Buying on a fixed income?

[whartonjelly]

Confused on how to buy a house in TV and also live on a fixed income. Who will loan you money. Should I continue to work in Indiana while attempting to buy in TV. Will need to sell in Indiana. Do you have to be a resident? If so, for how long? I am a Nurse and could work in Florida also. We will both be retired at age 60. This will be our third home in a lifetime. Hoping for an affordable courtyard. Please share experiences! :2excited:

[chuckinca]

My wife and I are both not working; I tried to do a refi to take advantage of the lower rates and was told by Wells Fargo Bank that it was Fanny/Freddy rules that required people to be working to qualify for a mortgage. Recommend you talk to a mortgage lender - a few weeks ago that banker told me something that turned out to be incorrect.


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[whartonjelly]

:shrug::shrug:Thanks. Do we talk to a realtor first to find a lender? Here in Indiana or in Florida. Should we rent to get a job in Florida then sell our home to buy in TV. The timeing is confusing me. I dont want to ruin our chances to moving to Florida. I am fully employed as a RN now.

[skyguy79]

Confused on how to buy a house in TV and also live on a fixed income. Who will loan you money. Should I continue to work in Indiana while attempting to buy in TV. Will need to sell in Indiana. Do you have to be a resident? If so, for how long? I am a Nurse and could work in Florida also. We will both be retired at age 60. This will be our third home in a lifetime. Hoping for an affordable courtyard. Please share experiences! :2excited:My wife and I are both retired and own our home in NYS. We will be closing on a purchase in a few weeks and here is what we did. We contacted Citizens First Bank and after the loan officer contacted us back she was able to take our financial information, run a credit check and let us know if we pre-qualified for a loan and gave a preliminary amount we could finance. This was no guarantee of a loan, but it gave us a good idea where we stood as well as a document to present to the TV agent we are working with.

If interested go to https://www.cfwmortgage.com/ for more information. Just remember that if you do call, have your financial information present to give them... you know.... income, expenses, bank accounts info, etc. Good luck!

[Bill-n-Brillo]

As chuck stated, your chances of getting a home financed are much better if you have current full-time employment. But if there's no way for you to afford two homes at the same time, you'll need to sell your place in IN first before being able to consider buying in TV. At least that's the way I'm reading your post. :)

Given that you're in nursing, you'll probably get feedback from Russ Boston here on that topic as that's his line of work.......and he's planning to continue it while living in TV.

Bill

[rjm1cc]

Some questions a lender will want to know is how secure is your fixed income, is it inflation protected? I would get pre qualified for a loan as suggested. Rent in TV to make sure you like it. Get a job when you start renting - part or fulltime, start the selling process when you are sure you do not need the home. Once you deceid to buy get reapproved for a loan while you are still working full or part time. Keep your job at least until settlement on the new home.

[Russ_Boston]

Well I think most has been said.

The path to take could be very similar to mine if you feel that you can swing both homes until you sell in INDY. That would be:



Make sure TV is the place you want to be by visiting a few times and staying as long as you can. Try renting various type homes (villa, designer etc.). We even rented homes backing to a street, homes backing to another lanai, villa on a golf course, villa/home with own pool.
If TV is your choice then talk with Citizens (or any bank) and see what your current income will do for a new mortgage in TV.
Buy/build your TV home.
Pay both mortgages until you...
Sell your northern home.
Get an RN job in TV or nearby (shouldn't be a problem for an exp nurse).
Move to TV.

That's my plan and I'm on the sell your home in MA part:)

Best of luck - If you'd like to discuss further just PM me.

[Pturner]

Hi Whartonjelly,

We bought home in TV while hubby is still full-time employed. Still own home in ATL, but it is paid off.

It does not take long to close on a home in TV, especially if you get pre-approved for a loan. Perhaps you could arrange to buy about a month or two before retirement. That way, you will be keeping up two houses for only a very short time, if that is your preference.

Since the housing market it so slow, maybe you could put your house on the market several months before you plan to buy. If you get a contract sooner than expected, your buyers will still time to get a loan and close, and you could always rent for a month or two if necessary.

Just some ideas. Everybody's situation is a little different.

[whartonjelly]

Thanks. You all have been very helpful. I emailed both our potential. Realtor and got the names of mortgage. Lenders. I feel better each day knowing I am working on this.lots to ponder!

[natickdan]

Confused on how to buy a house in TV and also live on a fixed income. Who will loan you money. Should I continue to work in Indiana while attempting to buy in TV. Will need to sell in Indiana. Do you have to be a resident? If so, for how long? I am a Nurse and could work in Florida also. We will both be retired at age 60. This will be our third home in a lifetime. Hoping for an affordable courtyard. Please share experiences! :2excited:

I think your concerns are more common than you realize and, as was previously posted, the answers to those concerns vary from person to person.

Our decision to buy in TV required an honest assessment of what we wanted and what we could afford. In the end, we decided that my wife would continue to work until we sell our current home. Hopefully, that will be before next winter.

One advantage you have is the ability to leverage your medical experience should you need or want additional income. Another advantage is that you can us that skill here in TV. Best of luck with your decision!