All Forum Posts by: Elisha Keller

They are a good group and worth it financially if you're willing to jump through them. Unfortunately, my fiancé and I needed to move and couldn't wait the additional time they wanted to "prove" we were ready to be homeowners. The reason we were told we had to wait 6 months was because I was 1-2weeks late on my AT&T bill. I wrote a letter explaining it why the situations happened and those were the only bills. They are tough but a good group. 

Hi Andresa--we are going to be putting it in both of our names.

Rolanda-thank you for your response. We are looking into other options at this time. NACA is a great group; however, if you're looking to move in a shorter time frame than a year, you're really out of luck with them. We've been working with them since January and after jumping through all of the hoops were told we may be able to reapply in June but most likely December. They're great people; however, there is no wiggle room with their group if you'd like to get things done quickly.

We've found a gentleman (mortgage broker) to work with who comes HIGHLY recommended from a good friend of mine. He's the person that originally ran my credit in August and saw all of the improvements we've made.

Thank you for the input Brandon! I didn't realize you could ask for 6%. I'm looking outside of Philadelphia, but that's good information to know.

Andresa: Right now the debt to income ratio for my bf and I is about 22%. I have school loan debts; however, he doesn’t have any. Neither one of us have any other debt (credit cards, bank loans, car, etc.) at all. We are looking to stay in a mortgage payment of $1200 (including mort. interest, tax and insurance). We're also going to have two people rent rooms from us. I’m not sure if that information is helpful/relevant to the information you were going to provide or not.

Hi Wayne,

Thank you so much for that information. I'm going to speak with a broker that a friend recommended. I was thinking about "sellers assist" like you mentioned.

Hi BP,

As some of you know, I've been working on purchasing a home since August. I've been attempting to use the group NACA; however, it is becoming increasingly frustrating because they keep push back my approval date.

As a result, I'm reaching out to the BP community for help on where to get a mortgage from and how to do it the "traditional way".

Background info you may need to be helpful:

I've been repairing my credit score for 6 months. I went from a 549 with $3000 past due (being 19 and carefree) to a 650 (score obtained from credit tracking on quizzle.com) with no money past due. My boyfriend has a credit score of 727 and has never had an issue with delinquent accounts/past dues. We have about $5600 saved and are planning to have $6500-$7000 in the next month or two. We were considering using an FHA loan (since you only need 5% down) for a home between $100k-$140k in the following zip codes 19032, 19036, 19018 (Delaware County, suburbs of Philadelphia).

Any help anyone could provide about how to get financing, good groups to use, or just advice in general would be greatly appreciated. It's becoming a very stressful process and I knew that BP was the place to come to get answers, feedback and encouragement!

Thanks in advance,

E

Thank you Jenna! I think that is what I'm going to do--regular post to keep folks updated and provide some insite into NACA!

Carrie, we haven't been fully approved yet. They tell you the max they would work with you for. The paperwork to get "approved"/qualified is will be sent out on Feb. 10th for me. It can take a month to get an appointment in order to go over your paperwork and discuss your maximum amount they would lend you. If you have all of your ducks in a row (aka all the required paperwork) and no past dues on your credit report it can move very quickly.

Hi Everyone! It has been awhile since I've posted. I took a few steps back and really thought about real estate and how it would fit into my life. I was tossing around the idea of a multifamily home vs. single family. Although I love MF’s, my boyfriend and I have decided to purchase a large single family and possibly rent out rooms (which I know will come with lots of challenges in and of itself).

The exciting news is that we had a one-on-one meeting with our NACA rep. about obtaining a mortgage. They are willing to work with us and approve us for up to $288k. We will only be looking for $150-200k. I was a bit taken aback when I heard how much they would approve us for but also excited.

For those of you that don't know NACA, aka Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) is a group that helps people obtain mortgages that would have a hard time going through the normal system. They assess your income, debt, timely payments and other factors. It is an extensive process. You are required to volunteer five times each year; there are several meetings and a lot of paperwork that needs to be done.

On the plus side--NACA offers you A LOT! You receive counseling (pre and post mortgage). There is no limit on how many points you can buy. There are no closing cost (paid for by the lender) and no down payment. You are able to also get the cost of remodeling put into your mortgage (but you have use NACA approved contractors). There is no PMI but a $50 monthly fee (that helps keep NACA services free).

I found out about this group through a friend and here on BP. We have a few more documents to submit and a phone meeting on Feb. 10th. At that point, our counselor will submit our application to the underwriter.

If you are interested in this program, I would recommend looking into them (although they are not in every city). There are a lot of hoops to jump through (meetings, submitting paperwork, etc); however, I feel it is worth it.

I know this was a long post but I wanted to update folks on what was happening for me and my first home purchase. As well as provide some basic information about NACA. I will post throughout the process so that others can get a sense of how this program works!

@Nefera Croom

I had my first meeting at the beginning of the month (the big information session). I have my follow-up one-on-one meeting on the 27th. I will also try and update this post after that meeting.

@Jennifer Lee

Hey,

I just wanted to touch base on this post again. I will be taking my real estate classes in January (I'm going to take both classes at the same time). I will hopefully be taking the test in mid to late February. A friend of mine is an agent with United Real Estate and hopefully that's where I would want to hang my license as well.

Reading your post really helped give me a push in the direction of getting my license. I think it is a good way to learn real estate from another point-of-view and make some extra money on the side.