Tacoma took the 8th ranking in the country with a projected 3.9% appreciation through 2011.  The downtown area has gone through a revival over the past few decades, and although prices took a big hit when the bubble burst, values are starting to stabilize.

You can see the full report at http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where-homes-prices-are-rising

I remain ‘cautiously optimistic’ about a market turnaround but I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet.  Foreclosures are still a problem, the tax credit deadline is approaching and the Fed plans to stop buying mortgage backed securities later this week, which will likely mean higher interest rates and some more uncertainty.

Nevertheless, I’m still a buyer in this market but the key is to buy right.  If you’re buying a house, make sure you get a great deal, and if you’re moving into a lease to own home, find one where you’ll be safe if the market goes down.  All of Washington Home Solutions lease to own homes are protected by the Never Lose Guarantee which insulates you from a potential market drop while giving you 100% of any appreciation.  Click the link to learn more about this and our Lease to Own Program.

What’s your opinion of where the real estate market is heading?  Feel free to comment below.

If you want a true FREE credit report without having to sign up for a credit monitoring service, you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com.  It’s the ONLY authorized source of a free credit report that is guaranteed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  You’re entitled to a free report from each of the three credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion once every 12 months.

If you’re interested in buying a home on a lease option, it’s important to know what’s on your credit, so pull your report before you go home shopping so you can see what you need to clean up in order to get qualified for a mortgage down the road.  Doing a self-inquiry on your credit will not negatively affect your credit score.

You can request your free report online, by phone or by mail. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or fill out the Annual Credit Report Request form and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

There’s no limit to the amount of free rent that you can get, and we can give you tips on how to locate new tenant-buyers for our lease to own program.  Just think about what you can do with the extra money.  Save it, pay down debt, or take a much needed vacation, it’s your choice.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.wahomesolutions.com.

Do I have a STRONG DESIRE to WORK on becoming a homeowner?

Cleaning up credit dings, or saving up for a down payment is hard work, make no mistake about it.  You have to be so fed up with renting that you’re willing to work on the things that are preventing you from getting a loan.  It will require sacrifice to stick to a budget, pay down debt and build up a savings.  You may have to revisit some credit demons of the past to clear them from your credit report, and you may have to work some overtime or get a second job to make it happen.  There are ways that we can help with this, but it takes commitment.

Can you show income that is 3x the monthly payment amount?

As a rule of thumb, most lenders will want to see that your gross income is at least 3x what the monthly payment on the house is.  Also, they want to see a track record of you making the payment on-time during your lease.  So, we need to follow the same guideline for the lease option.  You may be able to afford the $1200/mo payment on an income of $2600/mo, but a lender would only qualify you for about an $866/mo payment in the future when you go to get a loan.  That would be an unpleasant surprise and we don’t want to see that happen.  Our entire goal is to set you up for success, plus, having the extra income is what you’ll need to pay down extra debt and save up additional money for a down payment.  The average monthly payment on most of our lease option homes is between $1000-1500/mo.  Therefore a total gross household income (before taxes) of $3000/mo or more puts you in good position to qualify for our program.

Do you have money available for to pay the upfront option consideration?

To ultimately qualify for an FHA loan, you’ll have to accumulate a 3.5% down payment on the house.  We want  you to get started with about 1 or 2% upfront when you start the lease and we help you to accumulate the rest through the monthly purchase credits that we offer.  With our ’sweat equity’ homes, you can expect the lower end of that range, and on the move-in ready homes, expect the higher end of that range.  If you don’t have money for an upfront payment, start saving now.  We even give you the ability to earn cash (up to $2500) by referring buyers to the properties that we advertise, so you can save up even faster.

Have you started the process towards building good credit history?

Credit is one of those things that can be hurt in an instant, and can take months (or years) to clean up.  Having derogatory marks on your credit does not disqualify you from a lease option (that’s what lease options are for), but we would like to see that you’ve already started to show a recent history of turning things around.  In other words, if you are currently 30,60 or 90 days late with any of your debts, we’d want to see you catch up the payments on those obligations and start making on-time payments again before asking you to put down money on one of our homes.  If you haven’t had your credit pulled in a while, I’m in the process of creating a video that I’ll post which will show you had to pull your own free report online without having to sign up for a paid credit monitoring service, and without the inquiry showing up on your credit history.  Stay tuned.

So, what happens if you’ve gone through the questions and you’re not quite ready?  That’s ok, there’s not a big rush.  Just make the commitment to yourself that you’ll start chipping away at the challenges that you have and by all means, let me know if you need some guidance on where to start.  That’s what I’m here for.  Also, keep an eye on this blog and our Facebook fan page for tips on preparing for home ownership.

If you’re ready to go right now then let’s make it happen.  You can see our current homes available on lease option at our website or tell us what you want if you haven’t already done so.   If you have any other questions or comments about qualifying for a lease option, feel free to submit a comment below.

Mike

P.S. – I have lots of big things in store for you in the future, so to stay in touch, make sure you add us to Facebook (scroll up and check the sidebar on the right).

The problem is that most of these homes require a cash buyer or someone who is well-qualified for a loan, which means that if you have some credit dings, you’re out of luck in taking advantage of the incredible opportunity now….which brings me to my thought.

I’m interested in working with a few people who would like to do a ‘lease to own’ on homes that we buy cheap from the banks.  Most of them will require some fixup (anything from carpet and paint, to a complete remodel), but you’d benefit by getting a great price.

What I’d like to know is, would you be interested in leasing to own a house that you can put in some ’sweat equity’?   I’d still need a small down payment, but it would be much less than we normally charge.

If you’re interested, Fill Out Our Form and tell us what kind of property you’re looking for.  In the last comment box, mention that you’re “Interested in a Bank-Owned Lease Option Home”.  Also, let me know what type of fixup work you’re willing to do, for instance:

- just cosmetic fixup (carpet/paint/cleaning)
- intermediate fixup (kitchen/bath remodeling)
- advanced fixup (roof replacement/structural/electrical work etc)

I’m trying to gauge interest, and I can only have the ability to work with a few people, so if you think this might be something you’d like to do,  Fill Out Our Form

Essentially, the Never Lose Guarantee takes away all questions about whether or not you should wait until the market ‘comes back’ before moving into the home of your dreams.  What it does is give you 100% of all appreciation in the market, yet not take a loss if the market declines during the time you lease the property.  Let’s take a look at an example:

Let’s say that you move into one of our lease to own properties and lock in your price at $250,000.  Make your payments on time, and at the end of your lease period, if the house goes up in value and is now worth $265,000, you get to keep all of the extra equity.  On the other hand, if the market goes down during that time and the house is only worth $235,000, you don’t have to take that loss.  We will do one of two things:

We will sell you the house at the lower value, or we will extend your lease for free, and you’ll get to keep the same low monthly payment.  Either way, you won’t lose any of the money that you put into the property, and you won’t have to pay more than appraised value at any time.  It’s he perfect market beater.

Now you have no excuse to get into a lease option.  Make sure you contact us right away to be put on our early notification list for new homes.

That’s exactly what you can do when you move into one of our lease to own properties. We’re so confident that you’ll love our lease to own program, we know that you’ll have friends, family and co-workers that you’ll want to refer.

If someone you refer moves into one of our properties, you can get the next months rent for FREE!

Think about how nice it will feel to be able to skip a payment. You can use that money for whatever you want. Put it into savings, pay off debt, take that long awaited vacation, or just spend it on whatever you want, it’s your choice!

The best part is that you can get free rent as many times as you want. We can even give you tools to help you find other tenant-buyers for us.

Like I said, I haven’t fallen off my rocker because we benefit as well. It’s a win-win solution and another reason that Washington Home Solutions has the best lease to own program in the area.

Can you build a down payment? Unless you’re eligible for a VA loan, or qualify for some other form of down payment assistance, you will need at least a 3.5% down payment saved up in order to qualify for an FHA loan.  The good thing about a lease option is that you can build this down payment while you live in the property.  Most of the time, you’ll need to put a lump sum down in order for you to move in, and you’ll usually have a portion of your monthly payment which will apply towards the down payment.  The key is that you want to make sure that your upfront payment plus all the other monthly deposits will add up to at least 3.5% of the purchase price by the time your option is over.  Many people make the mistake of getting into a lease option without having a plan to build the necessary down payment, and they end up getting stuck at the end if they haven’t planned properly and don’t have the extra money needed.  If you can plan on building enough of a down payment to qualify for a loan at the end of your lease, then a lease option is a great choice for you.

Will you be able to afford the mortgage payments when it comes time to purchase? One thing that many would-be lease option buyers fail to consider is what the house will cost them when they have to qualify for a new loan.  It’s ok if you need time to increase your income (or pay off debts) in order to afford a higher payment, but you want to be able to plan it out from the start.  There are many mortgage calculators available online which can give you an idea of what it would cost each month to own the property you are considering.  Just remember, as a general rule, you’ll need to earn about 3x what your mortgage payments are each month (gross income) in order to qualify.  Plan ahead so you know what your income/expenses needs to be in order to make the lease option work out.

If you’re prepared to work on your credit, down payment, and income/expenses during the time of your lease, a lease option is the best way to ease into home ownership.  There are many lease to own properties that are listed on this website, as well as resources to help you in your journey.  If you have any questions/comments about lease to own, please comment on this blog.

There are many benefits of moving into a lease option. They include:

– Allows you to live in the home while you build up your down payment, repair credit and/or accrue more time in your job so you’ll be able to qualify for a good loan when you decide to buy.

– Gives you the ability to try out a house (or neighborhood) to see if it will be good for you and your family.

– Creates an opportunity for you to take advantage of equity buildup and appreciation even though you don’t own the house.

– Allows you to make improvements to the house, and the benefits go to you when you buy.

– Allows you to move if you choose to without having to sell the house (and possibly take a large loss in a down market)

– Usually keeps your payments lower than if you were to get a mortgage right now

All in all, a lease option is a great way for anyone to get the benefits of home ownership without a lot of the challenges that exist when trying to qualify for a loan.

If you have any specific questions about lease options, be sure to leave them here.

The result?

Now, in order to qualify for a loan, you need good credit, a large down payment, and a stable job that you can prove will allow you to make the mortgage payments. If you have less than perfect credit or haven’t been in your job for very long, forget about it….

So how does the average person who has some credit card dings or has only been in their job for six months?

The answer is a lease-option! There is no better way, in my opinion, to move from renting to owning than through a lease option. You can move in without a huge down payment, and best of all, you can give yourself time to fix the credit dings during the lease period, knowing that the money that you pay each month is not just burning a hole in your landlords pocket.

Feel free to post any questions that you might have about the process. I’m going to do my best to answer them as well as provide additional tips that can allow you to into your dream home sooner than you think.

-Mike