If you recently moved, How'd you get a Mortgage w/o two incomes? (Greenville: for sale)

[BishBash]

My family has been planning a move to Greenville for 2 years. Our home is for sale here in the Northeast, and I can initiate a job transfer when the house sells. But my spouse (a teacher) won't be hired by a school until she has a S.C. address. (it's not a rule, just a reality.)

The problem is, mortgage lenders apparently don't let you factor in the income of the "trailing spouse" anymore. We don't want to move into a rental for 3 or 4 months until she is employed.

How do families relocate these days on one income? I'd appreciate hearing some examples.

thanks
BishBash

[shamrocker]

When we moved down here from Illinois, I moved down first into an apartment (with next to nothing) while our old house sold. Once the old house was sold, I found a new home and we got financing through our normal bank, which used the CURRENT income, which was dual. When my wife moved down, she didn't find full time employment for a while (as a teacher and musician), but we made sure that our monthly payment and mortgage size was small enough that we could handle it on one income. So, basically, my advice is to find a mortgage and house that can be paid for with one income to keep yourself safe in the future!

[BishBash]

...You got a mortgage (from a broker in your old state or SC?) based on your new income in SC and your wife's income in your old state?

I understand the caution about getting a mortgage on projected income-- that's why they did away with the trailing spouse provision-- because people were getting into trouble. In our case we'll have a substancial savings to carry us for quite a while.

The size of the mortgage is based more on monthly income than downpayment, so being able to claim 2 incomes is key to us. If anyone knows a creative mortgage broker in Greenville, please pass it along.

thanks

[roadpony]

To answer the OP's original question... good credit score.

[margiem3]

If she is going through a public a school she may not get hired at all there is currently a hiring freeze on teachers and they are actually requiring teachers to take furloughs. I would check out the school website first and maybe contact the school's human resources before going any further if you need her income to qualify.

[Crackofdawn]

You probably only have a few options...

A) Try a different bank and see if they'll let you use your wife's existing income or something
B) Qualify for a mortgage based on just your income (buy a smaller house, etc)
C) Move into an apartment for 6 months prior to buying a new house

C makes the most sense to me, for various reasons: You'll want plenty of time to find just the right house here, so actually living in an apartment for a few months might help a lot. You'll be able to save money for 6 months also while your wife gets situated and gets a job - apartments in Greenville are really cheap compared to most places, that I've found. When my wife and I moved here we moved into a 3br/2ba apt 1500sqft and it was $820/mo - the same thing in Orlando would have been around $1300. It gave us plenty of time to house shop and get a mortgage/etc during the 6 month lease.

[BishBash]

I found a broker who thinks she can swing the mortgage we want based on the big downpayment and us having no other debt whatsover. We'll know for sure when we officially apply.