What does your Credit Score have to be to buy a house?

Question

I want to buy a house but my husband is worried over so many things... Our credit has been a little shaky but is improving! We are renting a large apartment for $1620.00 a month. I fell that we can purchase a home for less! We live in a area where the average 4 bedroom house is 200,000-250,000. I need help to convince him that it is a good time to buy!!

Answer 1

Depending on what your score is, determines what kind of mortgage interest you get. So you could only be paying $700 a month which is much less than the renting, and it's yours. I am also going to buy a house and working on my fair credit score. I am very excited to be owing my own place, where I can have a huge backyard for my kid. The only thing that I have to be fear full of is if something goes wrong it's my responsibility to get it repaired. But with the market being the way it is, I know that I can get a house made in 2000s for 150000-200000. Good Luck... Hope you get one.

Answer 2

To meet FHA underwriting guidelines, you will need a score of 580 or higher.  If your score is on the low end, you will pay a higher interest rate than you would with a score on the high end.  This means that even a $200,000 might be unaffordable if the interest rate is too high.  (You don't say whether you have funds for a down payment and that's a factor, the more down payment, the lower the loan amount, which means the better your chance of qualifying).  Until you and your husband have agreed on purchasing a home, you should use this time to raise your score as high as possible.  I suggest going to the www.myfico.com website and reading their information about how to improve your score, what to do and what not to do.  And good luck!  I hope you're able to make this happen. =)