May I ask why you feel you must buy as soon as you move? Depending on where you are moving to, there should be a good amount of rental houses/townhouses and certainly apartments.
Renting for a bit (even 6 months) would give you some time to:
- Decide if you were happy in the new city.
- Find a neighborhood you like and get a feel for the housing stock/types.
- Sort out what to do about your old house.
Especially given your credit situation and (I'm assuming) a lack of funds for a down payment beyond FHA, renting for awhile might be your best bet. I'm not sure when you bought your current house, but FHA regulations have really changed in the last year or so in terms of PMI -- both the cost and duration. Not only are you paying fairly substantial upfront PMI now, you're paying it at a higher cost AND permanently throughout the life of the loan. We recently ran the numbers for our home purchase, and it was staggering how much money we save and what a better position we were in by simply coming up with that extra 1.5% to get us to a conventional loan.
Just my two cents.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
