My fiance and I found the perfect house, in a perfect area, with the perfect price. It’s spacious, which is great, since we have two kids and three dogs (one is a Dane). The house is 82k. My fiance makes 50k/year. I make whatever comes my way doing web design. Our credit scores are in the low 500’s. We have no money saved up (this kind of showed up outta the blue). We go see the inside on Monday, and I already know I want this house. We can’t get a bank loan, besides our credit, because the house is deemed unlivable. It has no heat (yet) and there is some electricity and carpentry that needs to be done. I have a handy family, so, to me, it doesn’t sound like a big deal. However, I don’t know on what grounds they are deeming it unlivable. If we go Monday, and it’s a wreck upstairs (the downstairs is fine, from what we could see through the windows), we’ll say no. If it is something my family can fix, then we’ll say heck yeah! I’ll live downstairs until the upstairs is done, for all I care. Now, here’s the big problem. Like I said, crap credit and no money. My dad can’t help, he has his own house and father to care for, my mother has no job, but has pristine credit. My step father has great credit and gets paid a good bit, but he owns three houses, and I was told lenders looked down on that. If we like the house, we’re going to talk to my future mother in law’s real estate agent. She has crap credit too, but bought her 90k house with no money down. I hate to sit idle, though. I need to know if there is something we can do. I looked at hard money lenders, home equity loans, and home equity lines of credit. I’m buying an ebook tomorrow that gives me access to sub-prime lenders. Is there anything else I can do? Any realty agents on here that might know? We have never gone bankrupt or foreclosed, will I need a Letter of Explanation? If we can’t get this house, then we’ll build our credit and money for two years and get a manufactured home. We’ll put it right in the utopia town we found. But for now, if there is something we can do, I want to do it. I’m not giving up just because I made some stupid mistakes when I was 18. Thank you to everyone who replies to this! Oh, and thanks for reading all that, it was a lot, ha ha!

And I hate that freakin spell checker… It’s as bad as that paper clip on Microsoft Word…

One more thing, we would like to be able to get a loan in addition to the mortgage to fix up the house and put a furnace in… or a wood stove.
Wow, awesome responses so far, thanks all. Apparently my score is in the higher 500’s. Unfortunately, it’s still bad, plus I’m not technically employed. It’s my fiance’s score that really matters, I think.

We also have a car loan that’s all paid on time, so I hope that looks good.

Mrswearing- the furniture idea’s a great one. I like buying stuff too haha. I think I’ll try that.

Sylvia- you definitely made me feel inspired! I’ll check up on that info!

Kemperk- well, what happened was I turned 18 and got cell phone plans and whatnot… I also don’t like having a boss, so I couldn’t keep a job. That’s why I work for myself Members of my family build houses, so depending on what needs to be done, I should be good there.

Thanks again everyone!
Turns out, I have options. FHA can approve the loan if we give them 5% down. That money can come from a relative, as well, as a "gift". Now all we need to do is see the house to see if it’s worth it.

Thanks
Oh and to the first person who responded, Sub-prime lenders do still exist, there just aren’t many of them. That ebook was worth the 17 bucks. Lol, I’m not that poor.