The Rule Every Mortgage Applicant Hears and When It Has Exceptions

After you apply for a mortgage the standard advice is consistent and nearly universal. Do not make any changes to your financial situation. Do not change jobs. Do not open new credit. Do not make large purchases. Stability is what underwriters want to see and disrupting the picture that got you approved is how deals fall apart.

That advice is right the vast majority of the time. And then there are the situations where a knowledgeable loan officer looks at the specific circumstances and finds a different path.

The Story Worth Hearing

Rosemarie Ashley had been working with a client for about a month. They had structured a loan that was going to work for her situation. It was not a perfect solution but it was going to get her into the next chapter of her life and it was going to close.

Then she called with news that felt like it was going to derail everything. A company wanted to talk to her about a job.

Rosemarie told her to take the call. She did. Then she called back. They wanted to hire her. The pay was significantly better. It would be genuinely life-changing. But she knew the conventional wisdom and she assumed accepting the offer meant the loan was over.

Rosemarie told her maybe not.

What Happened Next

The offer letter came over. Rosemarie reviewed it carefully to make sure it contained everything an underwriter was going to need to evaluate the situation. The start date. The position. The compensation. The terms. She submitted it to underwriting with a clear explanation of the circumstances and made the case that this change was not a disruption to the borrower's ability to repay. It was a significant improvement.

Underwriting said yes.

They closed the loan using income from a job she had not started yet. She closed on her home. Two weeks later she started the new position.

What This Actually Means

The rule about not changing your financial situation during a mortgage process exists for good reason and it applies in the overwhelming majority of cases. A job change in the middle of a transaction can absolutely kill a deal if it is handled wrong or if the circumstances do not support an exception.

But conventional wisdom is a starting point not an absolute. A loan officer who knows what underwriters are looking for, knows how to present a situation compellingly, and knows when the facts of a specific case actually support a favorable outcome can sometimes find a path that the standard advice would suggest does not exist.

Do not try to navigate this on your own. The variables that determine whether an exception is possible are specific and require someone with the experience to read them correctly.

Call Rosemarie Ashley at 586-419-3918 before you assume the answer is no.

Sources

ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau.gov
FannieMae.com
MortgageNewsDaily.com
Investopedia.com
NationalMortgageProfessional.com