First steps in maybe moving into our own home?

Just got back from the meeting with the Property Management Company that we had submitted an application to Sunday.  My husband cracks me up some times.. now that he has been a painter for some time anywhere we go he notices all the flaws in a paint or refinishing job and insists he could of done better.  Ofcourse he says this in my ear and not to the person who owns said bad paint job. LOL

Any way the purpose of this meeting was to sit and talk with the guy and answer what ever questions he may of had as honestly as possible and also ask any questions of our own before he runs our application threw for pre approval.  He said from what he saw we don't look so bad and our chances are very good.  Ofcourse that tickles our ears very much.  So he starts with MY credit report.. not something I was too excited about looking at.  Really I only have a few spots and one of them was the Chapter 13 we did 7yrs ago.. that btw didn't even show up on Josh's (don't know why) so we had to explain all that and how it was released and bla bla bla but another thing on there that really concerns me is the bank I had my student loan threw doesn't show that I had settled that debut!  I know we did, threw a collection agency because that year all our tax return went to it and we had settled it for a lower amount.. so for myself I have to go threw our papers and find out that information.  I did have a credit card on there that is in collection.. we knew about that so that is no surprise.  Josh's isn't all that bad either a few medical collections and for some reason a recent bounced check at a grocery store.. that we will have to look into.  Don't know why I am tell you all this lol but it is good for me to write down so I can recall it all later.  The guy said we shouldn't worry about it right now and didn't have to do anything to be pre-approved threw them.

He did also say to Josh that he may be able to throw side work his way when they needed some painting done but the only thing about that is if he gives a bid it has to have the exact time it would take and that it MUST be done by that time he bid for.  So that is kinda cool even if we don't buy from them at this point.

How it works is we get the loan threw them.. at a higher rate ofcourse, buy the house "as is" and then in a year refinance threw a traditional lenderthat they work with.  If we take care of what ever credit probs we have in that year and are faithful with our house payments we should be able to get a reasonable rate then.

Like he said there is no rush on anything and the first step is to get a pre-aproved amount and that is good for 120 days and after that if we havn't found anything it can be extended.

At the end of the meeting as we were preparing to leave I asked how did they find the houses that they sell? Are they homes that are in bankruptcy and reposed and you get them from a bank or what?  He said no no that often ppl have sold them their homes because they have worked with some one they know.  Josh seems to think these may be the guys that advertise "We Buy Ugly Houses".  Then we kind of got into a conversation about what we had in mind, that we wanted to stay in the same area and that we had 4 kids and a possible ML that wanted to move in too.  This is when he said you know.. we rent to buy also.. kind lease to own where part of your rent goes towards the down payment and there was a 5 bedroom house that was up where we wanted to stay.  He gave us the address to go drive by it..

It is literally in walking distance from where we live now.  We ofcourse did stop by it and looked around the outside.

(pic from their web site under soon available property)

Very nice big FENCHED back yard with a shed and it had a nice patio built on to the house.  We looked in the windows and from what we could see it looked nice.  Two of the bedrooms that we could see are downstairs in the basement (tec you can not call them bedrooms if it is not a walk out basement). The kitchen seemed updated and even and a dishwasher (a plus for me) and the eating area seemed spacious.  Only down fall is it looks like they took the garage and expanded so there is no garage for Josh to build his dream bike in.  I am not sure if we would buy it but certainly consider renting it for a year to see how it feels.  Seems big enough for us all.  So when the guy does call tomorrow I will tell him we at least want to look at it.  We drove a little around the neighborhood and it seems like everyone keeps up their house and yards nicely.  For me the biggest plus would be the kids wouldn't have to change schools and they can stay close to the friends they have.

So please keep all this in prayer for me : )