80k unique home, 90k salary, 20k down, but credit score is zero.

[Drew B.]

Hi,

I feel a little weird about posting this here, please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong.

My fiancée and I weren't looking for homes, but one caught our eye and now I'm trying to do whatever I can to make it ours.

The home is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is listed at $79,900. I work as a software engineer and have an annual salary of 90k. My grandmother is giving me 20k for a down payment.

As perfect as everything else is, I'm only 20, and while I started building credit as soon as I realized it was a good idea, that was only four months ago. I have a couple of secured credit cards and a couple of unsecured credit cards, and never carry a balance. Regardless, FICO refuses to generate a score until six months have gone by.

Everywhere I've applied, I've been turned down. I'm renting from my grandmother at the moment, so I don't have cancelled checks. I do have a Comcast bill that's been in my name for six months, but that's pretty much it. I don't even have a cell phone bill, as I thought I was being responsible and decided to go the prepaid route.

Ideally, I'd love to buy this house and move in quickly. However, I'm beginning to understand that owner-occupied lending is significantly more risky for the investor, so I'd be open to buying the house and making payments on it while continuing to rent. Then, I could refinance as soon as my credit history has aged sufficiently, and move in at that point.

Thoughts? Advice? Interested investors?

Thanks,
~Drew

[Eddie T.]

Drew B. If I were you I would wait a year or two until you have an established credit history and also use this time to increase your savings so instead of putting 20k down you could put 40k... Or with that salary you can save 35k a year and buy something cash in 3 years.