If your income is good but everything else isn't then you'll need some money to put down. 3% as a minimum.

I'd call Theresa Laine at 770-891-4121. She'll walk you through the whole process.

Go to a good mortgage broker. A good one will have access to numerous programs, and will be well informed on what programs might work best for you. With bad credit, you'll probably be asked to put more down, and/or pay a substantially higher interest rate.

You might consider cleaning up your credit some before applying for a mortgage. Again, a good mortgage broker will be able to look at your credit report, and beyond the numbers to make suggestions on which areas are the weakest, from a loan standpoint. Depending on the cause of your bad credit, it may not take too long--6 months to a year--to substantially improve your credit score. That really would make good sense in this market. Prices are likely to remain flat or drop even further. In the meantime, you can work on your credit.

Other options include variations on owner financing. Anything from a lease-option to a land contract. In such cases, you receive the right to purchase the property (or receive the deed) at a future date, but make payments directly to the owner. The individual owner, too, may be concerned about your bad credit. But, depending on how much you have to put down, your income, and other factors, may well be more flexible than a bank.

Hope that helps.

Agreen - Good evening. Depending on your situation with your credit you may be able to buy a home now or you may have to wait for a period of time to get a mortgage. As far as how you go about getting in touch with someone you should try and find a mortgage professional you trust that can walk you through all your options on buying a home. There are various mortgage products on the market now that still work quite well for someone in the position you mention that you are in. I have referrals for mortgage professionals everyday and would love to pass you over to someone if you would give me a call to discuss more of the particulars of your scenario. Good luck. I hope this helps.

How bad is your credit. Some people seem to think they have bad credit but in the long run it can be repaired in less than a few months. The key to repairing your credit is to not be late on any bills within the last 12 months. Lenders now require a credit score of 620 or higher to get approved for a loan. There are many tricks to getting your credit score to 620 from getting a secure credit card to being added as a user to someone credit card. Contact me today for more information, my email address is vcopeland@bellsouth.net

Agreen-I am an investor in South Georgia. I live in Tifton, but cover the Tifton, Valdosta, Hahira, etc. area. Contact me and we can see if getting into a lease option would be possible for you. Depending on your credit, 3-5% of fair market value is given in option consideration money, monthly payments are made, and then you can exercise the option to buy anytime from 1-5 years out-typically when you're credit is clean enough to get a mortgage. Making regular monthly house payments for a period of time makes the mortgate brokers & banks happy! When you exercise your option, the option consideration money is credited towards the purchase. What area are you intersted in buying? I'm local, so we can go through this one together.

investjsd@gmail.com

If you have bad credit , being able to afford a house means having big downpayment: 30% or more, unless you can really afford the house with bad credit and you can pay cash. If you are not a 100% cash buyer, expect to give 30% or more as a down payment and expect your interest rate to be in the double digits. The window for borrowers with poor payment histories getting almost A paper rates was slammed shut last fall.