Your Home Buying Plan - Part 2 ... Know the Fha Rules Beforehand

The government, after being in the people business for decades, has taken a realistic attitude towards average people with credit issues. You are not the only one to have lost a job, gone through a divorce or had medical trauma in your life. When these things happen something has to give.

I can understand when average people take their paycheck home and try to figure out what bills to pay. Most people that have credit issues were in pretty good shape at one time in their lives. As I stated before things happen, bills accumulated and priorities such as putting food on the table came first. So after putting food on the table and paying the rent or mortgage, you became delinquent in other debts.

Remember when you buy a home; you have to pay the closing costs and down payment. This where the US Government in the form of the FHA can help. How does this happen? Well, the FHA has taken the position that a new home buyer can accept gift funds towards a down payment. The only catch is those funds must come from an approved source. Your family, for instance, can give you the money for the down payment. It CANNOT be a loan. That would impact your ability to make mortgage payments in the eyes of the FHA. The down payment can also come from an approved non-profit organization.

Approved non-profits must first be 501C organizations. Now that we know we can get down payment assistance, let's cover the requirements to get approved for a loan.

Under government guidelines you must have at least one (1) year of on time bill payments. This means paying every bill that is reported on your credit report. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you cannot do this, you most certainly are going to have a difficult time convincing an underwriter that you have the habit of paying your bills on time. The second requirement is evidence of paying your rent on time for two (2) years.

Unlike a conventional bank that won't even talk to consumers with credit issues, the government's program may be your only opportunity to purchase a home. Now analyze all of the things we've covered and decide if it's worth it. The Federal Government is aggressively making home ownership a reality. Do you want to be included? It's your decision.

This may not have been your idea of a home buying plan, but now that you've read this I hope it makes sense.

In my next article I'll discuss how a good rental is vitally important when it comes to qualifying for a home mortgage financing whether it's in California, Florida or Rhode Island.