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If You Move, Getting a Mortgage Could Be Difficult

  • June 22nd 2009

by Mark Wellborn

If You Move, Getting a Mortgage Could Be Difficult: Figure 1

In his column this past weekend, long-time real estate columnist Kenneth Harney wrote about how Fannie Mae is no longer allowing mortgage applicants to put the income of “trailing spouses” toward that needed to qualify for a loan. This new policy poses a problem to anyone who is transferred to a new location for a job where their spouse has yet to find employment.

In the past, Fannie Mae would count at least a portion of the “trailing spouse’s” income towards the total household income needed to qualify for the loan on a new home. However, that is no longer the case.

From Harney’s column:

“Under Fannie’s policy switch, no consideration [of a trailing spouse’s income] will be given. If the main breadwinner’s income isn’t sufficient to handle the mortgage, the loan application will be rejected; only when the trailing spouse has documented income in the new location will it be counted.”

A spokesperson for Fannie Mae attributed the change in policy to the state of the economy and the current turmoil in the job market.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/if_you_move_getting_a_mortgage_could_be_difficult/1054.

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