Your best bet may be FHA. They use alt. trades. Rate would be a LOT better. Credit for the last year needs to be pretty clean and no Chap 7 for last 2 years. If this sounds like a possibility find an FHA broker. If there are a couple of recent lates, you need a broker who does a lot of manual underwrite deals. Good luck.
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Ron is a mortgage Loan Officer specializing in FHA and USDA loans but in 2008 due to all the owner financed notes on the market, began a new company that buys private mortgage notes. His note buying site is
http://www.sell-my-note.biz