More House

[trickykitty]

I'm going to see 4 more houses this evening. I'll be damned if my favorite house out of the search from Sunday happens to only be a few blocks away from where I currently live. After this evening, I should know for sure if I'm going to put in an offer on another house, and which one it will be. It will all depend on if one of the houses this evening knocks my favorite from Sunday out of the water.

I'm a bit distraught (is that the word?), because my brain keeps going back to the first house I put an offer in on. I can't tell you how much that first house felt right for me and was exactly in the area I wanted to live. However, with foundation issues, my lender won't approve an FHA loan on a house until that's been repaired. I just can't seem to shake this house out of my head.

Comments

So

[disgruntledgirl]

You would need to fix the house before you could get the loan to buy said house?

Yep. Exactly.

[trickykitty]

FHA mortgages have strict rules on certain health-related concerns (including foundation repairs) having to be fixed PRIOR to the closing date, and they HAVE to be made by the seller. I'm forbidden from making such repairs per FHA regulations. Since this is a foreclosure and "as is" the owning bank isn't paying a cent towards repairs, although they'll keep lowering the asking price until they get a bite.

I have two options for a house like this one: 1)I could try to qualify through another lender for the FHA 203k, which is the house loan plus a repair loan rolled into one mortgage (my bank doesn't offer it). 2)I could ask my parents to co-sign for a conventional mortgage, in which case I can make the repairs after closing at my own leisure, but I'd have to have a bit more in savings up front to qualify, and my parents would be on the mortgage forever.

Either way, I would still have to hope that making repairs to the foundation doesn't cause other problems in the process, like shifting plumbing or new cracks in the sheetrock or brickwork, and that it doesn't have to keep being repaired in the future. The whole thing would be a pretty major gamble.

I just can't get this house out of my head. I must have really had my heart set on it when I put in my original offer.

Duh

[trickykitty]

I had to update that a bit in my post once I thought through it completely. My parents wouldn't be able to make the repairs on my behalf either, not as long as it's FHA.