Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

If You Move, Getting a Mortgage Could Be Difficult

  • June 22nd 2009

by Mark Wellborn

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

If You Move, Getting a Mortgage Could Be Difficult: Figure 1

In his column this past weekend, long-time real estate columnist Kenneth Harney wrote about how Fannie Mae is no longer allowing mortgage applicants to put the income of “trailing spouses” toward that needed to qualify for a loan. This new policy poses a problem to anyone who is transferred to a new location for a job where their spouse has yet to find employment.

In the past, Fannie Mae would count at least a portion of the “trailing spouse’s” income towards the total household income needed to qualify for the loan on a new home. However, that is no longer the case.

From Harney’s column:

“Under Fannie’s policy switch, no consideration [of a trailing spouse’s income] will be given. If the main breadwinner’s income isn’t sufficient to handle the mortgage, the loan application will be rejected; only when the trailing spouse has documented income in the new location will it be counted.”

A spokesperson for Fannie Mae attributed the change in policy to the state of the economy and the current turmoil in the job market.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/if_you_move_getting_a_mortgage_could_be_difficult/1054.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse