On this episode, Brian and David share helpful client stories, answer caller questions and describe how to buy a house when you don’t have a job.

This week on the Accunet Radio Show:

Brian and David answer important questions about home ownership in today’s local market, explain what NOT to do when signing for a house, and more.

This week’s highlights

• If past trends are anything to judge by, April home sales should improve over March’s 17.5% YOY deficit — and hopefully, it’s all up from there.
• Income stability is important to mortgage lenders! If you’re looking to purchase a home through a mortgage lender, you’ll almost definitely be asked to sign a legally binding agreement stating that, through the course of the sale, you can’t go through any financially-altering action — for instance, getting a new job.
• There is currently a paucity of homes listed for sale. If you’re even thinking about putting your home on the market, contact Accunet mortgage for help getting there. We’ll help you with timing, selling and purchasing — we can even help you get a bridge loan so you can buy your new home before you sell your old one.

Home listings in the 5-county metro area:

June 2019 vs. 2018

Home listings are still down, meaning the majority of us (or at least, those of us who aren’t looking to pay >$700,000) are experiencing a seller’s market. For an inside look at the numbers, we compared June 2018’s closed home sales with the number of comparable listings currently on the market.
Right now, there are 1,800 active listings in the 5-county metro Milwaukee area in the $40,000 – $249,999). But 1,100 of those already have offers — so, the real number of affordable homes in the area is just 705.

How to buy a home without a job

The increased demand for homes has a positive relationship with a low unemployment rate. People have jobs — so they’re buying homes. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US created a whopping 263,000 new jobs in April after forecasting just 180,000. A telephone survey of 60,000 households tells us that the unemployment rate has dropped to 3.6%. With the average American worker making $27.70/hour (which translates to just under $50K/year), plenty of Americans are looking to put that income toward a home. But what happens when you’re ready to buy home, but you’re in-between jobs?
The secret to buying a home without a job is to receive a job offer before you start house hunting. You can use future income to help buy a home with just a few stipulations.

What you need:

• A signed offer letter with a clear start date, and base salary/hourly wage.
• You must clear any contingencies in the job offer (like a drug test or credential transfer).

As long as you have these two things, you can close on your new house as long as you start your job within 90 days of the closing date.

How do I make house payments without a job?

With Accunet, we verify your financial stability before we give you a Rock Solid Preapproval. This means we need documentation that you have the cash reserves to make payments before your job starts, including the down payment and monthly payments, like student loans, credit car minimums and car payments.

Client update: Submitting a higher approval offer than necessary

One of our clients (we’ll call her Becky) was preapproved in January and has been unable to find a home. She’s looking the Grafton/Cedarburg/Port Washington area, and is planning to put 15% down on her home. She’s written several offers over the last 5 months, and none have been successful. So, what should she do?
Now, she has enough money to put 20% down if she wanted to, and her approval offer states she can afford a $250,000 home. The home she’s looking at now is only $199,999 — but it’s not a bad idea to submit the higher approval offer. This proves a strong financial background and puts her in a better place to be accepted.
She called on Friday with some interesting news: The house in question has no basement, which is highly unusual in Wisconsin. Becky was worried there would be problems with the appraisal, and sure enough, even though Becky’s was the highest offer, the owners accepted an offer with no home inspection or appraisal contingency.

Wiggle room and going without a net with regards to appraisal — sometimes, that’s the most powerful card in the game.

Call-in question

“I own a home worth north of $700,000. I know home sales have been hot in almost every market, but why haven’t higher-priced homes experienced the same seller’s market?” — Jim from Brookfield, WI
Well, the answer is pretty simple: Not many people can afford $700,000 houses. In the $700,000-$799,000 price range in the Brookfield area, there were only two home sales in June — that’s a 4.5 month supply, which is considered a stable market. So, there’s really just not strong enough of a demand for this area to shift into a seller’s market.[elementor-template id=”10109″]