on a lot of factors. Without knowing your personal situation, it's hard to give a complete answer, so I'll speak in generalities. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a former mortgage broker and am a licensed real estate agent in my state (Colorado).

When you go to pre-qualify for a home, which you should do before ever even looking at a house, you're going to do so at your bank, your credit union, or with a mortgage broker. Ask friends and family in your area for referrals to good mortgage brokers.

When you pre-qualify for a loan, the bank/credit union/broker will pull your credit report and ask a bunch of personal questions about your finances. As a very, very general rule of thumb, you really want a FICO credit score greater than 620 in order to get decent mortgage rates, and your income should be high enough such that only about 1/3 of your gross monthly income is going towards housing costs, and less than another 1/3 of your income is going towards paying other debt, like credit cards and loans. In addition, many lenders will require that the cash that you use to pay closing costs is "seasoned," meaning you've had the money in the bank for at least 60 days.

As a matter of practicality, I would also suggest having AT LEAST a 5% down payment on the property in order to get better interest rates.

Now, this doesn't mean that you can't obtain financing for a house with no down payment, a 550 FICO score, and a monthly payment that eats up 60% of your monthly income. These mortgage products DO exist, but the interest rates, points, and fees tend to be exorbitant. If you're in that sort of situation, you will save a boat load of money over the long haul if you rent or live with relatives or friends for however long it takes to improve your credit score and increase your earning power to obtain a higher income.

Answer 3

As long as you have a job so you can pay off your loan (or show that you can), there's a mortgage company for anyone.

Some companies are more strict on mobile homes than houses loans.