The minimum down payment is 5% and no bank will give a 0% down payment. However a bank will look at the basement rental as an additional income which might allow you to receive a higher mortgage then your income allows.

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Fact is that everyone lives somewhere. middle-class america is generally stable. they have lived in apartments, rent houses and trailers for years. paying their rent. if you have to pay, why is credit so important to get a mortgage when rental history would show a better portrait of your propensity to pay your mortgage. i mean...whats the big deal? renters are paying interest indirectly in rent anyway already. its just a big silly system to drain peoples bank accounts.

the only thing that shows a person is capable of borrowing money and paying it back on time is a history of that person borrowing money and paying it back on time. rent is not a loan, and no lease is written for 30 years with the promise to pay 500k+ @5% interest. it's usually a 1 year agreement that's easy to get out of and very easy to be late on payments with. a mortgage doesn't work like rent. if you're late you're in trouble, and you can only walk away from a loan with the bank if you file bankruptcy. if you think it's a silly system designed to empty bank accounts you're quite mistaken. if banks leant money and the people who borrowed it never made a dime there wouldn't be anybody borrowing from banks. this is how MANY people get rich. they use someone else's capital to generate an roi% that beats the interest rate they borrowed the money at. one of the easiest ways to do that is to own property and have other people paying your mortgage + contributing to a positive cash flow that you can use to purchase new properties.

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Many people made the big mistake of borrowing more money than they could pay back. they wanted bigger houses, with more fancy style but they didn't have the money to pay for it or to give 20 % down payment, now they are in trouble because they cannot afford to pay their mortgage, should we all pay for their stupid mistakes? tell if it is fair or not.

It's not fair to anyone except those directly benefiting from it. SFC US Army Retired

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My husband and i make a combined income of about $150k. we currently own a home with a mortgage of about $265k. we'd like to move, but due to the housing crisis, our home is worth only about $215k. we can afford a bigger mortgage and would like to move, but we don't want to sell our home at what it's worth and owe money at the closing. we were thinking of saving up for a down payment for a new home and then trying to rent out our current home. would a bank give us a loan if we already have a mortgage but can show proof of renters? thanks! also, i don't want to consider a short sale or foreclosure on the first home. that just seems unethical to me.

read your loan agreement and deed of trust. It is more than likely prohibited. If you were allowed to do it, you'd have to assure that the unit will rent for enough to pay the debt service and taxes. Why don't you just save a downpayment, start buying a new home and if successful, turn the other back to the lender and let them foreclose

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So, you know, everytime you apply for any kind of loan or for a credit card, they always ask "do you own, rent?" "how long have you lived there?" and even if you have lived for a short period of time at the current address, they will ask for your previous address. i'm curious because i lived in one place for 5 years, everything fine, never caused a problem, paid my rent always on time, you know, good record basically, but then a friend of mine moved to florida and asked me if i wanted to live at her place, a nice ranch style house, bigger where i used to live, same price, so basically i'm making her mortgage payments (and she doesn't have to sell the house, she just doesn't know how long will be living over there). recently, i got a car loan and they asked me all the routine questions i mentioned before. of course, where i used to live was an apartment complex and you know, they have the leasing office and all that, but now this is just an independent, privately own house.

It will not effect your credit at all. Apartment complexes do not report to the credit bureaus unless you don't pay. The reason the banks ask those questions is so when they pull your credit they can compare the information you gave them to the information that shows on your report. This is one of the ways that they make sure that you are who you say you are as required by the patriot act.

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I gave 3 houses we owned in arizona to my ex in the divorce decree back in august. right after the divorce she stopped paying the mortgages on the houses yet continued to collect the rent checks from the renters. she never refinanced the houses into her name (they were in both of our names) and my credit score has suffered big time. she is letting the homes go into foreclosure. do i have any legal recourse here? also, has anyone ever gotten their credit restored due to a similar situation by using a divorce decree to restore the credit? thanks, randy

No, it is not illegal to do what she is doing. It would appear you have a very sloppily written divorce decree, if you remain on the mortgage for homes you no longer own. Your agreement should have specified that the refinancing be done prior to her taking possession, and YOU should have made sure it happened. Receiving of rent has nothing to do with paying of mortgages.

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I had it rented and then renters stopped paying an i could not afford to continue paying so it was repossesed and resold. i still owed 30,000 on the loan. in return i got bad credit (569) what can i do to correct that. i have no collateral or co-signers for loans to pay off such a big debt.

Honestly....it's going to take the passing of time to heal the damage here. A foreclosure is a huge hit on your credit rating...so even if you had the money and you paid the $30K in full you're still going to have damaged credit. If all goes well, then in about two years your credit rating will start to improve. After 7 years the foreclosure will drop off your credit report.

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Well i am looking at purchasing a home currently i am renting which covers all utilities in the rent however they are getting ready to make big changes in the contract which don't favor the renters so i'm pullin out. i was looking at purchasing a home and pretty much have it narrowed down to the one we are interested in. my question is i don't think i'll be here longer then 5 years if even shorter maybe close to 2 or 3 and i heard of the 5/1 arm mortgage which lowers the interest greatly for the first 5 years then can really adjust in the years to come annually. my question is these are good if i plan on leaving in 5 years or refiancing with a different loan? also i was looking at the options some energy services provide where they average the monthly utlities cost based on an annual utility rate and you have a set amount of payments each month regardless of energy use that month so you don't get hammered in the winter and summer seasons. anyone with experience in this? if so do you find it benefical or do you wind up spending more on the average then you do when you get hit with the heavier months?

I think you're on the right track with both an ARM and the flat rate plans for utilities. I have many years experience with both as a homeowner (I am not in a real estate, mortgage, or related business). ARMs are fine if you plan to (and are able to) sell or refinance before they start adjusting upwards. Recommended in your situation. I have two ARMs right now, and both will be refinanced to fixed-rate mortgages within 10 months. I had to go with ARMs originally to get past a downward bump in my credit scores (bankruptcy after divorce). I knew my credit would bounce back in time to refi before they adjusted. Of course you can get stuck if you're unable to refinance or sell, but that's true of any mortgage really. I really like the "easy pay" or "averaging" approach to paying utilities, and have been doing it for literally decades. It makes household budgeting much easier. In my experience utilities do a really good job of keeping track of the numbers, and adjusting them as few times during the year as possible. Highly recommended. One bonus tip for you: ask about "doing your own escrow" with your mortgage. It may not be offered, but if it is you may prefer it (but don't pay extra for it). Unlike utilities, mortgage companies ALWAYS keep more of your money for escrow (property tax and homeowners insurance) than I feel they should. Federal laws allow them to have a "cushion" in case you miss some payments. That cushion is a balance in the escrow account of hundreds or thousands of your dollars, just sitting there. My favorite approach: do my own escrowing by setting aside the appropriate amount every paycheck by EFT to a high interest on-line savings account (such as emigrantdirect.com). Then just transfer from that account to your checking account (online) prior to paying property taxes or the yearly homeowners insurance premium. Alternately, pay your insurance premium monthly through auto-pay. Great questions! Best of luck!

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In my city, it's literally cheaper to buy than rent, especially in the long run. for years now my city's had affordably priced housing. as a result, more people have started buying in my area in the past 10 yrs, which has caused prices to skyrocket, but the new higher prices are still very very reasonable compared to ny, dc, california, etc. right now i'm making roughly $40,000/yr and paying $905/mo for a 1 bedroom apartment. the apartment's a nice place to live but i feel more and more that it's a ripoff. my management nickles and dimes us for things like use of the swimming pool...pool passes are not covered in our rent, and if we want to bring guests to the pool for a day it's $7 a pop and we must buy nonrefundable, specifically dated "pool passes" in advance to do this. because of working two jobs, i'm barely home to enjoy my overpriced apartment, which makes me resent my rent even more. i know several people that make a lot more money than me, but pay less for their houses or condos than i do on rent!! for example, the friend that makes $90k/yr and bought his 2bd, 2bath condo for $90k in 2001 when he was the very young age of 23...and yes, the condo's worth a lot more than $90k now. also, my bf...he makes over $100k/yr and he bought his 3bd house in a trendy part of the city in 2001, and pays a total of $800/mo on mortgage ins taxes...and yes his house has nearly doubled in value since he bought it, despite the mortgage crisis. (my city isn't nearly as affected by the mortgage crisis as other parts of the country) meanwhile, my rent keeps going up. each year, the increase in rent doubles. i predict that next year the rent will be at(or close to) $1000/mo. hmmm i don't need a crystal ball to see what will happen in the next 15 yrs if i rent vs. buy! if i'm renting, i will probably be paying $1500-2000/mo for the same apartment i have now, considering the way rent keeps going up. and once i stop renting, i will have nothing to show for all my years of being the loyal renter...no equity, no property in my name, nothing. on the other hand, if i buy soon with a fixed mortgage(i have a 750 credit score, so yeah i'd qualify), i will be paying the same amount each month for a house 15 yrs from now as i will when i first buy it...the exception being tax payments. i will also have equity, and hopefully the house will be worth more in 15 yrs than it is now. plus, i will have a bigger space for my money, and i will be able to paint the walls in my place any shade i want without worrying about losing any rent deposit. so for the hairdresser that told me "you don't have any kids (an assumption on her part)...why not just keep renting for a while??" ... i say a big fat no. >:(

So what are you waiting for? I have friends that's been always want to buy a house but NEVER bought one cos' buying a house needs GUT. Do you have the GUT to do it? If there's a will, there's a way.