What to Do If You’re a First Time Home Buyer With Bad Credit

If you’re a first time home buyer with bad credit and are concerned about the difficulties you’ll face when looking for finance, don’t be too worried. It won’t necessarily be difficult to get a mortgage, but you’ll just face higher interest rates and fees. For the most part, this is something you’ll just have to accept. Unfortunately, you have bad credit so you are more of a risk in the eyes of the lender.However, there are still some things you can do as a first time home buyer with bad credit that can help to get you a better financing deal for your needs, and improve your credit score. Here are some things to consider:Improve Your Credit Score
Obviously, this is easier said than done and you can’t expect to drastically improve your credit rating overnight, but you might be able to make slight changes. The thing you need to remember with mortgages and interest rates is that a slight reduction in the amount of interest you pay each month can be worth thousands and even tens of thousands over the lifetime of your mortgage. Or even over the near future of your mortgage. Get a copy of your credit report and see if there is anything you can dispute. It’s highly likely that there is something that you can change. Write a letter to the agency, explaining anything you find that you disagree with. You’d be surprised at how often you can get something on your score “fixed.” It’s worth the effort.Have a Flexible Seller
Granted, this depends a lot on who you’re buying the house from, but there are many sellers that will appreciate the fact that you’re a first time home buyer with bad credit. Often you can do an “owner carried mortgage” or a “contract for sale” whereby you can make payments to the seller instead of a bank. This way you can avoid any lending fees and have lower interest rates.Be Creative
Much like the above example, there are many things you can do as a first time home buyer with bad credit to get a better deal than borrowing from a bank. There may be sellers that are willing to “lease” their house to you with a later option to buy. You really just need to bring it up with them. Remember, sellers are often just as eager to sell their home as you are to buy one.