Here’s my monthly update on the outlook for current rates in general, but first — news about loans for self-employed home buyers. Skip to Current Rates here.
Loans for Self-Employed
Stated Income Loans
More new mortgage products have been hitting the markets in the past few years as we gain distance from the Great Recession of 2008. We now have more options for self-employed borrowers that we had been lacking for almost ten years. Before 2008, self-employed borrowers could qualify for mortgages by showing their gross income without looking at income tax write offs. These loans were called “Stated Income” loans and were designed with self-employed borrowers in mind.
When credit tightened after the Great Recession stated income loans that helped self-employed borrowers purchase real estate or refinance their existing mortgage(s) became scarce or disappeared entirely. When all mortgage products started requiring full income documentation for the borrower to qualify for a mortgage, many self-employed borrowers were no longer able to qualify because the amount of write offs they showed on their tax returns reduced their qualifying income to levels that were not approvable.
Amazingly, there are some stated income and no doc (no income used or stated) products coming ba