Home Buyer Q & A

  • We are interested in purchasing a home through my VA eligibility.  We are engaged not married.  Can we use my fiancee's income to help with qualifying?  If you are going to be married before you close on the new house, yes.  For VA loans where both incomes are used for qualifying purposes, the borrowers must be married or each have eligibility.

  • We are purchasing a home using my VA eligibility.  My wife just recently returned to work, when our child started school.  She has been working roughly three months but did not work for six years after having our child.  Can we use her income to help us qualify?  VA will allow for a reasonable time limit for a gap of employment.  Unfortunately, six years is too long.  After your wife has been employed for six months, I cannot use her income to qualify, but I am able to use her income to offset any installment debt that has a remaining term of less than three years . 
  • We would like to refinance an investment property, we have a total of five mortgages including our primary residence.  I understand this can be an issue - does this mean we cannot refinance?  Progarms are available that allow for more than four mortgages (up to ten actually), but this is the general rule.  There are additional reserve requirements for each investment property and reserve requirements for your primary residence, but the programs exist.

- Jennifer Keenan, Senior Mortgage Consultant, NMLS# 101837, Tidewater Home Funding 757-366-8690