Mortgage for new RN

JadedCPN, BSN, RN · Apr 20, 2021

8 hours ago, gellyx3 said:

I wanted to know the requirements for a new graduate RN that wants to buy a house. They say your 2 years full time in school is equivalent to 2 year job history as long as you have a job afterwards. Is nursing considered full time for the loan companies? Has anybody gone through this? Also, what documents would they need? Proof of graduation? Do they necessarily ask for your RN license? My credit score is 770+ so that's not an issue and have a great down payment. But just looking into the whole 2 year job history thing. Lastly, how long do they require you to be at work for? 1 week? 10 days? 1 month? LOL sorry I havent seen any specific details when researching online.

Your questions are probably best directed to the mortgage company(s) itself, since each one is different and has their own terms and requirements.

JKL33 · Apr 20, 2021

10 hours ago, gellyx3 said:

My credit score is 770+ so that's not an issue and have a great down payment.

How's your emergency fund and other savings/investments? ?

Sorry for going off topic...I would just encourage every single nurse to get in the best financial position they can as fast as possible--for nursing-related reasons, like being able to make good employment decisions that are in your own best interest without being trapped due to financial obligations.

It's an interesting housing market right now.

I'm sure you have done your due diligence in thoroughly researching and thinking this through. I'm a cautious person by nature so I like to spread caution around anyway. ?

Good luck with your new job and also possibly becoming a homeowner. ?

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Apr 20, 2021

The rule is to spend NO MORE than 28% of your gross monthly income on a mortgage/housing. The less your mortgage payment is, the better off you are financially.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2021

We don't know what the mortgage lender requirements are. Work with a real estate agent that can answer your questions.

**CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN** · Apr 21, 2021

Before you decide what a mortgage lender will give you, find out what you really want to spend! My experience is that they wanted to approve my husband and I for 1.5 million dollars (he had a high income) and WE wanted to spend $250,000. Mortgage companies make more money when you bite off a lot of debt, so just be careful and buy small.

gellyx3 · Apr 21, 2021

@CommunityRNBSN GREAT POINT! Thank you so much!

TriciaJ, RN · Apr 24, 2021

On 4/21/2021 at 9:17 AM, CommunityRNBSN said:

Before you decide what a mortgage lender will give you, find out what you really want to spend! My experience is that they wanted to approve my husband and I for 1.5 million dollars (he had a high income) and WE wanted to spend $250,000. Mortgage companies make more money when you bite off a lot of debt, so just be careful and buy small.

In addition to that, be careful what you put down for your income. If you work a lot of overtime it will make you look better on paper but I caution you to leave that off.

The reason is if you take out a loan based on total income, you'll be in a tough spot if the overtime dries up for whatever reason, or you would like to work fewer hours. When completing the application, just put down your base pay. If the loan officer comments on the discrepancy, just tell them you don't want to have to rely on the overtime.

I once worked with people who would use their overtime on loan applications and buy bigger toys. Then management would decide to kibosh overtime and people were up a creek keeping up with payments.