Zillow Advice: Home Buying - how long before we can buy again?

You need to wait and rebuild ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:14:00 GMT

You need to wait and rebuild your credit. I think the minimum after a short sale is about 2-3 years. Use that time to pay down debt, build your credit score back up and save for a down while you wait. Doing those things will make you credit worthy again and will also lower your mortgage rate when the time comes to buy again.

Emily,There are many factors ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:05:00 GMT

Emily,
There are many factors involved. Â If your middle FICO score credit drops below a 620 then FHA financing will not be available. Â Also the creditor that shorted your mortgage will notate your credit report about the settlement. Â I was just in this discussion yesterday and still looking for the answer.

Ted Mackel
Keller WilliamsÂ
HomeBuysBlog.com

The idea is to buy low and ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:41:00 GMT

The idea is to buy low and sell high. Do you really think doubling down on your losing strategy is really that smart right now?

Regards

You are looking 2 to 3 yrs ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:06:00 GMT

You are looking 2 to 3 yrs before you can buy again.

When prices fall back to ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:06:00 GMT

When prices fall back to their long-term trend...
and Bubbles prices are long long gone...
LOL! Never to be seen again in our life time.

A "bad" mark, (in your case ...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A "bad" mark, (in your case short sale) will be seen on your credit for the next three years. Usually lenders who see that will avoid you.
My advice is to really work on making your credit better. Pay off your debts, try to maintain a steady stream of income, work at your job for more than two years. Lenders like those kinds of things...

For direct information regarding your situation, I would consult with a lender (or two) to see where you stand.

Hope this helps!

www.TheMMTeam.com

Since this was a short sale, ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:54:00 GMT

Since this was a short sale, I would assume you had a few late payments, and took a hit on your credit score.

You will need to rent for the next few years (due to the advice Lewis just gave) and work at getting your credit score back up.

You might also want to look at buying via a "Lease-Option" or on a "Land Contract". A lot of these opportunities exist today, and can help achieve your goals.

If you are unfamiliar with those terms, a quick Google search will get you to a lot of the information that will help you understand the process.

I wish you the best, and know that things will get better for you in the future!

Have a Profitable Day!

Harrison

I assuming you sold the condo ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:46:00 GMT

I assuming you sold the condo for less than the mortgage amount.

For conventional mortgages, it's 2 years before you can obtain another mortgage. For FHA mortgages, it's 3 years.

Your question is way too ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:09:00 GMT

Your question is way too open/undefined to get the type of advice that it seems you're after.

You had a short sale, so how does that impact when you'll have a down payment&closing costs ready to go?
BTW: Most of the "objective" reports that I've seen suggest additional national price declines in the next 12 months. The previous 12 month national decline, just released yesterday was 15%.

You should probably just ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:04:00 GMT

You should probably just sit it out for a while. This is the problem with our country. People have this sense of entitlement. Then when their gamble goes bad, they sack the banks with the debt and want to gamble all over again. I think I speak for most people that actually pay back all the money they borrow when I say 'please don't even think about buying any time soon'.