We're going to be moving. Our lease is up Sept 1. We put down a non refundable deposit on a GREAT apartment, so I'm not worried about having somewhere to go but of course DH wants to keep looking to see if we can find something amazing in a single family home. (I miss having my own home). Anyway, we'll be ready to own again in about 2 years, so yea.

But I think it's sooo crappy that when renting from a private person, you have to give them ALL your info - credit cards, amounts on cards, checking and savings w/ amounts, car payments, etc. They have NO law to that says they have to tell YOU, the renter if the house is behind on payments, if it's in foreclosure, etc. So if it goes into foreclosure, you lose your $, your house, and your deposit. And they don't have to do anything. Most don't even care b/c they aren't living there anyway.

This happened to a friend of mine. She was paying $2500/month in rent in this amazing place and the owner wasn't making the house payments. It was foreclosed on and she had a few weeks only to get out. Fortunately she makes good money and was easily able to find a place of her own to buy.

I just read that this is happening to families everywhere. Homelessness is up to record proportions b/c suddenly they are finding out that their landlord wasn't paying on the house. These types of landlords need to be criminally prosecuted.

Hitting Home: New faces join ranks of the homeless - USATODAY.com

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

That is how my cousin got her home. She was renting and a letter came that they were forclosing and she was able to assume the mortgage and the housepayment was less than the rent.

That's what I'd think would be the way to go if you were renting on ahome that went into foreclosure. Of course, you have to have some sort of down payment?

Jaded, hoping it works out for you. It's certainly a buyer's market right now.

Thanks Cuthie.

icansave, I assume that if the folks who are renting could afford to buy, they wouldn't be renting.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

jaded, that might generally be true, but in the situation with icansavedaily, the landlord's mortgage payment on the property was less than they were charging in rent, so by assuming the mortgage the former renter is actually getting off cheaper by owning.

When we bought our first house twenty years ago for a whopping $30K (which seemed like a fortune at the time to my 20 year old self! lol!) our house payment was $285. To rent an apartment would've been $350/month. We fully intended to rent, but when we found out it was less monthly to own, we decided to buy.

Of course I didn't think about the fact that we'd need to buy a lawnmower and be responsible for the costs of plumbing problems and such, so it wasn't as cheap as it sounded in the beginning! lol Still, it was a great investment, was easy to pay off in ten years time, and sold for nearly 3X what we paid for it when it was time to move into something bigger!

When my cousin assumed the mortgage she paid six hundred dollars (borrowed from her husbands uncle) to catch up on the payments. She got full credit for all house payments that had been made for seven years by the owner. She was paying a whopping $109 a month rent and the house payment was $74 dollars a month at 4 %. This was 40 years ago. Times and prices have changed and prices have certainly changed but believe me it was just as hard then to make payments as it is now. She still lives in the same house.

40 YEARS! LOL you didn't mention that fact!

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

Ya lots of things have changed since then, more red tape and roadblocks

It is very difficult to finance a mortgage right now. I know people who have lived in their homes for 2-4 yrs and are now facing adjustable mortgage increases. People who have been living in the homes paying the mortgage with no problem no late payments no missed payments no credit fiascos they are being turned down. The bank actually has the nerve to tell them that they don't have good enough credit or enough income to make the payments. The payments that they have been making all along!

Unless you have spotless credit, a good income, and a down payment of some kind it may not be as easy as you think!

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Key points to remember. Not everyone is able to do these three things. Banks are extremely cautious during foreclosures -- justifiably they do not want to be the ones to lose money!

We are in a different kind of bind. We would like to refi our 1st and 2nd into one loan at a lower rate so that our overall payment would go down. We have spotless credit, a good income but the banks won't even look at us. But the guy next door has been living rent/mortgage free for over 2 years and is in forclosure and will have enough when he's finally booted out to pay cash for a condo. How is that fair????

I do agree that there should be something in place to protect the renters. I thought there was talk at one point to do something but I don't think anything ever came of it.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

The reason that you cannot consolidate your loans may be the value of your home or the amount you owe. Banks will only give one mortgage for an amount up to a certain percentage of the value of your home. When we first bought we had a 1st and a 2nd. After paying on it for over two years and having a new appraisal which listed the property's value as 40 thousand more than we paid we were able to consolidate at our refinancing.
I suggest trying all the alternative mortgage companies. I was discouraged and thought we would be paying double every month. All the big banks and "regular" places turned us down. We were finally able to get a government backed FHA to consolidate and refinance. What made me mad is why? Why did the big banks not do this? Greed? I don't know. Also the big banks told me that we would have to have the equivalent of one month's payment in the bank for at least 60 days to qualify. I said are you kidding? I have a second that is 11% interest. I would be an idiot if I had that kind of money laying around and DIDN'T pay it to my second.
She told me to borrow the money keep it in my account for 60 days then give it back. I said that's fraud she said people do it all the time.
The whole industry operates on greed and fraud. The reason we all get screwed is that we all have to have a place to live so eventually they get to screw us all either through a landlord or through a bank.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Oh I know it's my property value...I'm sure it's gone down $40K in the last year. Greed is the main issue of many of the problems we face today.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

we have had rental property in the past and we never ever asked about the renters credit cards, bank accounts or anything like that. that is creepy that they want that info!is that the normal thing now?

the house beside us was a rental home for a few yrs that was rented for 750.00 a month. the land lord decided to sell it and when the renters went and got a loan to buy it, their payments was 575.00 a month. they saved 175 a month by buying it and it is theirs now, not throwing money away renting.

my sister in law bought the house she was renting also and her payments are 300 lower than the rent was.
seems buying is cheaper than renting in the long run.

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Oh Nicole, I didn't know you were thinking about buying in two years. You should have found a house now and try to negotiate a rent-to-own lease. Then you wouldn't have to move again. My daughter's Mesa rental is now on a rent-to-own contract. Part of their rent goes to a down-payment when the time comes. As it turns out, in Mesa, the prices are dropping and on top of that I don't think the renters will be able to get a mortgage in this market, so they may be renting a lot longer than anticipated. But that's okay too. If you can find a place you like and can feel like it is going to be yours, you will be much happier than living in temporary housing.

Wildwood has a good point. Here in the rural town I live in lots of people sign land/home contracts with private owners. That is one option for buying a home. You have to be creative! My brother who lived in the SF Bay Area his whole life recently moved to another state where he was able to buy a piece of land with a mobile home on it for aournd $15,000 that he paid cash for. The mobile needs lots of work and it's not in the best neighborhood but now they don't have rent nor a mortgage and they actually own something. And they are fixing it up going to sell it then have a decent down payment for a better home in a better neighborhood.
Rent to own is also a great option!
Don't despair everyone! There are ways around the system you just have to find the one that will work for you.
If you know someone considering a reverse mortgage maybe you can work something out with them.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

In most of the country, if you don't do a really thorough credit check, you can be really screwed. If you live near your property, you might be a little more lax, but it's really easier to get the right person in your house to begin with than try to get them out later, as my daughter can attest to. A good background and credit check will take about 4 or 5 days and cost up to a $100 depending on who you deal with. But it is worth the money.

An old friend of mine was a real estate agent and she had her own properties, plus managed others through her long career and she gave us a lot of very good advice when my daughter decided to rent her Mesa house. And that was always her first comment when anyone brought up being a landlord.

I don't have an extra home to rent out (I wish) but there are a few rental homes on my block. You have to be very carefull when you are the owner. The house next to us had a family that rented for years and was great. After they moved he had another renter that lasted a couple years then rented to another family. This family was horrible. By the time he was able to get them out they had not paid for months and the pretty much destroyed the house. They made sure that almost all the windows were broken by the time they snuck out during the middle of the night. He had to replace the kitchen, carpets, holes in walls, and a lot more. My mil had almost the same thing happen to her but not as bad. Here in CA it takes a while to get someone out of your home even if they are not paying the rent. So because of renters like these I can understand owners wanting a lot of info.

We also have a neighbor who is renting out his home and he let it go into foreclosure. He told his renters what was going on and that they could stop paying him rent. He said they could stay until they were kicked out by the bank. So far they have lived there 3 or 4 months rent free. I think that he is probably one of the few owners that would do that. I feel so sorry for renters that have no idea that the house is in foreclosure until they are told it was sold and they have to get out.