Emmett Clark's Q&A

zillow mortgage section has been revamped and I don't see where a client can leave feedback / rate lender anymore. Am I just missing it?

I found the answers for you on the front page of www.efanniemae.com

all of this will take a few weeks to disseminate since it just came out today. Hang tight!

you'll have to have the agency that ran the credit report re-do the report. Yes, the FICO report we generate as lenders/brokers is a bit different than what you get on the consumer end of the bureau's websites.  I'd be surprised if your score improved after showing a zero balance unless you can get a letter from the creditor showing it was a mistake and they can remove it altogether. That stinks!   Worse case is you may want to flip the loan to an FHA deal since the scores are affected... or take a little higher rate on the conventional loan.

thanks for the great answer Rob! I wasn't familiar with vantage myself. I know the bureaus have typically generated their own versions of FICO scores which for a long time was a misnomer. it might be nice to see some revisions of FICO / Credit Score modelling so Vantage is most welcome!

I like George's answer below. That's right on and make sure to follow his instructions about paying rent with a check and keep the copies for at least 12 consecutive months!  Work on your credit and don't get caught up thinking that the house will make things better. it could make things worse!

usually that isn't a problem

also, with FHA you won't need 20% down... 3.5% will get you there!

FHA all the way. They can manually underwrite your credit based on utility bills and so forth. Or your other option is for you to simply not go on the loan. Why do you not have any credit?

You need to sell your current house if you intend to use VA financing.  You can probably pre-qual based on the sale of your current residence - the only thing is selling is this current market is pretty tough!