Dear Mr. Rawles,
I would like to share with your readers our story on obtaining a mortgage after relocating to one of the Redoubt States. Unfortunately, we did not have enough cash and could not get a loan from relatives, so we needed a mortgage.
We relocated to the American Redoubt last summer and started renting, as is usually advised. By winter, we were ready to buy our own place. But before finally getting a favorable loan with US Bank, we had quite unpleasant experience with one of the smaller local banks. After providing them with all kinds of basically know-how information on my husband’s business (he is self-employed) and spending the money on appraisal, we got a denial, because they were “not sure if we would be able to maintain our income at the new place.”. They needed “at least one full year tax return from [residency in] the new state” (and perhaps maybe more) if we were to buy the house as a primary residence. They would not consider it as a vacation property because we already relocated to the area. And we did not qualify for any government program because we make too much money!
Other lenders in the area had various opinions on our situation, with a few saying that they currently have no products for us, while several others could only offer less favorable terms (significantly larger down payment and higher interest rate) than what we could qualify for otherwise.
It sounds like the mortgage industry is rather cautious these days, so please be aware of those potential difficulties. I wish we knew about them in advance. – Wi
Letter Re: Getting A Mortgage After Relocating
