First Time Home Buyer

Do you have a 20 percent downpayment? That makes a difference as to what kind of loan you can get. FHA does have first-time homebuyer loans where you can put down less, but you may have to have - what's it called - loan insurance - something like that where you pay an extra amount for insurance until you reach having paid a certain amount of the loan off, so if you default there's insurance to cover it.

I put $5K down on my first house that was $110,000. Had the insurance, but later it was removed.

There are really great rates on 30-year-fixed loans - under 5 percent which is practically unheard of. Do not get a balloon loan - where it's really cheap now and then the interest goes up later. Because if something happens to you down the road, and that loan payment goes up, you won't be able to afford your mortgage. That's what's happend to a lot of people and why all of these people are foreclosing and can't make their loan payments. Only buy a house with a loan payment you think you will be able to afford.

You need a reputable loan officer and good real estate agent. Remember as a buyer it costs you NOTHING to work with a realtor. (seller pays realtor fees) A good one will ask the right questions on behalf of the buyer and help match a home to your needs. A crappy one will just sell you a home. If you wish i can give you'd like i can give you the woman we use. I've know her since childhood and she's been a realtor for more than 20 years. She's great and won't PUSH you into a house. She's a house matchmaker!

Do you or your husband have military experience? It's pretty easy to go through the VA for a loan, especially if you are not putting down any or little money. Friends of ours are going through this right now, through a VA loan. If you can't go through the VA, then you could try going to a bank for a loan. Probably the bank you currently have your accounts with would be a good starting point. You can talk to a loan officer. Good luck!

Congrats! First and foremost get a real estate attorney who knows about foreclosures to guide you through the process. We are in the process of buying one and in our case, the bank used it's own contract that was 20 pages long and required us to waive all rights, so you just want to know what you are getting into. There can be hidden costs too -- are you or your spouse handy? Foreclosures can be a great deal but also not because the bank does not have to disclose anything about the house. Make sure you get a good inspection and understand any potential problems and costs to make sure you can cover them or fix them yourselves. Also, in a foreclosure situation, it's possible that there are back taxes or other liens on the property that would become your responsibility if they weren't paid (if the previous owners couldn't pay the mortgage, they may not have paid their water bill or taxes or contractors, etc.) So, the bank will do a title search and get title insurance but make sure you have title insurance too in case something wasn't clean with the title and someone can claim the house after you've bought it or some sort of debt comes up that title company failed to find. Good luck!

I am a loan officer - if you want more information and to get pre-approved, send me a message.
Basically there are only 2 types of loans that you can get now for no money down. The first is a VA loan, and you need to have military eligibility. The second is a USDA loan and for that loan you need to purchase a home in a pre-determined "rural" area. (Not much around here is coded rural - you have to be well out to Kendall County or beyond with some exceptions).
The next best is an FHA loan with 3.5% down. FHA loans will require the property to pass an inspection, but if they don't pass you may also qualify for an FHA rehab loan which will give you extra money to repair the property - after you put down your 3.5%. The sellers can pay your closing costs on this loan.
If you don't have the 3.5% in the bank to put down, there are many ways to get it - borrowing, receiving a gift from family, etc.
Let me know if you'd like more information.

We bought a foreclosure back a year ago right before the bottom feel out of the real estate market. Now we are sitting on this totally remodeled house, waiting for a new owner.
First thing to do is talk to your local bank where you have credit already established. They will tell you if you even qualify for a mortgage at this time. Mortgages are not as easy to get as they were 2 years ago but if you have good credit, a good credit score and a good steady income you should be OK.
If the bank says you do not qualify through them you can try a Mortgage Broker. A Mortgage Broker is someone who you pay to find you a Mortgage. General these mortgages are at a higher interest rate than the standard mortgage through a local bank.
Another avenue is if you or your husband are veterans, you could get a VA loan. FHA loans are also available but are much harder to get because the house you are buying has to meet there criteria.
Id the bank says no and you do not want to use a mortgage broker consider asking a parent to co-sign the loan. If you have a co-signer on a mortgage it is a lot easier to get the loan for first time buyers.
Getting a loan with no down payment is pretty much a thing of the past. 100% loans are why the banking system is in the trouble they are in now. Most home buyer need at least 20% of the purchase price down. If you do not have this amount sometimes asking a parent or sibling for a loan for this amount might be an idea.
One thing to remember when you buy a foreclosed home you are buying the home AS IS. If there are termites or water problems the bank does not need to disclose these problems. When we bought the foreclosed home a year ago there was some problems and we did not know about the problems til after the purchase. The problems were easy for my husband to take care of but it was just the idea that we did not know before we purchased the home.
Getting a good attorney is always a help but doing as much of the leg work yourself will save you a lot of money. The internet is a wealth of information and don't be afraid to go to the country office to look up records on the house you plan to buy. Stop and talk to the neighbor in the neighborhood and ask if they know of any problems.
I wish you the best of luck of your purchase. Good thing to remember if it seems there are to many obstacles standing in your way of purchasing this house, maybe it wasn't meant to be.

God Bless

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Foreclosure is NOT a good buy for a first home, especially if you will live in it. Usually there can be serious problems with the property, hidden liens and unpaid property taxes etc. There can be also structural damage or significant remodeling required(and most people cannot do it all themselves) Not to mention you usually have to waive all rights, as that is how most banks do it(you take all the risk). Most important, you don't need a real estate salesperson at ALL(of course they insist you do, they have an agenda, to make money, and who can blame them). 99% of they time they add no value to the transaction at all. How do I know that? I know someone who went into the industry just to see what these guys really do, and trust me, aside from a few simple rules(just about anybody can get a real estate license, aside from felons, after they take a simple class and pass a fairly easy test,) and making the whole process seem complicated to the customers, there is NO value whatsoever of a real estate salesperson or broker, except for the higher price you pay for the house since commissions are in the price of the house. You can do comparable sales yourself online, or have an appraiser show you comparables if you are too lazy or don't know how to find the sales.

Foreclosures are best bought with cash, loan process will be quite complicates in this economic cycle for these types of properties(since really nobody knows what they are worth anyways). You can probably forget about zero down. And if you don't have anything to put down why are you even buying a house to begin with???? Hopefully you are not hoping it will go UP in value any time soon, which it will definitely not. You will be competing with literally thousands of other sellers trying to get out and with bank owned properties. Banks can liquidate at firesale prices and even take a huge loss if they have to just to sell, you likely will not have that luxury. My advice. Stay out of the real estate market if you don't know anything about it. Anybody that tells you it's a great deal and you need to act fast most certainly has something to gain from the transaction and does not have your best interest in mind. It's likely a bad deal at that point.
If you really, really want a foreclosure, which I do not recommend, wait another 5 years(real estate prices will be falling still for a long long time, you will see). You will be able to buy a decent house for $20K, when banks throw in the towel on their REO's (that's Real Estate Owned). Just don't think you will have cheap taxes, because counties need their "milk cows" to pay for all their inefficient services they offer to the public. Taxes will likely be 20% of the house price at that point. Keep renting and be happy. Ask for a discount from the landlord, or tell them you will move. They will likely lower the rent instead of having an empty apartment or taking the risk of having a questionable new tennant. These are times for renting not for buying, and that is an honest truth. Good luck.