Hi. This is my first time here and you all appear to be a pretty smart bunch. Here’s my problem and I hope you all can help! My husband and I own a condo with very little equity and we’ve found a newly built home nearby. The house has almost $8000 in upgrades by the builder that are NOT reflected in the price which was recently reduced because he’s not been able to sell it (he built in a track-home neighborhood and was a bit more expensive than the others). Asking price now is $136,900 and the realtor said he won’t accept less because he can’t get out of his construction loan for less. Because we have so little equity in our condo, the realtor suggested we sell our condo ourselves to avoid a commission. Honestly, that is not an appealing concept to us and I wouldn’t know where to start. However, a builder friend of ours suggested that we offer the builder’s price along with a swap of our condo to him. Our friend said it may be attractive because it will be easier to sell the condo and he’d be out of his higher rate construction loan. Now… about financing… we are seeing a mortgage broker tomorrow to get prequalified before trying this offer but after reading all of your notes, I would like to know just how to FIND all the no down financing options that may be available to us? I have a 3.5 year old bankruptcy with perfect credit before and since (long story); my husband has very good credit for the last 5 years. I was told that the new FmHA loan program with 0 down; 100% financing only applied to first time buyers. We have no cash!!! Also, I was interested in all of your comments on the earnest deposit. The realtor involved here suggested a minimum of $500.00!!!
Can you all help me figure out HOW to make this offer (wording, etc.)??? We REALLY like this particular home and have looked at tons and tons of others. Gosh, if any of you can help us make this work, I’ll at least buy you a drink if you’re ever in the Reno, NV area!
