Can you get a mortgage loan when retired?

[tmm99]

Thank you for all the replies you have posted regarding the mortgage loans.
It sound like with a little digging, getting a mortgage loan is quite possible with some assets.

tmm

 

[rayvt]

Well, thanks everyone for the posts.
I am still a bit confused though...

So, nobody posted so far has gotten a mortgage loan (not HELOC) after retirement (with no job)... One person said he has had a hard time getting one. Others said it was probably possible to get one if you have a big asset... Hmm....

tmm

I retired 2 years ago and have refinanced to a new 30 year mortgage twice. Last time was December 2007.

They didn't care about how much I had in assets, just in what my monthly income was. Since I RE'd, my pension is pretty small--just about what the mortgage payment is. And I'm too young to collect SS.

Even back then "stated income" loans were just about impossible--and very expensive if you could even get one.
The 1st time the broker researched aroung and said that if I was taking a fixed withdrawal from my brokerage account, and could document it, that would do. But the account balance had to be large enough to supply the withdrawals for at least 3 years. I said to them, "Dude, you can see that the account balance is more than the entire mortgage balance! I don't even need a mortage at all, I could pay it off in cash today." They didn't care about that--just so long as it would last for at least 3 years. Dumb.

But then the underwriter got skittish because it was a joint account (taxable), and not from an IRA. Seems they couldn't get their heads around being retired but withdrawing money from an account that wasn't a "retirement account". So fine, called my IRA custodian, set up a periodic withdrawal, got them to fax a confirmation of it to the lender, closed a week later. Then called my IRA back and told them to cancel the periodic withdrawal. Now I take my draw from our joint account as I intended all along.

Second time, different lender. I told the mortgage broker what the 1st guy had told me, so she knew what to look for in their Policies & Procedures Book. She said that yup, it's right there in the book, but she'd never known anybody who fit that rule before. But it's there, I fit the requirements, and the refi siled right through. Four weeks from app to closing.

 

[tmm99]

rayvt,

Thank you very much for your post. Very interesting what you had to go through.

It sounds like I would need to know the *strange* rules that mortgage companies adhere to and then do whatever after they approve my loan.

I feel good now that I have an option to purchase a home with a mortgage loan after I retire, instead of finding my ideal place before retirement, or paying cash (which I may not want to do) after I retire.


tmm

 

[harley]

I also think it's going to get easier as more boomers retire. The mortgage companies aren't going to want to miss all those dollars floating around. Hopefully they'll be a little more choosy about who they lend to, but just being retired isn't going to stop them.

 

[ESRBob]

We got a letter from Chase just last week about our HELOC -- never missed a payment, was very careful in how we used these funds, have a excellent credit score, yada yada yada. Chase froze our account from any additional draws citing the general drop in real estate values in my STATE. Says we can appeal, but the procedure is cumbersome.

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Friends in our town had the same thing happen - some computer model spit out the fact that home prices might be declining in our county and the HELOC people just seemed to run for cover. Bad customer relations -- bad for the long term business , but who's thinking long term these days? Bankers are the guys who'll lend you an umbrella on a sunny day, but never on a rainy one. Doesn't surprise me that a HELOC carefully set in place for a rainy day fails to open in an emergency. As someone else said here, best thing is some extra cash of your own.

 

[OAG]

ESR - but that is a ****Bank*****. BTW Chase is "nuts". They took over another Bank here in Ohio last year - I was not a member of CHASE so I got the usual mail they send out to acquire new members/victims --- Offered me $200 to open a no fee Checking account then $25 to to open a CC from them and another $15 for something else. So in 2007 they "gave" me $240.00 (of course all accounts were immediately closed after getting the $240.00; at no cost to me). It is no wonder that CHASE has to renige on HELOC's and, in doing so, are going to lose a lot more members/victims.

BTW if my PFCU HELOC is not available when, and if, we ever need it - plan B is "CASH". A "prudent" person, which most on this board undoubtedly are, that have an "emergency' HELOC set up, would more than likely, have a secondary source of funds, if needed.