Can I buy a house with this situation?

Question

Im a veteran. My employment historyI was on active duty military for 1/2 of 2004 & all of 2005. Most of 2006 I didnt work & collected unemployment.

I work now and my monthly income is about $1000 from my job of 3 months, $200 from national guard drill pay, and dont know if this is income, but I get the GI bill 8 months of the year for college which is about $840. My fiance who Id be buying with makes about $8-900 monthly.

Cant afford much of a downpayment right now. Monthly I think we can pay about MAX $800. This would include any insurance or other fees related to the house not including utilities, electricity, etc... anything I dont already pay renting (dont have renters insurance). If anyone knows, what all per month you pay to buy a house besides mortgage payment?
I've seen some decent ones in my area I would like around 120k+. If I can get approved for a loan for 800- per month, how much? I figured I could get some high interest loan and refinance later, am I wrong? TY

Answer 1

Thank you for your service and sacrifice to our country.

Your question is quite involved, usually too involved for this forum. However, your service warrants a longer response. You really need to sit down with a mortgage person, either a loan officer or mortgage broker and get "pre-approved."

Do you have an updated certificate of eligibility? VA loan eligibility requires 24 months of active duty on or after 9/8/1980 (except during the Persian Gulf War).

Further, the VA establishes loan guarantee limits referred to as the VA loan guarantee or the maximum entitlement. As far as I know, the max guarantee is $60,000. On a home >$144,000 the guaranteed amount is $60,000 or 25% of the loan amount.

Understand that the VA does not set loan limits, which is dependent on the value of real estate. The loan may not exceed the amount stated in the Certificate of Reasonable Value (CRV) provided by a VA appraiser.

Your total monthly obligations (mortgage [PITI] + credit card, medical, and all other fixed debt) may not exceed 41% of total monthly gross income.

The VA assesses you a "funding fee or user's fee" of 2% of the loan amount for first time users.

Closing costs = VA appraisal; credit report; loan origination fee (~1% of loan amount), discount points, title search and title insurance, recording fees, state transfer fees, and survey.

Reality: Some sellers do not want the perceived hassle of selling their homes to buyers with VA financing. I'm sorry to share this, but it's true. Some sellers believe the VA's appraiser only wants to beat them up on price and the inspector, as well, will return a long list. Just so you know this could occur. Some sellers make it clear to their listing agent that they (sellers) don't want the FHA or VA boxes on the listing agreement check-marked.

For all other "non" VA applicants, read the following:

Keep in mind, lenders prefer "vanilla" files, which means you have 2-years same industry work experience (w-2s preferably from two consecutive years verifying income and your ability to pay.

Loan programs exist to minimize down payment "sticker shock", i.e. piggy-back loans (80-10, 80-20, etc). Now, it pays to compare the cost of a 10-20% second with private mortgage insurance (or PMI).

Yet, keep in mind, the more an applicant moves away from the safest loan programs, lenders cover risk by raising your rate, etc.

They want "vanilla" files with as much down payment as possible, i.e. 10-20%

That's not always possible as statistics provide on % of borrowers putting down less and less.

Buying costs include account for ~1.5-3% of the loan amount.

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Answer 2

You may be able to buy a home in the near future. My best advice to you is

1. Wait a year--and spend that year planning and saving. Keep working at this same job (to establish employment history) and make sure your credit score is good/improving in the meantime. You can increase your score and look better to lenders by lowering your debt to income level and your debt to credit limit ratio. Do this by paying off some debt (if you have any) and by getting a credit card or two (if you don't have one). Just don't rack up a balance. You can't afford a mortgage if you have ANY other debt, in my opinion.

2. Figure out what your payments will be and if you can afford them. On a $120,000 with no downpayment, your mortgage alone will be around $750/month--(30 yr fixed at 6.4%). Plus you'll owe monthly P&I insurance ($30?), insurance ($70?) and property taxes (varies greatly but will likely be over $100 a month). On top of that you have to be prepared to pay for maintenance and repairs--you need an emergency fund for if the water heater breaks or the roof leaks or you get mold or termites. You can't afford to go into debt to pay for that type of thing.

So once you have an emergency fund of a few thousand dollars, plus enough income to comfortably pay at least $1000/month for your housing costs, then you might be ready to buy!

Answer 3

If you borrow $120K with 30 year mortgage at 7 % (you may be able to find better rate, but it's depend on your credit rating), your payment will be $798, but since you are not putting 20% down, you have to add another $56 for the mortgage insurance. So your monthly payment will be $854. This does not include property tax, insurance. And you have to come up with loan fees, closing cost, etc., I would imagine you should come up with $5 to 6K for those costs. I also think military (VA) can help you with a mortgage with no down payment.

Overall, you should try to save some money though...

Answer 4

Please Do NOT just take a high intrest loan to "Get in the House" and refiance later. Explore your options, they offer Home Loan discounts for Vets. go to lendingtree.com they have great Mortgage Calculators, that can tell you exactly how much of a house you can afford.

PS. How's your Creidt Score? You may qualify for a No-Ratio loan (No income verification, just based on your Credit Score, rates will be higher, but shouldn't be much high than a Point above a ratio loan, then you could just buy down the rate)

Answer 5

Yikes! DO NOT buy a house with a fiance. Buy a house with your money. Look into VA Home Loan.
If you buy it together, and then get married and end up getting divorced, you will have to sell the house at the appraisal price of the day and year you bought it. No matter if the real estate has gone up or if you have improved the home with remodeling. It's a bad deal.
If you own the home, she can not force you to sell it in a settlement.
I hope you get married and stay married for life. But stuff happens and it's better to be prepared than not.

Answer 6

I think you may find it extremely difficult. Your best bet would be to save as much as possible for a down payment and establish a solid work history.

Answer 7

Go to your nearest Veterans office and ask if they think you would qualify or not. Since you're the veteran - they won't take your fiance's income into consideration.

Answer 8

Keep saving.