Renting, maybe trying for a foreclosed property?

Question

I may be entering a relationship with someone who has a lot of cash, no credit. I have bad to poor credit. Overtime I may either attempt to repair my credit, or declare bankruptcy.The other person may attempt to establish credit. How much of a difficult time will we have? It would not be a problem for us to lease and pay for one year up front. I am hoping that would allow us to at least rent. So, my question is about getting utilities. Can I get them for cash up front for a specified term, while we straighten out our credit or lack of credit?

the same goes for maybe buying a foreclosed property. any reasonable responses out there? In effect, then, does this relationship allow us to rent or buy a foreclosed property? To re-state, cash, we would have plenty of it, in the x*x,x*x range. Maybe the problem would be just finding a realtor that could work with us, and along with that, a landlord and/or bank? Getting utilities worries me.

Answer 1

buying a home and paying cash will improve your credit because you will show assests that are paid for.  Utilities will generally give you a security deposit to pay, they almost never refuse service.  My advice would be to buy a home that you can pay cash for.  Then keep paying your bills on time.

Answer 2

Lenders/loss mitigation departments/asset management companies are not in the property management business, they do not rent out their foreclosure properties.  

Your bad credit will be the anchor in this whole process.  Getting credit established is easy, if your partner has any monthly bills, cell phone for instance, they are establishing credit.  If you declare bankruptcy, you are not getting on a mortgage for at least 2 years.

If you have some cash to put down upfront, you can get utilities.

I'd suggest you get off the fence regarding what you are going to do about your credit.  Either start the BK or start working on fixing it.