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.