The Tides Have Turned

I finally got the answer on my long awaited home loans. The traditional banks won't touch me. (my FICO score is only 639). The mobile home financier wants 10% down or $9500...which I don't have. I believed foolishly in what the mobile salesman was telling me. "Oh, I can get you financed. Zero down too. Your credit is fine. We're easier to get loans from than traditional banks."

Well, he was wrong. He claims not to understand why the numbers came back the way they did. Either way, bottom line is I can't get a trailer or a house. I'll have to rent... IN TOWN. Renting in town means I'll be at least 8 miles from the farm. Once I get my family here from Arizona, how feasible will it be to deal with daily life and then drive to the farm to work the land? I can't keep a reasonable eye on animals from eight miles away. Possibly a garden but it won't be easy.

I'm feeling defeated today. So many things, up to this point, seemed to have gone my way. Blessing after blessing, or so it seemed. I am 9 days away from pulling up a Uhaul trailer in front of my Arizona home to load it up for the trek to Oklahoma. The plan was to move my family onto our old family farm and it was with the blessing of the entire family.

Now, I'm questioning everything. The rental homes in Oklahoma are more expensive than the mortgage payment I am making in Arizona. Which, by the way, is being counted against me on the home loan due to all the "Buy and Ditch" as the loan agent calls it. The people that claimed to have renters for their old homes until they qualified and moved into their new homes...then ditched the old house to foreclosure.  That 2008 trend led the banks, according to my lender, to no longer allow a buyer to subtract or discount the mortgage payment of the old house (even with a rental agreement).

I basically have to qualify for two house payments...which I did...but they want 10% down. It will take my last $2500 to move my family to Oklahoma. The rest of my savings, including silver, went into my education on a gamble that I would make more when I completed the program. I am half way through that program now with three semesters still left to complete.

So I'm disappointed...and angry. Mostly angry. Angry at the banks that have bailed out too big to fail fat cats but won't loan money to me to buy a home for my family. I've been in the same house for 12 years. Guess that's not a good enough track record. I've been away from my family for a little over a month now and it's painful.

I'm ranting...and upset...so I'll stop now.

~OJD