Mortgage process question

[beersandweirs]

Hey ladies, H and I are going to talk to a mortgage person this weekend to maybe start the house buying process. Something a coworker mentioned to me that I wanted to ask you ladies your opinion. My coworker said to not mention the uncertainty in my job right now and that I may end up working for a different company and to get the offer letter drafted before that happens since they like to see you at your job for at least a year. Do you ladies think I should just not mention it and let them crunch their numbers based on our w2's and pay stubs? Will it help that H has been at his job for 3 years, and he won't be changing any time soon? I don't really know how this process works, this is the first person we are talking to, so I don't even know if they will do the offer letter (which I am assuming is the letter that tells you how much you are approved for?) at this meeting. Feel free to hit me with anything you think will help!

[jillywilly]

I would probably tell them your situation, and that you may be switching to a different employer soon, if you think that there's a chance you would have transitioned your job before you would close on a loan. They can then tell you right away if you would need to provide any additional documentation on salary expectations, etc. if you do wind up switching jobs in the middle of also getting your mortgage approved. The last thing you want to do is go through the hassle of getting pre-approved, find a house, fall in love, and then have your mortgage fall through, especially if it could have been avoided. I've found most mortgage brokers to be helpful - they want to do what they can to sell you their loan, they're not going to turn you away just because you may be changing jobs in the coming months.

[beersandweirs]

That's great advice, thanks jillywilly!

[belle0720]

Agree with the ladies. If you're going to be switching jobs before your loan is funded then you're going to have to provide them with your salary information at your new job anyways, so I'd just be upfront. I will add that when we got the mortgage on our house, my H hadn't been at his company for a year so they didn't even put him on our loan.

I qualified for the loan at the best rate possible with my credit score and income and employment history so it wouldn't have made a difference having him on the loan. With that in mind, I wouldn't be too concerned about changing jobs since your H does have the 3 year steady employment history.

[beersandweirs]

Thanks all. Realistically we probably won't be finding a house and moving all that soon. Our lease is up next July, but since our landlord is also a realtor, we are hoping that maybe they will give us some leeway if we choose them as our realtor. That is all speculation right now, though, since we haven't talk to her about it yet. All that to say, hopefully this job uncertainty will be behind us by then!

[Deleted]

I would not mention it but be prepared later that the bank might not like that you are switching jobs and it could effect the ammount you are approved for. The reason I say don't mention it is that banks don't care about what if situations. They only want to know what your current reality is.

Is there a way you can make an offer on a house and close before switching jobs?

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2016 11:20:43 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

they're not going to turn you away just because you may be changing jobs in the coming months.

They might not get turned away necessarily but what could happen is they could remove her from the loan based on under 1 year employment and only want her H listed on the loan. Or they could keep her on the loan but lower the ammount they are willing to loan them or offer a higher interest rate. Most banks after the housing crisis want to lower their risk as much as possible.

[beersandweirs]

Sept 13, 2016 15:08:53 GMT -5 @poppyc8 said:

I would not mention it but be prepared later that the bank might not like that you are switching jobs and it could effect the ammount you are approved for. The reason I say don't mention it is that banks don't care about what if situations. They only want to know what your current reality is.

Is there a way you can make an offer on a house and close before switching jobs?

It's pretty unlikely.

[jillywilly]

Sept 13, 2016 15:16:58 GMT -5 @poppyc8 said:

Sept 13, 2016 11:20:43 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

they're not going to turn you away just because you may be changing jobs in the coming months.

They might not get turned away necessarily but what could happen is they could remove her from the loan based on under 1 year employment and only want her H listed on the loan. Or they could keep her on the loan but lower the ammount they are willing to loan them or offer a higher interest rate. Most banks after the housing crisis want to lower their risk as much as possible.

That's kind of why I would be upfront about it - if the job change is something that is likely to happen in the midst of the mortgage, I'd mention it, so that they can advise on how much they would get pre-approved for just on H's salary, or if there would be a higher interest rate, etc. When we bought our first house, because of some rules we weren't aware of, we started off with budget A, but then had to scale back to budget B. Luckily, it happened before we got too deep into the house-hunting process, but it was still a bummer, and would have been worse if it had happened after we had found a house we loved. 

[silv3rlining]

I think every one has given good advice. I think it could go either way and really just depends on the time line of your situation (switching jobs) and actually buying. When we bought our last house I was employed when we made the offer but knew I wouldn't have income once we moved. During the actual process we had to fill out so much paperwork and they kept coming back to why we had such and such deposit into our account (my paycheck from my job at the time) but couldn't understand why we weren't claiming to have it for the mortgage.