E3only

Which Bank/Credit U did you go through finally?

karenmillvalley

Seriously though....see it as a blessing in disguise and rent.

Brat1

I get you, the problem is though, at the end of this lease, I'll have spent $48,000 on nothing, that could have went towards a deposit. I just don't fancy another year of throwing money down the drain. Nothing definite decided yet, just looking at the moment. As for the foreclosure we went and saw, it looks structurally sound, they've left the fridge/freezer to leak water so the floor's slightly damaged and the waters went downstairs to the basement. Apart from that, it's all cosmetic, so we don't know whether FHA would approve or not. All stressful stuff

Tarkak9

... cooker there?
FHA mostly concerned with structural, peeling paint (lead based paint is a big one for them), carpet condition, electrical and plumbing ... things of that nature. Oddly enough, if outlet faceplates are missing, its enough for them to decline. Its got to be a right sh!thole inorder to fail but they're getting strict now. Overall, basic living conditions must be met; it all depends on the FHA appraiser assigned the file who looks at the house.
Get a mold test.

Egg and Cress

Can I stick my 2cents-worth in? I'm not in the same situation (my OH is a permanent resident so we had NO problem getting a mortgage), but considering the depressed housing market (no one seems to know if it'll get better over the next couple of years), seems to me a "loss" of $48,000 would be better than a bigger loss if you have to sell the house for less than what you paid for it. Don't mean to dismiss the $48k 'cause it's a goodly sum. Even if you get the house at a good price, you might end up putting a lot of money into cosmetic and other improvements but not get the investment back. Sill

Giantaxe

No, you've spent $48k on a place to live. Living isn't magically for free when you own a place.

Realtors love arguments like this. But in fact rent is no more "throwing money down the drain" than is interest (aka "renting money"), the opportunity cost of any equity and property tax. Unless you do an after tax comparison of rent v the holding costs of buying (and there are a load of calculators on the internet) you really can't say one is "throwing money away" and the other isn't.

Sally Redux

Mortgage interest, property tax and repairs don't feel so bad when the market is rising but they sure feel like throwing money away when it isn't.

Bob

You've got to factor, in these pricier areas, home owning is going to be x3 the cost of rent, once you factor everything else in though...so it's not all bad

karenmillvalley

I would advise this. Go find a tax attorney or independent financial planner and have them do the math...this foreclosure versus renting. We did see our tax attorney for $400 and we are selling off our home (it was rented) and renting ourselves as we can save way more over the next 10 years than we will get through equity....plus we are flexible to move around in a dodgy jobs market. You will be throwing money away if you buy this foreclosure and then witness another housing market collapse. Another point to consider is that many states powers that be are thinking of abolishing tax credits for homeowners by 2013. I would only buy a home in USA now if I were intend on staying in it for ten years plus, and I knew my job was stable for that long. Please think long and hard...been there, done it and lost big time!

Brat1

Thanks everyone for the input and I take on board everything that you've all said. If we continue to rent, I won't rent here for any longer than I have to, the place is falling apart, the electrics are dodgy, there's a whole list of stuff that the landlord hasn't attended to, even though he's been lettered several times. I have been on the thinking that, if we bought, everything went wrong here and we had to go home, we could keep the property here and rent it out. The monthly outgoings on an owned house is working out the same as I pay here for rent, after everythings added in. I've no intention of jumping in to anything, and have talked endlessly about this all weekend. Don't really know what to do at this point and sorry for hijacking this thread

karenmillvalley

You do not hijack..you look for advice...wish I knew about this site before I went and bought!! If you buy and rent the home, be careful again...if your income is over $150K, you lose landlord tax credits and your rental income will be classed as income and taxed..oouch! it is painful. Also, take a look at your area laws on rentals...you should not have to live in a home that is electrically dangerous...the landlord should sort it. Good luck to you in whatever decision you make!

Brat1

Thanks Karen, my OH's income is nowhere near that. I will look at local laws, much as they are nice people, as a landlord he's a nightmare. We painted the whole house when we moved in, replaced his carpets with his permission, just to make it more liveable. There are several major issues with the house, and we have had discussions, letters etc. Another reason why we want to move out. You can't have too many appliances on at the same time upstairs or the fusebox blows. So in this heat, we can only run 2 air conditioning units upstairs, and there are 4 bedrooms. Just feel in a bit of a pickle as to the best thing to do for us as a family at the minute. I always take on board everyone's points of view on here, it has been a God send to me. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Tarkak9

Wow B that's way above the call of duty for a tenant, LL should be kissing your feet for painting and carpeting the place.
Know your rights! See if there is in existence somesort of tenant handbook outlining your rights. Places to begin from are your local building/zoning department, a state housing authority, library (states' RE manual) etc. Leases can always be broken but the question is to what penalty and to whom etc. Double check if there are somesort of loophole to use to legitimately break the lease; e.g. here in CO there is a little known 'provision' regarding gas appliances (ie furnace, cooker - Carbon Monoxide thing...) and that there is a timeline involved for (upon written delivery of notice of such defect) the LL to remedy such danger or the Tenant has the right to break lease and move out w/o recourse etc. Chances are that your electrical circuits aren't grounds (no pun intended) to break a lease but never hurts to dble chck. Every state etc is different.

Another area private LL's fail is a Lead Base Paint disclosure (if applicable pending year of construction of property). From now on, create a paper trail... "it doesn't exist unless its in writing" so any conversations, send an email to recap the conversation... send letters via registered mail etc.

Brat1

Thanks for that, I'm working on it to see if he's broken any of the terms of the lease agreement, should be interesting.