Everyone keeps telling you that it is! So, one day you wake up and say, hmmm, I think I want to buy a house. Well, what do you do? Most people get on the internet and start looking for a house to buy. They search and look and search and look. What a concept! How many times I have received the call from a homebuyer that wants go look at the houses that they have picked out. My first question is, “Do you have a pre-approval letter?” Their reply is “No, we only want to look at houses for $100,000.” Well, if you aren’t approved, it doesn’t matter what YOU think you can afford. You need a bank or mortgage lender to decide on how much money THEY think you can afford! Are they going to be willing to invest in YOU! That is the question! So, before you utter the famous words–My credit is not so good–think about what you are asking for! Would you give $100,000 to someone who doesn’t have any credit?? Or has only been on the job for a month? Or has no money in savings? Or has a few bills he decided not to pay?? But yet you are indignant about having bad credit! And you expect them to just overlook your bad habits. So, before you think about buying a house, you should take care of your credit. Yes, that means even the things you weren’t supposed to be responsible for in the divorce settlement!! I know, I know, it’s the principle!! But now, it’s YOUR credit that is being affected in a negative way. So you must decide to take care of business or not! And those bills you got when you were young, made some bad decisions, got sick, had no insurance, moved, lost your job, bought more than you could pay for, filed for bankruptcy,co-signed a loan for a friend, had a car repossessed, she left me, he left me, it wasn’t my stuff, ………you get the picture. All of those kind of things. You’re going to have to FIX it. Just like you fix your broken car or fix your broken washer or whatever, you’re going to have to FIX your broken CREDIT. And we all know that when something is broken, it usually cost some money to have it fixed!
So, you go to the bank or mortgage company. Apply for a home loan. no matter how bad you think your credit is!! And they will tell you what you are going to have to do in order to straighten it out. (Ask for a copy, then you can see it for yourself!) This could take some effort and money from you, so be prepared. Do what they tell you. It could be so bad that you would have to go the “repair” guy. But I will tell you that without doing this, you will probably NEVER get a home loan. Popular belief is that after 7 years the debt just goes away! That is a lie. It will not go away from your credit. So FIX it now!
Now, if on the other hand you just happen to have credit that you have been taking care of and a pre-approval letter, it just might be a great time to buy a house!
