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Find A Good Real Estate Deal – If you can find a property that has some equity in it when you purchase it, you may have an easier time getting financing on that property. To the lender it may be almost as good as if you had some kind of down payment on the property. Some lenders will consider the properties loan to value ratio when they consider the loan. Talk to your mortgage broker and see if this factor could help you get qualified.
Try Creative Financing – See if the seller would be willing to carry back a second mortgage on the home. This is where you set up a contract or agreement with the seller that you will pay them monthly payments, including interest of, let's say, $150/mo on $10,000 dollars of the price of the property, as a second mortgage. Then, to make it nice for the seller, perhaps put in the agreement that the entire amount is due in full within 2 years or something. That should give you plenty of time to refinance and then the seller doesn't feel permanently locked into the contract.
Save For A Down Payment – There are lenders who may be able to qualify you for 100% financing, even with low credit scores, but your interest rate will be much lower if you can put even 3-5% down. If possible, try to save as much as possible for a down payment. Sometimes it may be better to wait about 3-6 months to get into a new home loan if it means the difference of having a down payment. The interest rate could be quite a bit better because of that factor. However, if you don't want to have a down payment, you can always refinance later for a lower interest rate.
Shop Around – There are some mortgage brokers out there that you will talk to who will say, “I can't help you, and if I can't help you, no one can help you.” But, if you persist in talking with other brokers, 10 minutes later you could be talking to someone who knows a way to help you, no problem. Most brokers feel that if they can't help you, no one can. However, the ironic thing is that each broker is varied in the types of loans they can do. Some brokers have relationships with flexible mortgage lenders and others do not. I recommend applying online to mortgage services that will submit your application to multiple lenders. That way, your credit is only pulled once, and you can analyze offers from multiple lenders.
Improve Your Credit Score – There are some really simple ways to improve your credit score without spending too much time at it. All 3 major credit bureaus now have areas on their websites where you can dispute incorrect items on your credit. The process is very quick and easy. Make your current payments on time to help your score. Keep your number of credit inquiries down. Too many inquiries can hurt your credit score. If you want to buy a house, don't apply for any credit cards, auto loans or any other type of loan if you can avoid it.
If you really do want to get into a home, don't let bad credit stop you. There are lenders out there who can help you, it just takes some persistence. Apply with multiple lenders. Like I said, apply with mortgage services that specialize in bad credit mortgage loans and will submit your application to multiple lenders with only having one credit inquiry.