How to Buy a House w/ DACA

I'll summarize my situation:
-I am the only one working in a household of 3 (1 is a college student, other cant work)
-I make around $2400-3000 a month
-I financially support my grandmother in another country + send others $ occasionally
-Currently Living in a 1946 home that will be gifted to us but it has MANY issues (foundation, walls, AC needs replacement ,electric/wiring, exterior issues, BUGS, BUGS, BUGS etc)
-Have $2-3K in savings (Yea this is very little)
-Have around $21K in debt

I'm thinking getting a loan to fix these is not worth it. We're tired of this house. It probably isnt worth more than $130-40K. It was bought after the 2008 crash for <$50k by a family friend. (I'm grateful, dont get me wrong )

I know we can buy houses with DACA but the whole process is so confusing.

IDK what to do. This house really needs to go but houses are expensive & the initial fees that come with getting one. We only pay regular bills and house insurance/taxes so trying not to complain.

If you're in my situation, what do you do?

You can learn to fix a lot of the things wrong with the house yourself (YouTube, library, forums). Might be worth a shot and try to improve this one instead of looking for a new headache… And get the freeloaders living with you to at least paint the house or something, lol. Good luck !

not freeloaders lol. college student is 19 and only comes home for summer. has internships during summer.
other person is my mom and she does everything else around the house/almost all the daily tasks.

the issues to fix arent fixable by us. Uneven foundation, cracking walls etc are for professionals. Not painting or changing floors etc

Before you even think of getting a house get yourself out of debt. Idk where you live but your income might not get you much in your area + your debt unless you save for a big downpayment. You only really need 3.5 down plus another 3% for closing costs but I wouldn’t even start saving that until you get out of debt so you have a fresh plate to work off of.

Throw that 3k into that 21 now you got 18 , do extra side hustles Uber etc and get it paid off

thank you. yea thats the first thing i thought off. getting rid of debt before going to a lender to ask for a loan. they dont want to see 21k in debt.

I have a side business i have procrastinated on for years. Dealing with depression and apathy so just need to work on that and hopefully it helps in paying that debt off.

21k in debt
3k monthly income

You’re not buying a house anytime soon


Learn how to make repairs and fix your house

I personally would get a quote to see how much it will cost to fix all of the issues to get the house into tip top shape.

I’m not sure who owns the home, but if there’s enough equity in the home, I would take a home equity loan/cash out refinance & pay it off over 30 yrs. If all of the repairs cost $30k, then you’ll only pay an extra $260 a month for a “newish home” (assuming 10% APR)

If you buy another home, assuming it’s $150k, you’re looking at an extra $1100 a month in just mortgage payments and at a $150k, that home will probably have its own problems.

Im not sure if it would be financially possible based on those figures, but this is the process I went through to buy a new construction home:

Visited the community. Gave a like a $200 deposit to lock in the house price while they verified my income. I worked with the builder's preferred lender, and the only hiccup was when they asked about my legal status. I told them I was DACA and they didnt know what it was, so I just told them it was a work permit I renew every 2 years. They asked me to provide them with proof that I had a work permit for at least the last 6 years if I remember correctly to establish steady ability to work. I sent them copies of my last 3 work permits and voila. Approved and closed escrow.

There are other steps in between that you do with the bank, but Im guessing you are only interested in the DACA part

I think this is the way to go nowadays. Lots of builders are offering their own low interest rates as opposed to ridiculous bank rates.

But yeah, OP gotta clear that debt before thinking about buying a house.

First step is to see a mortgage broker and find out how much a loan you qualify for. A mortgage broker will help you find a bank that will loan to you and the best part is they only have to run one hard inquiry on your credit when you're ready to buy. You only need 3% down to buy your first home and if you're willing to buy a multi family home you can use the rental income of the property to help you qualify for the property as well.