**Bmore09Bride**

shellzoe2009

How'd it go?

Bmore09Bride

Well we got approved (good news!) but we cannot qualify for the grant unless we find a house 200,000 or less...apparently we make too much money( ha!).  So it comes to that we need at least 8,000 to purchase a house...which we currently do not have...now if we can use the tax credit right away then we may be good to go...most of the houses we want/love are in the 225/250 range...which in that case we couldn't get the grant.  It's all still kinda a jumbled mess for me...but we're hoping to save save save to have what we need before Nov. 30th...we're working on it! 

arbolita

I'm pretty sure I read that you can use the tax credit towards a down payment, but I don't know if there's any stipulations that go along with that.

Bmore09Bride

yea i dont know either...i think we really need to sit down with someone and have it explained to us again...

KellyColleen06

I have a friend going through this very same thing and had planned to use the tax credit as well for closing costs, but then couldn't for some reason...I'll try to get the back story on this unless someone else knows?GL!

Bmore09Bride

just found out we cant...but if we can get an 8,000 'gift' and then pay someone back...hoping maybe Fi's parents....we just found an awesome house we are going to see Thursday that's just in our range!  only down fall...it's in Forest Hill...B!tchin' commute!fingers crossed again!

pantsarella

I didn't read the whole situation, but I just wanted to tell you that technically getting a "gift" that you're actually paying back later is mortgage fraud. I just don't want you to get in trouble. When we were going through the process of getting our mortgage, they were VERY strict and had to know where literally every dollar came from.

Bmore09Bride

oh really?? Because the lender told us we could use gift money...apparently FI's parents would just need to write a letter saying it is actually a gift.  The fact that we are then going to write them a check once the credit comes in I think shouldn't be any of their business...i mean we're then giving a 'gift' to his parents right!?

pantsarella

Honestly, I don't know enough about your situation to be able to tell you anything with 100% certainty but I know during our mortgage process they were incredibly strict. And they made a huge deal about gift money. We weren't using any so I didn't pay 100% attention to what they were saying about it. I would be up front with my lender, though. If you're planning on paying it back- tell them that. Telling them something that you know to be false is fraud.

KellyColleen06

We had a gift for our good faith deposit...and we just put that in writing and it was fine and legal. But it might be worth asking as far as a downpayment.

Bmore09Bride

good to know...i definitely don't want to be taken to court for fraud! 

SweetCFly

Bmore- Forest Hill is a very nice area! We live in Bel Air, and I'm sure that the prices are much lower than anything in the Baltimore County area. The only problem is the commute... I feel you on that one, girl. We live in Bel Air and I commute to the city (either the MLK Blv exit or 895 to 40 to Hopkins, depending on the day). It's kind of central for us, though, because FI works at Aberdeen Proving Ground and even though it's only 17 miles away from where we live, it still takes him about as long as it takes me to drive the 30-40 miles because traffic's so bad at his entrance gates. But on the whole, I love HarCo The one thing that sucks about Forest Hill is that it's not very convenient to the 95 exits, so if you and FI both work in the city your commute will be a hike... what about the White Marsh area? I used to work down in that area, and there's a lot of new neighborhoods popping up which are conveniently located near 95. Two- and three-level townhomes with garages and stuff. Just a thought! Good luck in Forest Hill, anyways!

Bmore09Bride

we've been looking in Perry Hall...but the ones we like are in the 225-250 range...this one ins FH is awesome...way better than any ones we saw and is 220...plus great area and school district....the only thing is the commute!  Boo!

unionbay7

As far as the "gift" goes - I see where Pantsarella is coming from, but if you are actually paying the money back, they will count it as a loan and would be required to include a payment in your debt to income scenario, which if you are close could potentially compromise your ability to qualify at that rate if at all.  Reading this I just asked my mortgage officer at the bank I work at and she agreed, its better to leave the "repayment" part off the table.  When we got our house I put 10% down and my parents "gifted" us 10%.  They wrote a letter to the bank saying it was a gift and had to submit copies of their bank statements showing the money was in their name.  That was that. We are going to pay my parents back but we don't have a written contract and it will probably work out 1,000 here, 1,000 there until its paid off.  This is just my opinion of course, but your mortgage lender can use it against you if you admit you are repaying it.  I know you want to be as honest as possible, but just keep that in mind!  On that note, I am so glad you guys qualified! It is so exciting, good luck finding something in your range that is nice.  Growing up a lot of my friends lived in Fo Hill and there are some really nice areas up there.  GL!

bethybeach

I hope it all works out for you. Buying a house is very exciting. Ask a lot of questions.  I just found out today after almost 3 years I have been paying an interest only I feel like a complete A$%. I should have known.  Remember former Baltimore police chief Ed Norris, they said he was taking from some spending fund, not true he ended up going to jail for mortgage fraud.  Because his dad gave him money to buy a house and he paid him back.  Not that you would go to jail they had to get him on something after they tried to nail him for something else so they got him for the 'borrowing' money that he said was his. - Just an interesting tidbit of info  

blondeintgeragrl

I know when FI and I bought a house last year - we could have gift money (had to have a letter) - but for our lender we still had to show that 5% of the downpayment came from our own money and not the gift money. We ended up putting down 10% and never needed the gift money but we had asked about it just incase we didn't come up with the 10%.