Online House Hunting

Foreclosed homes & For Sale by Owner homes - Real Estate Agents Welcome?

My husband and I have had our eye on a house that is a foreclosed home. This house is being represented by several local real estate companies. My husband and I went to the bank to inquire about the procedures that need to be done to get a loan. I am a student (college) and he works. He has been with his job for a little over a year and has all the check stubs to prove it. The bank said that until I get a job, it would be impossible for them to loan anything to me but they did consider him. They ran his credit and found an outstanding hospital bill he was unaware that still existed (we plan to make payments). Therefore, they told us that they could not help us unless we had someone that could get the loan and purchase the house in their name. Meanwhile, the person who purchases the house (with the bank loan) could be selling it to us and after a year of responsible verifiable payments (receipts) that we could have the house signed over to us through the bank. Since this house is foreclosed, is there any other way to get this house, such as making payments to the bank that owns this house? As of right now, we have no idea which bank owns this house however, it is not the bank that we use. If we can not do anything to get this home, we are also interested in looking for a house that is “for sale by owner”. What kind of documentation would we need for someone to consider selling their home to us? Are there any certain laws about particular documentation that a seller would have to abide by? We live in Alabama and are first time home buyers.

Public Comments

1. It is frustrating to be so close to being able to buy a home but you can't because of an old hospital bill and your being a student. The numbers just don't add up, yet. That will change in a few years but the bank is worried about you today. Your only chance is to borrow the money from a private lender. They charge 19% interest. After 6 on-time payments, the local bank would loan you the money to refinance and get a regular 30 year loan. That would be the same bank that is refusing to loan you money today. They would be sending you letters every week begging you to get a loan. Because you are now a homeowner. The For Sale by Owner could be purchased by you renting the house for $1,000. Have them credit $500 of each rent check to your down payment. That is $6,000. THen you get a loan for the balance in December , 2009. You would have to get a job , though. Being a student is not very attractive to a lender.