I have paid rent for 6+ yrs at level of mortgage for home more expensive than what I qualify for with FHA!?

How do I get lenders to take this into account? Posted question Sun. as to lease opt/rent to own and was told to go for lower price home. My income is secure partly through Soc.Sec. Who should I go to first,owner/realtor,lenders? Help, have found perfect home.I have paid rent for 6+ yrs at level of mortgage for home more expensive than what I qualify for with FHA!?
Doesn't matter...it's the home's loan to value ratio, your credit score and income. Welcome to the credit crunch.I have paid rent for 6+ yrs at level of mortgage for home more expensive than what I qualify for with FHA!?
Lenders may or may not pay much attention to non-purchase housing payments in your history. A very effective way to purchase a home is to have ';bargaining power';, and that can be had with a pre-approval from the lender. Another real benefit of pre-approval is that you are very secure in knowing what your price range of housing can be -- it is truly discouraging to find the ';perfect'; house and not be able to get the loan, and makes everything you can afford look really crummy. And it really feels good to go looking for houses IN your price range, knowing that you can have any one of them you might want! So -- get pre-approved!
You should definitely get an pre-approval first. Figure out your credit score (quizzle.com), work history, amount of debt, and amount of money you have, then work with a lender to see how much you qualify for.





Lenders have their system of figuring out how much you qualify based on previous and current financial and work records. Because of this, how much you've paid on rent the past 6 years usually does not matter. Also keep in mind how much mortgage that house requires is only half the story. Once you add in repairs, homeowner's insurance, property taxes and utilities, the cost may be way above what you paid in rent.





I would recommend working with a lender first to figure out what the complete financial situation is for qualifying for a mortgage, then finding a realtor once you know how much you can afford, to look for a house in that price range.





Also, look into FHA loans if you need flexible credit requirements and a low down payment.
rent does not equate to mortgage, even if the amount is higher - most landlords do not report rent payments to credit bureaus, so they are irrelevant





you will not be approved for a mortgage of more than 2.5-3 times your annual gross income (incl soc sec), so it houses are available in that price range and you have enough cash (10+%) and good enough credit scores, you shouldn't have any problem getting the house
find a lender first. they will not care what you current rent payment is vs a loan payment.





they will look at your financial ratios and credit score.