Kim Hayes

Skye,
Have you found a place yet? Are you or your husband in the military? I ask because I know there are going to be a lot of soldiers coming to Ft. Sill in the next year or so. Sadly, rentals are hard to come by for Elgin, which is unfortunate. Builders have been steadily building houses in the last 3 years in anticipation of the influx of soldiers. But why they are choosing to sell them instead of rent, i'll never understand because that's not what soldiers or their families want. Anyhow, let me do some checking & make some calls to see if anyone has rentals available. You'll notice I live in Texas but I grew up in Elgin & still have LOTS of family in Elgin, so I'll see what I can find. What you might want to consider doing is approaching some of the agents/owners/builders of properties for sale to see if they would consider renting because many times they will do that. - Sun Aug 16 2009, 15:03

If the tenants aren't paying rent, then why aren't you evicting them? I don't think the lenders could or would stop you from doing that because as you said they don't want to let the property go. I get this sense that you think you can't do anything because its the lenders property and not yours. Or, that they are partners with you, almost like investment partners. Either way, this does not absolve you. Understand the lender does not own the house, you do. it seems you forgot that you own this house and they funded it for you. Whether your tenant is paying or not, you sill have to pay the house or lose it. It's obvious you know what to do because you basically list it for us and you know what will happen if you don't do anything. So, the question should be why you aren't doing anything and why you don't consider yourself playing a bigger role in this because you do. - Wed Jul 8 2009, 12:04

Every lender is different, and what loans they do are different. Just as you would shop around for a home, you should shop around for a lender. Whenever I first got into real estate (3 yrs ago), I encountered lenders like that. Thankfully, I had already done my homework so the advice had 'red flags' going off all over the place & I knew to walk away.

If your husband is eligible for a VA loan, why not go that route? I mean I could be wrong, but I thought 629 & 667 were the higher end, or at least middle of the road credit scores, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't be eligible. There are still “low doc” loans aren't there? (any agents want to answer this) Meaning, you wouldn't have to show tax returns, though I think you need a good credit score, so I may be wrong.

I still wouldn't suggest rent to own but would suggest you look for owner financing. With the market being the way it is, there are a lot of sellers doing owner financing because they just need out of that cost ASAP. I can probably help point you in that direction, and save you all the headaches. No since in wasting your time with properties or financing that doesn't fit with your needs. - Wed Jul 8 2009, 11:10