Mortgage before, at, or after retiring on a pension.

[Anonymous]

I am approaching retirement and want to stop renting in Florida and buy in the midwest when I retire.  My current income lets me quailify for a lot more home than we would need but my pension checks might be cutting it close to qualify for the loan we will want ($150-175,000) but I do intend to work, I'll only be 51.  I will not be able to get a 20% down payment as all my extra money until then will be paying off other debt. 

So my question is, can I get a loan  towards the end of my career based upon my current income?  Will the fact that I am buying 1000 miles away be an issue?  If I can't do that, will they accept a statement from the Florida Retirement System stating my pension income and work off of that and base my loan on that figure so I can buy before retiring?

I really don't want to move up there and have to work for awhile before qualifing for a loan.  

Thank you,

JS

[kc0039]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am approaching retirement and want to stop renting in Florida and buy in the midwest when I retire.  My current income lets me quailify for a lot more home than we would need but my pension checks might be cutting it close to qualify for the loan we will want ($150-175,000) but I do intend to work, I'll only be 51.  I will not be able to get a 20% down payment as all my extra money until then will be paying off other debt. 

So my question is, can I get a loan  towards the end of my career based upon my current income?  Will the fact that I am buying 1000 miles away be an issue?  If I can't do that, will they accept a statement from the Florida Retirement System stating my pension income and work off of that and base my loan on that figure so I can buy before retiring?

I really don't want to move up there and have to work for awhile before qualifing for a loan.  

Thank you,

JS

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Buy it as a second home with only 10% down. They'll qualify you for both mortgages with your current income. 

[JVille]

We did exactly this in January 2018. My husband is planning to retire in 2019 and I knew in order to qualify we needed to buy a “second home” and would only qualify for our current home in Oregon and a Second Home in Arizona was to do this with our current income LONG before retiring.

I also knew that once we Retired we would no longer qualify for a mortgage. Never mind we could buy the house 6 times over based on our Brokerage Account. Lenders want Income and retirees often have cash/savings but not necessarily the monthly cash flow they had while employed.
Remember if you take a Mtg intended for a Second Home the lender will require you to sign a document that the home will NOT be used as a rental. So don’t think about renting that Second Home. You Home Owners Coverage reflecting a Rental Property will give you away.

[JVille]

PS my advice is to NOT discuss Retirement with the lender. Qualify as a second home with your current income.