Jacksonville-Buying a Home.

[David in JAX]

Originally Posted by joninclay

When I moved here five years ago, I was buying a house though I hadn't started working yet. The lender required an offer letter from my employer, and took into account that I was (a) working in a high-demand industry (info technology); and (b) had no gaps of any kind in employment in the last 10 years.

Granted, the lending industry has changed in the last five years, but I think it would be worth asking potential lenders before you even begin the application process. If your situation as you described it causes a problem, then I'd say that David's and mawipafl's suggestion to rent for a year would be a good one.

Well, here is the difference we experienced. We bought our first home in December of 2003 and closed in January of 2004, so just about 4 years ago. At that time, the mortgage broker just asked how much money we made and didn't even bother to check. He also asked how much we wanted to put down. 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, it didn't matter. He said that if either of our scores were above 600 we would qualify for the best rates, but we could get a higher rate with any credit score. We also qualified for about 10 times our incomes due to all kinds of crazy loans that were offered and didn't take.

This time, we had to prove our incomes and both show at least one year of continual employment. Both of our credit scores had to be over 700 to qualify. Our down payment options were 10%, 15% or 20%. And, this is the biggest difference, we only qualified for 2.5 times our income with credit scores well over 800, a very large downpayment, and almost zero debt.

So, things are like night and day. I knew that it would be tougher, but I didn't think we would be ultra scrutinized.

[V1-P]

You might consider renting with an option to buy. The normal requirements in such a case is 1st, last and security. After one year renting you can decide if you want to buy and a portion of your rent is added towards your down payment. You would also have had a job by then to show more for qualifying for the mortgage.
Don't forget about angel grants for down payments either. These are grants you never have to pay back, you do however, have to follow the requirements (such as live there a minimum of 5 years, etc.)

Locating rentals with option to purchase can be through a local REALTOR, Craigslist, friends, businesses you are considering and such. Just beware of people trying to lock you in sight unseen and taking your money.

Hope that helps.
V1-P

[agreatlife]

Although lending has tightened up, you should contact several lenders and discuss your situation. I just closed a transaction last month, where the customers were new in town, and all that was needed was an offer letter. Depending on the lender, they may want to see you actually on the job before closing, but that wasn't the case with the customers I had last month. The offer letter did it. Lenders have a lot of different programs, including FHA, that does not use credit scoring, but rather looks at ratio of total monthly obligations vs income. And, with FHA, you only need 3% down.
Since I'm a REALTOR, I'm probably prejudiced about renting, but if you do decide to rent (as they said, Jax is a big city - if you don't know where you want to live, renting may be a good option), I'd recommend putting something in the lease that if you find a home you want, you can exit the lease without penalty. I have had customers that did that, and it helped them a lot.