The place we call home says a lot about who we are. It doesn’t have to be a sparkling mansion on the top of some hill, but it represents stability and achievement and does a lot for our inner confidence and credibility. We all want to be proud of where we call home and this seems especially true if we have a young family to cater for as well. It’s so important to bring up your family in a safe and welcoming neighborhood and to do the right thing for them, within your powers. As we all tend to gravitate to populated areas, the amount of space necessary to build a home is challenged and this inevitably puts a premium on available land. This trend has, over the decades, led to ballooning house prices. This trend has being going on for years and it has contributed to the sad fact that an average home costs way more than a person actually earns in any one year. As sad as it may be, the vast majority of us have to resort to financing in order to consider owning our own home. Well over 90% of people who are trying to buy a home in America simply do not have the necessary amount of cash to buy the house “free and clear.”
There is such an emphasis on real estate financing in our world, and the ubiquitous credit score has arisen to become a highly important figure, affecting many elements of our lives. The credit score is simply a number on a sheet of paper, but people’s entire lives are judged by whoever looks at the number, regardless of the fact that there are often explanations behind the figure. Conventional moneylenders look at the credit score and not beyond and this behavior is especially prevalent these days. There are many, many reasons why individuals may have lower than average credit scores and many of these reasons may have been beyond their control. Nevertheless, a damaged credit can hang around your neck like a millstone for years and make it particularly difficult to buy that home for your family.
People are turning to creative forms of home financing, especially if they are first time home buyers with bad credit or are simply buying a house with poor credit after some detrimental life event. There are many forms of creative home financing. Some involve alternative collateral, where high equity assets, maybe a stock portfolio or valuable vehicle, are traded in return for security of some kind. Another option in many jurisdictions is a land contract. This is especially so in the state of Michigan, where they are fully recognized and legal instruments. Land contracts bring two motivated people together – a seller, who might not want to go through the lengthy process of working through conventional selling organizations and a buyer, who may be buying a home with poor credit or with a low down payment. The number of repayments, the actual monthly repayment and the terms are negotiable and the closing costs are often paid by the seller. It is worth investigating land contracts, as they represent a creative home buying solution.