My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a home when our lease is up. We are both 23 and only have about 2k saved up for a down payment. We can easily save another $5-6k before then. We make 70K together, but to qualify for certain programs we may only have one of us apply for the mortgage (we can since we aren't married yet). Our credit scores are both in the mid-600's (EDIT: FICO, Due to being young and short credit histories - no blemishes) and last night we paid off all our credit cards and vowed to not really use them until we move.
We are currently looking at starter homes in the 40-65k range with loans that start at 3% down (FHA and H2O (indianapolis program)). We are likely to move in the next 5 years and wanted to get a home that we could build some equity and mostly pay off by the time we move. We currently pay $1000 in rent and utilities every month and are used to the cost. We are in contact with a realtor.
Does anyone have any advice for us? We really don't know where to start! Are there advantages to us applying together vs separate?
EDIT for more information: We are stable otherwise - both have solid government and university jobs, great health insurance, hefty HSAs, and are contributing to retirement accounts. Car was paid in full when bought and I'm the only one with student loans on income-based repayment which I pay over double amount required every month
EDIT more info: we have an emergency fund of $5k - not touching for housing. Also refuse to touch retirement accounts. We currently have joint accounts and manage them well (along with individual accounts) - are extremely open about finances, debt, credit scores, income (heck - you can look it up since we are paid by the feds and state), etc.
Submitted June 08, 2017 at 09:04AM by jubjub_05 http://ift.tt/2sj8FUD
