Self Employed?

[justjess]

I am in desperate need of a recommendation for a mortgage broker in NorthEast Pennsylvania that has experience working with self employed borrowers. I am being told I can not even look at houses without having financing lined up and am in a bit of a time crunch. Every broker I see online looks a bit shady and I dont really trust my own judgement here.. I also dont want to run my credit through a million banks and end up with a ton of inquiries lowering my score. 

Middle mortgage is 652, been in business over three years, I have three years of tax returns and am willing to qualify just on my claimed income without adjustments for self employed write offs. 

Appreciate any advise or recommendations in advance. 

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

Your real estate agent is correct to make sure you have your financing lined up before looking at homes or making an offer, especially when self-employed.  A few years back I outlined how underwriting calculates your self-employment income (from a Schedule C) so if you're inclined you can do the math yourself and check it against any loan officer's work you are speaking with.  Brokers and lenders both have the possibility of being shady or all stars, so I'd be surprised if your real estate agent hasn't recommended any loan officers they've worked with in the past.

[MortgageMama]

Generally, real estate agents are not pleased with showing homes without a pre-approval so I would get busy with that asap. Not only that, a seller will generally not accept an offer without one. As for having your credit report run multiple times, that is not a good idea as you correctly said. There is, however, no reason why you can't have a conversation with several lenders to determine their experience with self-employed borrowers. You should discuss your scenario so that they can best advise you. It should be quite clear which are knowledgable. If you're concerned about self-employment income, an online lender may not be the best option since you are short on time. Some lenders do offer the "soft-pull" on credit which does not affect your scores.

Now, the big part to your question is that you said you are "willing to qualify just on my claimed income without adjustments for self employed write offs."  That's actually not a choice you have - unless you want to do ammended tax returns for the previous 2 years. Lenders will analyse your returns and determine which write-offs can be added back to your net income. Typically, those add-ins are non-cash expenses. A good example is depreciation. 

[justjess]

I guess what I meant is that I am not worried about qualifying on the income I paid taxes on, I do not need them to add back in depreciation (if they do thats fine but I dont need it I have a healthy income without it and dont want to overextend or even max extend myself in this market anyway). 

The last time I bought a house was 2008, and you didnt need a preapproval first so I am just a little shocked and looking for solid recommendations. No real estate agent will even sign up without the preapproval so I have not received recommendations from anyone - real estate agent or not. The last time I bought a house the real estate agent sent me to the broker and that was it. But the market and process seems to have changed quite a bit. 

[MortgageMama]

Got it! That's great news! Yes indeed, the real estate market and lending has changed a lot since 2008. But in a real estate agent's defense, they don't get paid until your home closes, so they want solid buyers right out of the gate. We are still in a tight market in terms of inventory and number of offers, so you need to stand out as a strong buyer.

[i4owner]

I get not wanting to overextend.  You can personally base your budget based upon what you are comfortable with.  The Mortgage Broker will usually tell you what you qualify for, but you don't have to spend it.  When I bought in 2015, I set my budget at about 70% of what I qualified for, and was happy with what was available, and I never felt house poor.  

[reenia85]

U.S. Bank is amazing. I file as an S-Corp and they did a full underwriting approval before I sent an offer and then we closed in two weeks. they do all states I beleive. 

[TryItAgain]

I'm self-employed as well but preferred to use bank statements rather than tax returns and found NASB to be incredible. Closed end of November.

They are based in KC but fund mortgages nationwide. YMMV