Timing of home buying

[niemand88f]

We got the very unwelcome news that our apartment building sold and the new owner will renovate each unit as leases expire, and will not be pet friendly afterwards. Our current lease expires pretty soon, so we think we probably have until July to find new housing. 

We really want to buy now instead of renting another crappy apartment, our plan was to buy next year anyway. Plus... we have 5 cats, which our current landlord knew about but pretended they didn't. That's not going to be easy to find anywhere else. We have a lot of debt (student loans, credit cards, car), but our debt to income ratio should be acceptable to lenders based on various calculators. We have good credit. With the down payment we have managed to save we probably can get a very small house or a decent townhome. We would be in a much better position next year if we could stay in our current apartment, but if we move to another rental the huge rent increase would keep us in the same financial situation we're in now (extremely competitive rental market). 

The problem/question: I just took out a car loan in December (0%). DH and I JUST took out a debt consolidation loan for our remaining credit cards. 2 days before we got the notice of sale. So a report pulled today might look like our total debt has massively increased. How long should we wait before trying to get mortgage pre-approvals? Just until all our "paid-off" credit cards next statements hit? As long as we possibly can?

TL:DR; how long should I wait between taking out a debt consolidation loan and applying for a mortgage? 

[mrsdoe]

I would go talk to a bank or a broker and see what they say. I refinanced my student loans with a private lender and then immediately refinanced my house right after and I was concerned about the same thing. The mortgage lender had to talk to the loan refinance bank but there was no problem.

[puppylove64]

You can talk to a bank or broker, but once they pull your credit for a preapproval it is only good for between 30-90 days. You don't want to pull it too early. A mortgage check will definitely hurt your credit a bit, so you don't want to do it until you are ready to shop.

You would be surprised how much your credit can jump up after paying off several items. Focus on that intensely as long as you can, then give yourself 30-45 days after everything is paid down before you apply for a mortgage. Another thing to consider is credit score of 740 will get you the best rate available, so you both want to be above that if possible. Good luck!

[livinitup]

What about a first time home owners program? You can google that + your city/county name. I know a few people who work at ours and their mission includes "first mortgage financing and down payment assistance, homeowner education and counseling". I think they would be a great group to talk to for first time home buyers.

Also, you may have more time than you think. You received notice that the building is under new ownership and plans to renovate. That's it. Paying tenants are very valuable to a landlord. If you don't want to move, your new landlord may be willing to keep you for another year. Or another six months. Renovations cost money and they just bought the building. Negotiate with whoever is in charge, about 2 months before your renewal date. The last thing they want is swatters, so keeping you happy and paying is in their interest as well.

[niemand88f]

Mar 12, 2017 5:22:29 GMT -5 livinitup said:

What about a first time home owners program? You can google that + your city/county name. I know a few people who work at ours and their mission includes "first mortgage financing and down payment assistance, homeowner education and counseling". I think they would be a great group to talk to for first time home buyers.

Also, you may have more time than you think. You received notice that the building is under new ownership and plans to renovate. That's it. Paying tenants are very valuable to a landlord. If you don't want to move, your new landlord may be willing to keep you for another year. Or another six months. Renovations cost money and they just bought the building. Negotiate with whoever is in charge, about 2 months before your renewal date. The last thing they want is swatters, so keeping you happy and paying is in their interest as well.

All the downpayment assistance programs have pretty low income limits in our area    But I'll look into the counseling/education. 
We've already talked to the new owners over email, who are a property investment company. We offered to resign for 6 months or a year, and they said everyone will be converted to month to month and they plan to completely renovate each apartment as leases expire. And ours expires in April  </3  They will do the exterior of the building first which will buy us a couple months at least, they estimate June for starting on apartments (and I'm sure there will be some delays pushing that out but I don't want to bet on it too much). But maybe I can try to negotiate for end of July at least. I expect a significant raise at the beginning of July (that and a large 2016 tax payment going out right now are other things that makes the timing suck). 

We've been so spoiled with the current owners, they're awesome. We've lived here almost 7 years and love the area even if the building is a little run down.

Thanks everyone!

[hbomdiggity]

We went through something similar. It was about February we were given notice that our LL was selling. Our lease went through july. We started looking immediately and closed on the house July 10th.

Depending on your market, you may need to look for a bit or you may get bid out of some.

It takes at least 45days to close after an accepted offer. So if you work back, you'll prob want to have a contract by early June. That's basically 2 months to find a place. So yeah, I'd go ahead and start looking at banks so you know what you can afford and qualify for.