horseymen

Brian would probably know, but at least in my experience, not all 'rate buydowns' are equal. On my current loan, they'd let me buy down the first 1/8th at a half a point and the next 1/8th costs a total of 1.5 points. Could be my broker, though.

I am dealing with a conventional loan as we speak - and there's all kinds of different regulations right now - just about every program has a different interpretation. Starting 4/1, Fannie Mae is doing the higher of 1% or your stated loan payment - but Freddie Mac is still taking your actual loan payment. That may change soon, too. So if that is something that could be a game changer for you, it might be time to pounce before you get pounced. My application was on 3/31, so I am hoping there's not a lender overlay. If there is, off to Freddie Mac I go (hopefully it doesn't change in the middle!). Fannie Mae just changed from 2% to 1% in a 'friendly' move - so perhaps others will as well who are not going to accept variable payment student loans.

That's not necessarily true. I closed a loan in 2010 with Metlife that overlooked a 37k chargeoff - but it was only on one report, it was 5.5 years old and my midscore was well past 700. Thankfully, that albatross is gone now..

SecretAgentWoman, There's a rule that mortgage professionals cannot solicit business on here - however, members may give referrals. I had a similar (complex) situation - and I used Shane (liverichly) as a mortgage broker, and now me, my 6 month old baby twin girls and my wife are living in a beautiful house in Texas - that other lenders wouldn't touch - but Shane made happen. I would HIGHLY recommend you emailing him and seeing if he can help. If there's a will, Shane's got a way.

When I bought my first home in 2005, I was still in school. I got my school to write a letter of expected graduation date - and then I got the student loan lender to mark on the credit report "Deferred until 5/1/2008" or whatever it was 9 months after I was expected to end the program. They were willing to do this - but now that all loans go through the government - who knows their willingness - couldn't hurt to try.

I won't get into all of the details of my scenario, but let's just say, it was a completely complicated scenario.. I have 5 W2 earning jobs (3 part time, 2 full time), 3 different Schedule C's for different little things on my tax returns - I worked part time at both jobs (all in the same industry) before being moved to full time - one was a W2 part time to W2 full time and the other was a 1099 to W2 transition. I also have nearly a 40,000 dollar chargeoff on my credit report from five years ago that I refuse to pay off. Enough to give you a headache yet? Some brokers wouldn't even touch this.. Shane is not "some brokers" - Shane is one of the most intelligent, hardworking people I've ever come across in any industry. I pride myself on quick response times in my industry - and Shane's about the only person I've ever met who shares my zest for immediate gratification, quick answers and a never say die attitude.. Although we had some set-backs, and not everything went our way, today, Shane closed this loan with a 4.75% FHA loan with less than a point of origination. His fees were 30-50% lower than other fees I got from others. Not only did he get me an amazing rate, not only did he act as a psychologist and counselor at times - he truly showed he cared. Yes, 90% of you will have easy loans anyone could do. Shane can do those too and probably beat everyone's price - but if you've got something that's a little iffy - he may not be able to do it for you, but he'll at least look at it, and if he thinks he can, he'll always be up front. He always told me he thought I had a 75% chance.. well, today, I'm 100% in my new home. When you're going through your situations, I can only say - if you see the information in LiveRichly's signature - use it. You won't be sorry you did. He'll tell you if he can't. He truly knows the difference between what is the FHA standard and what lenders will do. This was not a paid advertisement - Shane is just that good. The Creditboards community should be lauded for attracting these types of gifted and skilled workers to their website. Without this website, my home doesn't close because I don't read his posts in April and decide to shoot him an email, and I probably don't get this loan. If you want someone who will be up at 6am and email you at 10pm before bed just to make you feel better about what he's going to do the next day - work tirelessly to find a way to make it happen - even on the tough cases - Shane is your guy. This guy worked on my file on Easter to get a head start on Monday. I can't guarantee he'll work on all holidays for you - but that's just a sample of his work ethic. I'm happy I closed, but I'm more happy that I can tell the CreditBoards world that Shane Milne is one hell of a mortgage broker and an even better man. I almost feel like the guy is a friend. When my wife has her babies, he's getting an announcement - a picture in our home - a home he helped us get for our twins. Thank you Creditboards, and Thank you Shane!! I did it!!!

Edited to remove solicitation

If you can qualify for membership, check out Pentagon Federal Credit Union - I know they do it (penfed.org) - but be prepared to have a lot of income and a little debt - they don't do marginal cases, they only do slam dunks..

Guess if you really want to know in advance, you can lock down your credit reports, and then they'll ask you.

Calling may not get it done any quicker, but it may make you feel better. I'm someone who isn't afraid to ask and check on things - and I'm sure it's annoying, but I'd rather stay on it and feel in control - even if I'm not. It's your home - the biggest purchase you'll make - I wouldn't care who thinks it is cool.

I'd look for a good discount broker on Craigslist. If you can get 2% back from your broker for closing costs, it'll give you a stronger position to negotiate closing costs from knowing that you already have 2% dealt with. A good mortgage broker is worth their weight in gold. I would not go to Craigslist for that. I would heed Brian's advice and ask people for recommendations.

My take on it: You should spend more time clearing up your report. To open up an account, it would require an inquiry - and then it would hurt your average age - for much longer than 6 months. I probably wouldn't mess with that. It sounds like you have some inaccuracies and things you're rehabilitating - I'd focus on that. You can't guess what your new scores will be when they update - so you should wait to see how they update before making any assumptions.

I echo the sentiment that they are still out there - may not be out there for long, but they're out there for now.

I'd imagine technically you're still at a pre-approval status. Even if you've had an underwriter underwrite income/credit issues, you'd still be at conditional due to the fact there's no appraisal, you may not have filled out all the disclosures nor can you get an FHA case number until there's a home. To that end, you're a little bit further along - but FHA underwriters are an interesting breed!

You can still go up to 55 DTI for awhile with some FHA lenders with compensating factors, I've learned. They'll add back in depreciation and depletion, but that's about it, as a general rule. I've read a rule when I was researching that they'd add back in one time capital gains expenses - whatever that means..