Zillow Advice: Buying Process - Any advise for a first time buyer w/not-perfect credit rating of 675ish, $10,000 down, $40k/yr?

Buying land and building ...

Wed, 27 May 2009 06:55:00 GMT

Buying land and building on it will be difficult to finance right now. Take advantage of the existing home deals out there especially if you're a first time home buyer!

Go FHA with down payment assistance. Then amend your taxes to receive your tax credit quicker.
Did you know that HUD is selling their properties with $100 down and up to $2000 at closing to help you with corrective repairs?

Affordable homeownership is obtainable.

Land is a difficult item ...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:01:00 GMT

Land is a difficult item to take on for your first time. You need a VERY experienced agent who is familiar with land to help you shop or you need a lot of extra time on your hands. Most of the land out there sitting on the market is worthless. You have to figure there are various reasons why the land wasn't built on years ago unless it's a brand new shortplat. In that case, those pieces will either cost more or the seller will try to sell incomplete plats where it can take $10's to $100's of thousands to finish the process. Of course these guys expect the buyer to foot the bill. If you are seeing a lot out there for around $100k and you don't see any obvious problems with it such as extremely tiny and/or close to a busy road, there are most certainly hidden problems that require lots of money to fix. I've been actively searching the vacant land available in Redmond and surrounding areas for another client and most of it is unworkable.

I've saved my best piece of advice for last. Find yourself a mobile home on a property that you would some day like to buy on. This way, your sewer/septic, water, roads, etc are already in place. You'll also have a place to live while you are waiting to afford to build your home. Buy one newer than 1979 to be able to finance it. I'm not sure what the FHA regs are on manufactured homes right at the moment but I'd be glad to dig deeper if you are interested.

Buying land and building ...

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:40:00 GMT

Buying land and building may be difficult - land loans usually require larger down payments. You probably just want to buy a starter home and build some equity. Later on you can build your own home when you've built up equity and your credit a bit more.

The $8k tax credit will be really helpful for you this year, and you 675 score is good enough for FHA loans, most likely. Send me an email if you need more information.