I think her “base” income is around $40K. I think the rest is tips. But, I’m not 100% sure of the details.
If underwriters are only considering ~$40K annual income, with no down pmt and credit scores under 700, I can see why there might be a problem.
Again, I dont know all of the details about her finances. She mentioned that she religiously “stashes away” the kid’s child support money and essentially pretends it’s not there. She wants to be sure that he has a healthy college nest egg when the time comes. She didnt even want the bank to consider it as “income”. However, they told her she wouldnt be able to buy a house unless she did include it.
At one point, I suggested she try to buy a bigger, newer house (using some of her kid’s money) so that she could rent out a room and get help with the mortgage. I think that’s what I would do in her situation.
Unfortunately, she is very spun up right now and fixated on the fact that this is not working out – again. She has tried to buy a home three different times in recent years and each time it hasnt worked out. Even in the boom days when mortgages were being given to anyone with a pulse.
I suppose if the bank wont underwrite, there must be a good reason for it.
My biggest concern is not the fact that she was willing to buy a dumpy house, in a bad neighborhood, for too much dough…it’s her willingness to just walk into this blindly without considering all aspects of the purchase, being informed, etc. It is downright scary.
I passed on your comments to her. I said, “sorry if this hurts your feelings, but I think you should know what someone else familiar with your RE market thinks.”
