Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Would this work?
Before H and I were married, he owned a house. When we moved to MA together, we put it on the market and paid the mortgage for over 2 years before deciding to walk away before we had DD. So, his credit score tanked of course. Even deed-in-lieu counts as a foreclosure on his credit score. This was almost 2 years ago. I'd love to buy something here, but H's credit score is obviously a huge problem. OTOH, I've never owned a house (his was solely in his name). Could I still qualify for an FHA loan being married to a previous homeowner with a crap credit score? I'm sure I wouldn't get approved based solely on my income, but definitely would when you consider our combined income. Is there anyway that this could work?
Re: Would this work?
I just posted our story below. How low is his score? FHA's are not completely credit score based. A lot of it is income to debt ratio. If all your debts and collections or any past judgements are paid and settled in full you could in fact qualify. We paid approx .25% over the current mortgage rate however still a great rate considering what rates were like 12 years ago . We had a Short Sale n 2008 and just closed on a home. I think FHA requires I believe a 3 year waiting period following a Foreclosure
I cannot tell you how many people will say "you'll never get a mortgage" But we are proof that you can
The OP isn't just asking whether she can get a mortgage. She's asking whether she can use her and her husband's combined income towards the qualifying amount while keeping his name off the mortgage. (If I am reading correctly).
a) Yes, there is no reason you can't get a mortgage solely in your name. People do this all the time. Your husband's credit history will only come into play if he wants to be a cosigner on the loan.
b) I really doubt they will let you use both incomes unless both of you are on the loan.
BUT. In my experience, banks tend to approve the average borrower for more money than it's prudent for the person to actually borrow. While the MM rule of thumb is to limit a house payment to 25-30% of your income, banks will often approve you for more like 40-50%. Part of the reason why so many people got in over their heads during the housing boom. But maybe a house payment based on 40-50% of *your* income may actually be very reasonable when you think of your combined incomes. That's something you need to decide for yourself. I don't think it would be a lost cause to talk to a lender and see what you would qualify for on your own.
Just be careful OP that you aren't walking back into the same problem you walked out of. Do you guys have money saved to put down on and maintain this new house? If not, waiting another year to prepare wouldn't be a bad idea.
We decided to walk away after paying both rent and a mortgage for over 2 years--two+ years later and 30k cheaper, the house still hasn't sold, so it was definitely a good financial decision. I wish we had done it sooner! We actually live very comfortably and could put down around 50-60k. Our only debt is 6k I have left on my car loan (4.25%), and 8k I have left on my UG student loan (2.8%); grad school (6.8%) is paid off. Our lease isn't up until December, and I'm not even opposed to waiting another few years until DD starts public school (saving us 15k+ in DC costs). Housing in my area is very high. 3 bedroom condos are easily 400k+, but it's also one of the top school districts in the state.