Any experience with the NACA Home Buying program?

[ItsJustMe]

They say 2 years after short sale / foreclosure... that seems too good to be true. I used them for a modification pre-BK and it was actually pretty smooth, much smoother than I had anticipated based on feedback I had found online. We're 2 years post short sale, 3 years post BK. We are planning to buy at the 3 year mark, and are saving to do so, but would prefer to do something at 2.5 (this summer) so that we're not moving the kids mid year.

So, too good to be true, or possibly reality?

[Charlie777]

NACA is a great program but you have to understand that it will be time consuming and you need to be patient. Because NACA is not score driven they will want to see a lot of your details, and you'll have to keep proving you could make the payments while you're qualifying. I got a great new construction home with no money down and an interest rate under 3 percent, 30 years fixed. The only things I had to pay at closing were the inspection fees, and prepaid taxes / insurance - everything else was covered. My total principal, interest, insurance and taxes are less than I paid for rent.

They might be able to get in under the 3 years on short sale depending on the reasons you had to do it. But at the same time, the fact you did a short sale out of a NACA modification might hurt you. I think the best thing to do is to get all the financials they'll need together and go into the program. All it will cost you is the $20/year membership, $7.00 each for credit reports and your time.

[ItsJustMe]

I attended the workshop and everything seems good. The way the program works, you are asked to provide a stable budget and spending habits, have a certain amount (based on the amount of the loan, but very reasonable amounts) in the bank, and to save up for 3-6 months any amount higher than your current rent (so, going from $1000 to $1500, must show savings of $500 per month for 3-6 months - consistently). Our income is more than is necessary to qualify for the highest loan in our state, and we have no debt, we have savings, and we already show sensible budgeting and spending habits. He is going to submit us to under-writting as soon as our 2 year mark is up with our short sale, which is January. I'll have to keep updating bank and paycheck information between now and then, of course, but everything else looks good. I'm not putting the horse before the cart or anything, but it will be totally amazing if this does work out as nicely as it seems to be playing out thus far.