topic Engaged, Looking to Buy House After Wedding in Mortgage Loans

Engaged, Looking to Buy House After Wedding

MGoBlue09 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:34:12 GMT

Hello All! My fiance and I are getting married this summer and would like to buy a house about 6-8 months after the wedding. I have recently rehabilitated my defaulted student loans and am back in good standing. My credit score has been rising over the last few weeks and I hope it will be in the 700s by next year.

Since my credit score isnt that great, I want to make sure we do everything right financially to put ourselves in the best position to get a mortgage after the wedding. I know one of the things banks look at when determining whether or not to approve you, is how long you have had a certain amount of money in your account. For example, they dont want your parents to throw some money that isnt yours in your account temporarily just so you can get approved for a mortgage.

So, I'm wondering if its a good idea for us to put our money into one account or just keep them seperate. Is it better to have two accounts that have had a good amount of money in them for a long time or one account with double the money in it for a short amount of time? Or does it matter at all? Also, any other advice you might have for someone in our situation would be appreaciated.

Thanks!

Re: Engaged, Looking to Buy House After Wedding

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 22:22:46 GMT

Hello and welcome to the forums!! Since your question is more about mortgages than relationships and money it would probably get better responses in the mortgage forum. Hopefully a moderator will move it for you or you can send a private message to the moderators and request a move.

In response to your question, most mortgage lenders want to see the money in the account for three months or longer. Any less time and they will ask you to "source" the funds or provide a letter stating where the money came from for non-payroll deposits. Since your time frame is greater than that you and your fiance can choose to establish a joint account for the housing purchase (and any other) or maintain the funds apart. Even if you open a new account within the three months you would be able to show the source of funds as your individual accounts. Gift funds are not absolutely disallowed but it does throw a little wrench into the works depending on the loan type.

You may want to sit down with a mortgage broker or banker after your marriage and explore your options for the purchase. Also the mortgage forums on here are a wealth of information and there are several professionals who offer advice for free.

Re: Engaged, Looking to Buy House After Wedding

ShanetheMortgageMan — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 18:15:59 GMT

@MGoBlue09 wrote:

So, I'm wondering if its a good idea for us to put our money into one account or just keep them seperate. Is it better to have two accounts that have had a good amount of money in them for a long time or one account with double the money in it for a short amount of time? Or does it matter at all? Also, any other advice you might have for someone in our situation would be appreaciated.

Thanks!

You can keep separate accounts for each of you or combine them, it doesn't really matter, as you can use all bank accounts in you & your spouse's name to qualify. When you apply, the two most recent bank statements will be needed, and any deposits into those accounts will need to be sourced (as in documented where the funds came from). You'd need to tell us more about your "stats" to get more specific advice. I'd recommend you browse the mortgage forums here so you can get a good idea of what other concerns people have and hopefully you'll find some answers to questions you haven't even thought of. You have plenty of time so don't let it overwhelm you, read a little each day.