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My husband and I are planning on moving to FL roughly March of 2016 from Philadelphia. We'll be located in Clearwater/St Pete/Tampa. We have lived there before and know the area well. We are both early 40's and will be buying our first home.
We're both RN's and I work from my home for a large, multi-national insurance company, so I will be able to keep that job when we move since I am a remote worker. My salary is a touch over $80k. My husband currently makes about $75k a year, and would be getting a new job upon moving, and depending on what kind of position he takes, will be making the same salary or a bit less.
We would be buying a house with a value of no more than $250k and have about $230k in cash assets, although would probably only be putting down $100k-$150k for a downpayment so that we are able to maintain some savings and get a 2nd car, etc.
Having never bought a house before, would we get pre-approved while here in Philadelphia, or would we need to wait until we've moved? Would the fact that he would have a new job upon moving be an issue, or would the large $$ we have available and for downpayment (as well as excellent credit) kind of negate that aspect? I assume the fact that my job and the pay are the same as Philadelphia would be a good thing, right? Edited to add that we have no debt, no children. We carry no credit card balances, and our only car was paid for with cash some years ago. No student loans, etc. We live off of about 60% of our salary and save the other 40%
Depends on whether you really need face-to-face contact with your lender. You would likely qualify on your income alone, and can likely keep both of you on the loan. Base payment for a $150k loan @ 4.5% (likely worst case if rates go up in the Spring) is $750 per month. Add to that Property taxes ( / by 12) and Homeowners Insurance. The Insurance is the wildcard here, could be a grand, I had one last month that was $3500 a year in south FL. Maybe get a quote based on your parameters. Maybe a couple quotes.
You seem to know your situation. I'd wait on the pre-approval until you actually have boots on the ground and need to provide a pre-approval to a realtor, though. Minimize the number of times your credit is pulled, as the reports are only good for 60-90 days.
Also - you might have Ghost Credit - - do you have open-and-empty credit cards? If you have no reporting accounts, this will be a problem as you may not have a score, or the score you have might be artificially low. If you have no accounts reporting to credit bureaus, get those now. Secured cards, Cap one, etc., and both of you do it, don't let one of you only have Authorized User accounts. This is the most important thing right now - - go to one of the free credit report sites and look at the reports for both of you. If you need to add new accounts to carbonate your scores, they won't register immediately.
If you want to buy in Florida wait until you get here to be approved. It's up to the lender but since you both most likely have great credit and are putting a large amount down and will be employed when you get here and only your husband needs to find work you should be okay. By the way jobs pay a lot less down here so your husband should keep that in mind.
Earning $80K for more than two years, you should be OK with only yourself on the loan since your husband has to find a new job, hopefully in the same industry, and the same position or higher.
Keep in mind, the closer you are to the water, the more your insurance is likely to be. The same goes if the property you want it appraised and shows it is in a flood zone.
If you want to buy in Florida wait until you get here to be approved. It's up to the lender but since you both most likely have great credit and are putting a large amount down and will be employed when you get here and only your husband needs to find work you should be okay. By the way jobs pay a lot less down here so your husband should keep that in mind.
Oh yeah, we have both worked in Fl as RN's before. However with his skill-set and the jobs he's interested in and would qualify for, the drop in pay would be minimal, if at all. Most of the pay differences for RN's is found in hospital-based floor/staff nursing Jobs. He has moved above and beyond that both with experience, education, and skill
Depends on whether you really need face-to-face contact with your lender. You would likely qualify on your income alone, and can likely keep both of you on the loan. Base payment for a $150k loan @ 4.5% (likely worst case if rates go up in the Spring) is $750 per month. Add to that Property taxes ( / by 12) and Homeowners Insurance. The Insurance is the wildcard here, could be a grand, I had one last month that was $3500 a year in south FL. Maybe get a quote based on your parameters. Maybe a couple quotes.
You seem to know your situation. I'd wait on the pre-approval until you actually have boots on the ground and need to provide a pre-approval to a realtor, though. Minimize the number of times your credit is pulled, as the reports are only good for 60-90 days.
Also - you might have Ghost Credit - - do you have open-and-empty credit cards? If you have no reporting accounts, this will be a problem as you may not have a score, or the score you have might be artificially low. If you have no accounts reporting to credit bureaus, get those now. Secured cards, Cap one, etc., and both of you do it, don't let one of you only have Authorized User accounts. This is the most important thing right now - - go to one of the free credit report sites and look at the reports for both of you. If you need to add new accounts to carbonate your scores, they won't register immediately.
Hi and thanks for the detailed response
We both have gotten our free yearly credit reports and also got an additional free report because of a data-breach at my husband's place of employment. We both have credit cards in our name -- Visas through the bank. Our scores are in the 800's, each.
Will a realtor not necessarily require a pre-approval from us if we went to them and explained our situation and could show a bank statement that shows X in checking, Y in savings, Z in other accounts, all accessible (not talking about investments or $$ tied up in 401k and IRA's, etc). Our biggest interest is being able to, if at all possible, stave off having to move there to rent for a month or three and then move. I'd like, if at all possible, to find a house while we're here and buy the house and move into that house when our lease here ends at the end of April. It would save so much time, hassle, headache, deposits, and interruptions from my job as I wait for the secured internet line to be installed, disconnected, and reinstalled at the house
We both have gotten our free yearly credit reports and also got an additional free report because of a data-breach at my husband's place of employment. We both have credit cards in our name -- Visas through the bank. Our scores are in the 800's, each.
Will a realtor not necessarily require a pre-approval from us if we went to them and explained our situation and could show a bank statement that shows X in checking, Y in savings, Z in other accounts, all accessible (not talking about investments or $$ tied up in 401k and IRA's, etc). Our biggest interest is being able to, if at all possible, stave off having to move there to rent for a month or three and then move. I'd like, if at all possible, to find a house while we're here and buy the house and move into that house when our lease here ends at the end of April. It would save so much time, hassle, headache, deposits, and interruptions from my job as I wait for the secured internet line to be installed, disconnected, and reinstalled at the house
Thanks again for all your help!
Y'all are all over it. I'd wait to be pre-approved until you find a place you like, a good lender can turn out a PA same-day once they get your application and tax returns/paystubs. Will likely be contingent on Offer Letter for new gig in FL, and with Conventional, as you qualify, lender will likely want paystubs covering the first 30 days of work. This can suck if you don't get the paystub until 2-3 weeks after that 30th day, so ask if your lender can close with a Verification of Employment that manually verifies first month worked. Hope it all goes well for you, enjoy FL!
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RE: jobs
