10-26-18 Why can’t you use my bonus income to qualify me for my new home?
Question of the week: Why can’t you use my bonus income to qualify me for my new home?
Answer: Income must be of a constant and continuing nature.
What constitutes “constant and continuing?” Generally, at least a two year history of receiving the income fulfills the requirement. There are some exceptions which I will cover below, but the question of the week specifically addresses bonus income, and much of this will apply to overtime and commission income as well.
Bonus income typically fluctuates from year to year depending on the matrix upon which the bonus is based. Because of the fluctuation there must be a guideline for the lender to consider the income for qualification purposes for your mortgage application. The industry standard is that if you have received a certain type of income for two years are more then we have reached the threshold of constancy. To reach the continuing nature policy we generally need a statement from your employer that the bonus will in all probability continue; this guideline is usually met with a letter from the employer or with a Verification of Employment (VOE) that we send your employer to complete. The VOE has sections for your employer to complete stating the length of employment, income for each of the past two years plus year to date broken down into base, bonus, overtime and commission. As well there is a place to indicate whether the continued payment of bonus, overtime and commission is likely to continue in the future.
Whether your bonus is paid annually, quarterly, monthly or per pay period does not matter for qualifying, we will convert the amount received into a monthly amount based on the amount received for the past two years, and if applicable year to date. The rule of thumb for bonus income, as well as overtime and commissions, is to use at least a two year average, unless the most recent year is lower than the prior year in which case the lower amount is taken.
Example: You have been with your company for five years and have received bonuses every quarter for the past three years and the bonus is paid on the first paycheck after the end of the quarter. In 2016 your bonuses totaled $12,000, in 2017 $12,600 and on your October 15th pay period your total bonuses year to date including September totaled $9700. The total amount received in bonuses is $34,300 over the past 33 months (two full years plus nine months in 2018), so we divide the total amount received by the time period over which it was received and get $1039.39, this is the amount of bonus income we will use for your qualifying for your mortgage—provided your employer verifies that you are likely to continue to receive bonuses in the future.
Example 2: Same employment scenario as above, however in 2016 you received $12,000 bonus, in 2017 you received $10,000 bonus and through September you have received $9000 in bonus income as reflected on your recent paycheck. It is evident you received $1000 per month in 2016 and so far in 2018. However, in 2017 your bonus was $833.33 per month—this is the bonus income that most lenders will use for income qualifying as it follows the standard guidelines from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Even with a letter from your employer regarding 4th quarter bonus the lender will take the worst case scenario when calculating income.
All this covers how we do calculate and count your bonus income, back to our question, why is your bonus income not allowed? Reading through the above it is likely because of any or all of the following:
- You have not received your bonus for at least two years
- Your bonus has been inconsistent, i.e. you received bonus income in 2016 but not 2017
- Your employer will acknowledge that your bonus is likely to continue, which we saw not infrequently during the recession with employers very hesitant to put in writing bonuses are guaranteed or likely to continue creating a legal document an employee may use against the employer should bonuses be canceled.
Any non-wage employment income is generally treated in a similar manner, most prevalent being overtime, commission and self-employment income.
As mentioned above there are some exceptions to the two year income rule:
New job—If you are starting a new job, depending on the circumstances, we can generally count your income with a short, or perhaps no, history of employment at the new job. Typically, showing at least thirty days of income is needed. If you are transferring from working for Dennis Sprockets to Smith Widgets and in somewhat the same type of work, we can use your new income—but not overtime or bonus unless expressly addressed and quantified in an employment contract and if you received similar amounts in your prior job. New professionals can also have “young” income used for qualifying with proof of education in the field and an employment contract. If transferring geographically and a new job with a new company we can usually use your new employment income before you start on your job with an employment contract and separate letter from a senior executive at the company.
Spousal support—If you have a divorce decree or separation agreement that is recorded that includes your receiving alimony or child support we can use that income once you can prove you have received six monthly payments in a timely fashion. Note the income must be received as one payment every six months and not six months’ worth of payments upfront. As well the agreement must indicate the income will be received for at least three years after the date of your mortgage application; for instance, if you are receiving $800 per month for each of your two children until they are 18 and your son is 16 then we will only accept $800 for qualifying for your youngest child.
Retirement income—If you receive a pension or social security income you do not need to show a two-year history. Provide your award letter stating the amount of income you are to receive and we will use the current income for social security; for a pension, we must show that the pension income will continue for at least three years.
Asset accounts—Most individuals and couples have their financial assets in a retirement account and/or taxable investment and bank accounts. Depending on several factors these accounts could be used for qualifying income. Retirement accounts can be used for income if you are taking regular withdrawals from the account. Depending on your age and the type of retirement account you may be having to take mandatory distributions on an annual basis, this can be used for income. Or if you are taking regular distributions we can use those amounts as income as well. If you have funds in non-retirement accounts there are some cases where we can perform a calculation called “asset depletion” so we can achieve qualifying income.
Rent—If you are purchasing a new home and renting out your existing home there are guidelines we can follow to use the rental income from your current residence as qualifying income to offset the mortgage, tax and insurance payments.
Bonuses, commissions, retirement, wages, there are many different sources of income; whether yours is eligible for use as qualifying income can depend on different factors. If you, or someone you know, if looking to purchase or refinance property please contact me to ensure you are fully qualified for the transaction you want to make.
Have a question? Ask me!
Don’t bury the lead. A couple of big pieces of economic news, since weekly update is primarily about mortgages and real estate we will start with the major news on home sales. This week the California Association of Realtors released its housing report for September. Based on the data I am of the opinion the real estate markets have become a buyer’s market. Los Angeles County saw the median home price increase 4.5% from August and 4.7% from 2017 to a value of $634,680. While the median price increased there was a dramatic drop in total sales. Sales volume for the month was down 18.3% from the prior month and 22% from last year. Neighboring Orange County saw both the median price and total sales volume drop in September. The county median price of $825,000 was down 1.6% for the month and 3.3% for the year, total volume was down 20.3% from August and 21.8% from September 2017. The data that supports my contention of our regional market being a buyer’s market is the increase in the number of active listings on the market and the time a home is on the market before it is sold and enters escrow. Basic premise, more supply leads to lower prices. Supply is growing and demand is not due to several factors, primarily higher interest rates.
Impacts sales and refinances. The softening market not only impacts sellers as they see values slowly erode, but also can have an impact on homeowners looking to refinance to lower payments, consolidate equity lines or obtain equity for various reasons. How? With a softer market there is more downward pressure on appraisals and therefore values needed for refinancing, or the rate and cost of the refinance due to potentially higher loan to value based on potentially lower appraised values.
The national economy is not following housing. This morning the initial estimate for the Gross Domestic Product was released and it showed growth in the quarter of 3.5%, slower than the 4.2% GDP growth in the second quarter. The expectation is that 2018 will end with total economic growth of 3% or greater, the first year with such growth since 2005. The report was, as you can expect, sprinkled with good news most notably the decline in inflation from 2% in the second quarter to 1.6% in the third quarter. That is good for consumers, but is it good for the economy? With some weakness in business spending and investment, slowing inflation and the equity markets dropping in recent weeks the signals are there for economic growth slowing, or reversing in 2019. It is quite possible, probable?, that a mild recession will begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2019. Overall the GDP news was market neutral as the growth figures met expectations.
Rates for Friday October 26, 2018: With stocks falling this week investors have been moving their funds to bonds and mortgages resulting in rates falling from last Friday. We remain in a volatile market and caution is strongly advised when thinking about floating your rate.
FIXED RATE MORTGAGES AT COST OF 1.25 POINTS LOCKED FOR 45 DAYS:
30 year conforming 4.75% Down 0.125%
30 year high-balance conforming 5.00% Down 0.125%
Please note that these are base rates and adjustments may be added for condominiums, refinances, credit scores, loan to value, no impound account and period rate is locked. Rates are based on 20% down with 740 FICO score for purchase mortgages.
Few things are better than a short trip that feels like a very long trip. That was the experience Leslie, our daughter and I had last week when we flew out to Boston to see our college freshman. Leslie and I walked about 13 miles on Saturday, mostly up the Charles River while the internationally famous Head of the Charles rowing regatta was going on, watched a performance by the marching band, where ironically our daughter is the tallest in the flute section as she was in high school, then we all enjoyed a fantastic and leisurely lunch/dinner at an Italian restaurant, topped off with the ubiquitous visit to Mike’s for some pastries. Another long walk to LL Bean to get our girl squared away with duck boots for the coming winter and it was back to our hotel for a few hours of catching up and just being together. A packed day, with plenty of needed hugs, mostly for me, and just seeing how happy she is with her friends, college and new city and mom and dad have come home at ease.
Now we are looking forward to our next time seeing her when she is home for four weeks at Christmas!
Have a Happy Halloween and don’t get too spooked by the gremlins and goblins showing up on your doorstep…I’ve noticed they leave you alone if you bribe them with some sugary treats!
Have a great week,
Dennis
Past Weekly Rate & Market Updates can be found on my blog page at my website www.DennisCSmith.com
