Expert: Dick Dennis - 8/7/2006

Question
Long story short, my wife & I have a property in FL that we desperately want. We are closing on our house in IN next Monday. The problem that we have is that neither of us is employed at the present. My wife was a LAN administrator for the state for 19 years, and I have been in the food service industry for over 25 years. She is currently drawing about $1300/month on unemployment and is facing being laid off by the state during this time, and I have not been able to find work because of the distance I have to travel to find work. Most companies seem to want someone local to the city and we are in a farming community and nothing is really that close to here that has the jobs available.  Finding a job will NOT be a problem for us, but nobody wants to loan us money without us working regardless of our experience. We both feel confident we can find work very quickly, but this doesn't seem to matter. We are pressed for time on getting financing on this property (a mobile on 5 acres of land in Lakeland) and I wanted to know if you have any suggestions for us.  

Answer
Even when you DO have a job waiting, lenders will hesitate to finance your new property. The fact is, you moved from one state to another. Banks don't like that. They want to see how good your credit is WITHOUT borrowing from them.

After a year of making payments on your obligations, you will not have problems getting a real estate loan. Try this: tell the seller of the Lakeland property that you would like to lease/option the property for one year. After one year they will see you have a good paying record and then you will pay cash with a new real estate loan. Use some of the money you are getting from your Indiana property as consideration for the option. If a real estate agent is involved, chances are he/she is going to torpedo the transaction because they want their commission now, not a year from now. Just goes to show how so many Realtors really don't give a d--- about their clients.

See if this helps. I do wish you well.

Dick Dennis             dixiedee13@aol.com