bought a house with 10% down
for better or for worse, my wife and I just closed on a house yesterday, in the middle of this mess. I’ve been reading so much about how hard it is to get a loan, and that banks aren’t lending, that I thought I’d share our experience to encourage any of you who might be…
for better or for worse, my wife and I just closed on a house yesterday, in the middle of this mess. I’ve been reading so much about how hard it is to get a loan, and that banks aren’t lending, that I thought I’d share our experience to encourage any of you who might be considering taking the plunge.
My wife and I have moderate incomes, with credit in the mid-high 700’s. No debt. We were able to close with 10% down, no points, at 6.5% interest rate.
We bought a 2-family in south slope (15th street between 4th and 5th) for less than $800. It’s a bit of a fixer but totally livable. Having the income from the rental unit is key. We hope to remodel and add onto the house eventually.
SO MANY PEOPLE swore to us that 10% down was IMPOSSIBLE, that I thought I’d pass on the contact info for our mortgage broker: Nicole Crete-McCarthy at Trachtman & Bach. 646-228-7820. I have no idea how she did it but she did.
Anyway, best of luck to all of you. Who knows if we’re doing the right thing, but at least we’re doing something, ya know?
All of you with the ‘moderate income’ comments note that the OP says he has a rental unit, so that probably adds 30k or so.
cottontop, man I would hate to be paying that PMI. That’s $3600 a year non-tax-deductible money down the drain. If the place is livable, I’d do my best to whack that off ASAP with a HELOC, credit cards, or renting out my first-born before renovating. Especially since even after renovations comps may be working against you in the short term.
Oops… I think that’s the wrong P.S. number. I think it’s 107… not 124.
oopps.. I think i got that P.S. number wrong.
Congratulations. Sounds like a great price. Best of luck!
By total coincidence, I was on 15th street the other day. Seems quite nice to me. And my nieces go to PS124, which is a pretty good school I hear.
“My wife and I have moderate incomes, with credit in the mid-high 700’s. No debt.”
Similar situation to my wife and I, though I am curious about what constitutes a “moderate income”. Like mopar, I think you are probably talking about $150K combined income.
thanks for the comments everyone. It would be unfair for me to spill who the bank was, as that’s the professional service that mortgage brokers provide. I do think 10% is a rare deal, there were only two banks she works with that would consider doing it. One of them fell through because they couldn’t find PMI from a company that they are allowed to work with. The other one popped up at the last minute. It was all very down-to-the-wire and hairy.
Yes there’s PMI of about $300 a month. Sucks but will hopefully be worth it in the end. Our plan is to spend what we have left (which was more about a month ago) on the renovation, re-appraise and get out of it. But this clearly won’t fly if values depreciate in the short term.
Yeah I guess I don’t know what moderate income is, but we make a lot less than doctors, lawyers and bankers for sure, and we spent years in school. Your number is pretty close.
Thanks so much for the info. Do you have to pay private mortgage insurance every month? Also, I guess one can debate endlessly what “moderate” income means in NYC, but the median is about $70,000 and I do believe you would have to have combined household income of $150,000 or so to take out a mortgage of $700,000 or so.
sounds like a real deal
that’s an excellent price
job well done
there’s some good Mexican food in that area — enjoy!
Congrats! Its great that you managed to pull this off in this climate, and that you had the gumption to see it through. Well done and enjoy.
COngratulations. What bank did they end up using for the mortgage?