Review with seller(s) the standard closing costs and pro-rations typical to the HUD statements.48.

And honestly a lot of it is based on the fact that I was helping someone out.He is a convicted felon with no job or credit at all. there is no way he could ever buy a house for what I was charging him even with excellent credit. and were it would be easier to throw money at him to make him go away, I just cant rationalize being taken advantage of any further.

Rational is in the house!  

The rent ration will be 1% at best but the high property taxes and insurance will kill your cash flow.

In many such cases, the rational step is to sell.

I can even rationalize buying something built in the last 5 years because of kitchen size, closet size, etc.

His response was "You don't justify it; you rationalize it."

paying off the car loan helps with the debt to income ratio, but if your score is low now, no one is going to loan you money anyway so what would the debt to income ration matter anyway?

There it is...Godwin's Law...which is usually an indication that a thread has completely lost rationality and someone is just trying to be inflammatory.At least I tried to stay constructive...I guess I'm now done with this thread...everyone else have fun without me...

I would try the owner finance rout with you putting money down.The reason I say this is I helped many people improve credit scores back when I was in residential years ago.It's not just about credit score anymore.A bank will see you starting a job in a new field after quitting school as high risk and not stable yet.Generally underwriters like to see 2 years in the same line of work for stability and to get an average for your income over time.They also do not like to use bonuses for debt ration versus income as that can swing wildly unlike a fixed amount.So for example if you are averaging 5,000 a month but 50% is bonus that is looked at more risky than 20% bonus and 80% salary.This is why I say even if you get the credit score up it will help but time on the job will be a big roadblock with conventional lenders.This is why with your cash I thought get a few owner finance deal sunder your belt purchasing correctly and then you can have assets and cash flow with built in equity.You can then use these properties as collateral with some lenders.As has been said they generally don't care who you are if the value is low enough going in.With credit it is simple you just challenge it on your report (check all 3) exquifax,experian,trans union and then they have up to 30 days generally to respond.If they don't respond with evidence it gets removed.Do not leave a written statement on the credit report if they won't take it off the first time as that does nothing for you.In fact it can actually hurt your chances of removal in the future.Also do not pay an old collection that is coming off in a few years.If you owe 1,000 and it has been in collections for 5 years and is slated to come off in 2 years then calling them up and even paying a dollar REFRESHES the collection and makes it new again.If you challenge it multiple times and cannot get it removed then you can try for "payment for deletion" where they wipe the negative account completely off the credit reports for settling the account.Make sure you get the agreement in writing or it's not worth anything.