Here is my situation: My mother invited me to move into her large house a year and a half ago with my husband and six kids (now ages 2-17), with the agreement that we would split the communal costs of living and we could buy it from her when we were financially ready to do so. I finished out the school year where I was, gave notice to my landlord and gave up my Section 8 rental assistance and we made the move. Over the summer my mother and I got in an argument and she gave us thirty days to move out. My husband had lost his job, so we were unemployed and suddenly had to find a place to go. After a few days, she eased up and presented us with a lease, which expires on Dec. 15. It contained provisions to extend the lease only if my husband found work. He has, so we are hoping to convince her to extend it to the end of school. We found a property in the next town that is our dream property, and we can put together about $10k in February from our taxes refund (EIC mostly) and some few assets that are held in my husband's name. The property is listed for $60k. I know we will need to finance the rest of the property, but we also have to get something put up to live in by next winter. I have been homeless short term before with toddlers and swore it would never happen again.

Since my husband won't have 6 months of employment at the new job by February, many banks won't even talk to us. They also want 30% down. What are some of our options (other than moving into a homeless shelter) since we can't afford to rent (which would most likely require surrendering our dog) and save to buy at the same time?

I had hoped to build for ourselves, but people keep pointing out reality to me in that it can be expensive and/or very labor intensive. I'm not afraid of hard labor, but I do have a deadline of snowfall next year. There aren't really any farms for straw bale nearby, but we have tons of rocks here n the granite state. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

You could try the Permaculture Credit Union. http://www.permaculturecu.org

They will at least be sympathetic to your owner-builder dreams, who knows couldn't hurt to call them.

When traditional bank financing is not an option, you might consider looking at owner financed properties. $10k downpayment will meet or exceed the demands of some owner financing offers. I bought this place with $5k down, 500/mo. My house in town was bought with $1600 down-it was cheaper than renting.