[quote=SK in CV]BG, I just helped a friend get his retirement stuff in shape, which included refinancing his house. He’s retired, he was self-employed until December. (It would have been only mildly easier if he had done this before he retired.
His house in Mission Hills is worth around $1M.
He owes $300K on it, and just wants to refinance to a lower rate.
He has about $14K a year in SS benefits.
He has about $1M in cash/marketable securities.
He has an IRA with $450K in it that he doesn’t plan on touching until he has to.
We moved most of his cash/marketable securities into blue chip stocks yielding an average of 2.75%/yr, (which was NOT hard to do) so total income of $27,500. Just provided his monthly broker statement that showed the annual income, and they accepted it, irrespective of what his interest and dividends were in the prior year.
Total verifiable income of about $41K.
He got a 30 yr, fixed rate loan with payments of about $875 a month. Closed the loan in less than 30 days beginning to end with Quicken Loans.[/quote]
That’s awesome to hear, SK. You’re a good “friend.” Luckily, for him, your friend was only seeking a 30% LTV mtg in a prime area of SD. Do you think he still would have “qualified” for the $875 (P&I only?) mtg had he been seeking a >=40% LTV mortgage in a 400-500K area?
I think there are many more in this group who don’t own homes worth $1M and still owe 40% or more of their home’s current appraised value. Hopefully, values will go even higher in the coming months to help these folks refinance or sell and recover all of their investment (purchase price plus cost of improvements).