r/Mortgages

I put in an offer for a $650,000 property. It is me, my pregnant wife, and our 1 year old. I am the only one working in the house and I make $125,000 a year plus $50,000 untaxed VA disability each year. So $175,000 ($50,000 of which is untaxed).

Our mortgage is going to be about $4,000 even. The only other debt we have is our cars which are about $10,000 each.

The property is a small ranch house (3 beds, 3 baths) 2,000 sq ft. on 28 awesome acres. It is about an hour commute from my work but I know it will be worth it since I only go in 3-4 days a week.

My worry is 1. being house poor and 2. the house is small. We'd like to build an addition to add a master bedroom and maybe even another guest room in the future (5-10 years), but I assume that will be at least $100,000-200,000 to do.

Worried that adding that to the loan will break us in the future, but I don't want to be constrained on how many kids we want because of house small our house is. But having a $800,000 mortgage (with the addition) sounds crazy to me.

What do you all think? Anyone in similar situations?

My bills are 1100 car note 200 insurance and 75 phone
I gross around 8k a month
I’m 27 with a 775 credit score
I make around 95-100k
House I’m buying is my grandparents home for 100k. Mortgage taxes and insurance will be around 1k a month.
Chances I get approved ?

I want to get pre-approved and I have a broker in mind that comes highly recommended. I'm a millenial that hates phone calls. Is it weird to just hunt down their email and communicate that way? I know I'm just overthinking, but I'd like some reassurance that it doesn't seem weird.

Location - TX
So we are going to tear down and rebuild on our current lot, ever bank I have spoken with wants to refinance my existing mortgage, which is a 2.9% rate. Can I just get a loan for the construction and not the lot and the house?

First time home buyers from 2021 with a 2.3% FHA rate but …we didn’t put much down so have PMI and our monthly is $3400 - it’s approx $1100 for escrow, $1100 for principle, and $1100 in interest on a $600k purchase price and $535k balance.

Our area isn’t super desirable and the home is small. We would like to move to something in a better neighborhood with more space (max budget is 1.1M but would be more comfortable at 900k with 20% down) but appreciation in the house has been minimal - I’d guess we could sell for $650-$700k. We do have an assumable FHA mortgage, with the one thing we have going for us is living in a VHCOL city so lots of tech folks with cash to bridge the gap easily.

So we are trying to understand if we should hold onto this rate because everyone says to never let it go - is the idea keeping it until the house someday (hopefully) appreciates 2x or 3x? Like it may not be worth it if it takes another 20 years and we paid $200k in interest to appreciate say $300k, where if we theoretically sold now we could still make a $100k profit (and get rid of a $3400/month payment). Is the low interest rate supposed to be a safe gamble that the house will have a big appreciation in the long term? Doesn’t it offset since our payments are so high and become a wash? Like why would someone else want to assume it knowing the above?

My brother bought a house in 2018 for $500k and it is valued at $900k now so if we picked a better neighborhood I’m trying to understand justifying keeping this rate for a house that doesn’t have a lot going for it when we could buy something else with the profit as a down payment vs pulling from a HELOC and have a much better chance of that house appreciating much faster (most in our city do, we literally picked the worst neighborhood possible, but 2021 was ridiculous for bidding wars so options were limited). We could keep it and purchase a second home (this time 20% down) and rent it out (for less than the mortgage unfortunately) but why? We could pay it off in the next 6-7 years if we really tried but people say with that rate don’t pay it off aggressively, but why? Just trying to look at all the angles and learn. Obviously still so novice with this all and want to make more educated decisions the second time around.

Hi! My husband started a new job in March as a Project Manager in a construction company which provided regular paystubs until May. Since May no paystubs have been generated, but his net pay has been wired to him as usual biweekly. When he realized he had no paystubs coming through on his payroll app, he inquired with HR who said they’re working on a backlog of generating pay stubs and will get things over soon. My husband explained the need for them for our future loan and they said they would possibly just generate his paystubs due to the situation of home buying and they’d let him know. It’s been a week and he still does not have them.

It looks like our offer may get accepted in the next few days on a home for which we are putting roughly 70% down and need a loan of about 450k. 30 year conventional loan. We have a desktop underwritten preapproval from Chase and the LO have assured me we can close in even 10 days because our file is so solid. I did provide the paystubs during our preapproval, but now they are over a month old.

I’m assuming underwriting will ask for updated pay stubs during escrow. They can verify employment with his employer, we have bank statements showing the wire amount but it seems like a weird situation with the employer being backlogged on stubs and not terribly enthusiastic on sending the ones for the last 2 months. I don’t want to rock the boat with the employer and have my husband get fired (I know this is all their fault and it’s his right to have his stubs- just thinking ahead). But they could decide he’s causing trouble and fire him. How screwed are we? Will underwriters typically accept these other avenues of verifying employment?

Bonus question- we have a 10 day loan contingency, is it possible underwriting asks for stubs past this date and things blow up and we lose our deposit?

I will be contacting our LO tomorrow just stressing out in the meantime.

Hi friends,

Hopefully this is an appropriate place to post this.
Long story shortish. My fiance and I have 415k remaining on a 30 year loan. Home valued at 520k when I purchased it 5 years ago. The problem is, we're bored. And quickly learned the suburb life is not for us. We live in a city about 45 min from a major city. With very high cost of living but with a combined income of $225k.​ Now, an opportunity to become neighbors with our closest friends became available. Or will be within a year. In the city, fun location, etc. Is it madness to consider selling? My mortgage rate now is 4%. More than likely that would be going up to ~6%. New property also valued at 520k. With what returns we get from selling plus some savings we would get pretty close to the same monthly payment/loan altered slightly for changes in taxes etc.

I imagine I will end up eating $50k or so due the cost of selling. I don't think the value of my home has changed significantly in just 5 years. Are there other things we should consider?

Hi all!

I currently have a mortgage rate of 2.9% with a balance of 250k. The house is worth 750k. I'm moving to a new home for which mortgage is already approved. My main question is what approach should I take with the current favourable mortgage given that my sibling is planning on stay here. I'd ideally like to get my equity out while at the same time passing onto the 2.9% rate onto them. This is not an assumable loan.

I understand the situation is tricky and I may not be able to do it all at the same time, so please provide suggestions for this situation. Thank you

Looking to live in the southern CT area. Trying to gage how much one should be making (gross or net) to afford about 4k per month. We have maybe above average spending as we like to go out and do some traveling and have student loans. I am Searching mostly on realtor.com so it seems like they include the mortgage, the property taxes and home insurance.

I recently started the home buying process and I’m a little anxious about the underwriting review of my last 2 months of bank statements.

Context: I sold my previous home and used part of the proceeds to pay off ~$25k in old credit card debt and other miscellaneous expenses. That created some large deposits and withdrawals in my main checking account. I believe an overdraft may have been posted. The remaining proceeds are sitting in a separate savings account with a solid balance, so I’m not actually low on funds, it just doesn’t look that way on paper for my checking account. In essence, my checking account (where my paystubs get deposited) ran really low the last 2 months due to paying off debt, moving expenses, bills, etc.

Otherwise my numbers are strong: good credit score, income more than comfortably supports the loan, DTI well under 30% (I am now completely debt free). I know underwriters like to see “clean” statements, but waiting another 2 months to sort out this account wasn’t really an option. I already waited a year for the right listing, and homes in this neighborhood move fast. Waiting longer risked losing the house entirely.

Has anyone gone through something similar? Is this likely to be a hard disqualifier, or is it something a letter of explanation (LOE) and proof of the other account can resolve? Any tips for how to present this to the lender proactively would be appreciated.

We have a 15-year mortgage with a 2.375% rate; we are 5 years into it. Now thinking of moving to a home that fits our wants/needs a little better now that we have kids and really hate the idea of giving up this great opportunity to accelerate our path to some kind of FIRE.

Is there a way to access our equity (Rocket says we have 240K, we owe 280K) and use it as our down payment on the next house? How would that work if we’d have our existing mortgage payment, new mortgage, and whatever we’d get in a HELOC?

We could easily cover the existing mortgage if we rented, so would the excess be used to cover the HELOC? Eventually I’d like to sell but would love to get a little more equity out of it (but still wanting to move now if we can).

Looking to leave the apartment life, my partner and I make $82k gross annually and while looking at these posts I am starting to get the feeling that isn't enough, but rent is getting ridiculous. We've got the 20% for down payment and closing costs, have a good cushion for emergencies. The Zillow ap says we can afford $375k - which I think is pushing it - and there are some good looking places in the $325k range that I think we can do comfortably. We don't have any loans or credit cards, just regular utility stuff and insurance payments. What are some things to look out for that you wish you knew first? Does this seem feasible or like a pipe dream?

I have an investment property that I would like to use to buy a seasonal vacation home. Both properties are in CT.

I have a main home (with a mortgage) and 2 investment properties. 1 is paid off, worth 300k and the other has about 80k left and worth about 350K. Excellent income and credit.

Wondering which way to go, Heloc or Heloan? Pro's Con's and which investment property is better to use, the one with a small mortgage left or the one that is free and clear. Thanks.

The amount of obnoxious concerns on here daily is hilarious… like calculators and financial planners exist…

Utilize them. 😆

We’re looking to move to our forever home and everything is expensive. Perfect homes are 850k but I think that’s a reach. We also live in a high tax area where taxes range from 10k to 15k/year. We can put down 20%, have two kids who will be school age when we move and no debt besides $120/month in student loans.

My fiance and I recently purchased our first home ($325k). On a combined income of $235k. It feels comfortable and I’m able to save aggressively (~$65k my first year). And that’s with aggressive renovations. (~$40k). But I desire more when it comes to a neighborhood/property.

I’d like to hear from the other side. People who purchased a home of around $500k-$700k on a comparable income. Is life everything you expected it to be?

*first off- obligatory fuck me, I know I’m lucky and bought at the right time

Details:

- home: 4 bed, 3.5 bath, 3700 sq ft w pool
- location: Indianapolis
- home value: ~$800k
- mortage: $1950 at 2.5%
- equity: ~50%

The Question:

My wife and I bought our house for $575k in 2020 with $70k down. Had it reappraised in 2021 to remove PMI

Since then we’ve had 3 kids and need a different space/better school system.

Trying to decide if it’s worth trying to rent or selling and taking equity value into a new home.

I think we could rent for ~$3000-4000k, but with upkeep expenses (it’s a 100 year old home, renovated in 2015, plus the pool maintenance/eventual repairs), I’m unsure if it makes sense over time.

Mortage on a larger home in a good school district would be closer to ~$1M, which would be a huge increase in monthly spend from what we have today.

I hate to leave a 2.5% interest rate, but am unsure if renting is wise on a higher end property. Any advice? Feel free to roast me, I know this is an annoying question

Location: North Dakota

We’re in a really confusing situation with our bank and I’m curious what others think because something about this feels very off.

Long story short, we had loans with our local bank and spent most of 2025 working through what we believed was an approved restructure/modification. We attended meetings, provided financials, sold assets, paid taxes they specifically told us to prioritize, and were repeatedly led to believe we were moving toward closing.

One major thing:

I sold a separate personal home in August 2025 and around $35,000 went directly to the bank in good faith to help stabilize everything. That home was NOT tied to this property.

Another important detail:

We only had a 30-day forbearance agreement that ended in August 2025. After that, the bank continued working with us, discussing restructuring, requesting documents, discussing title work/licensing, and leading us to believe things were still progressing all the way into February 2026.

At one point we even received a recorded Satisfaction/Release of Mortgage on our house and land, which confused us because later they still claimed everything was tied together through another loan involving a shop property.

Things got strange after my husband started asking questions about what exactly secured the debt and why title/legal descriptions kept changing or needing corrections. We weren’t refusing to pay — we were trying to understand the collateral because multiple title corrections and documents had inconsistencies.

After that, the tone completely changed.

Suddenly:

• We were told they questioned the “validity” of the loan

• The restructure stopped moving forward

• We were marked delinquent

• Then we received a denial letter later citing default/foreclosure issues

Another reason this is so confusing to us:

The total debt is roughly $200,000, while the property itself was appraised around $636,000. There is substantial equity in the property, which is why we were actively trying to refinance and work things out rather than walk away.

What’s bothering me is:

• We were advised by the banker to focus on paying property taxes first instead of loan payments

• We have texts showing this

• We were actively working with them the entire time

• They never clearly gave us reinstatement figures/options

• They continued discussions for months after the short forbearance expired while things were apparently deteriorating behind the scenes

• In January 2026, when I asked how things were going, we were still being told they were working on licensing/title items

Now they’re basically saying refinance or foreclosure.
****Our biggest hurdle right now is that while we were working with the bank on restructuring I had asked our banker if we should be paying on the loan since it was one month behind. He told me via text that you can but I would concentrate on getting property taxes caught up. Now they have us delinquent for a few months and no one will refinance!

Am I crazy for thinking this sounds misleading at best? Has anyone dealt with a bank continuing modification/restructure discussions for 6+ months after a short forbearance expired while simultaneously pushing a loan toward foreclosure/default status?

Also curious if anyone has experience with:

• cross-collateralized loans

• title/legal description errors

• mortgage releases/satisfactions later being disputed

• banks refusing to clarify collateral

• foreclosure while modification discussions were still ongoing

Would appreciate honest opinions from bankers, attorneys, or anyone who’s been through something similar.

Found a home that I plan on staying in for the foreseeable future. Rate is 6.25% I can pay $6,000 to buy down to 6% to save $100 per month. I would be winning on the breakeven in terms of staying in the house, but what are your guys thoughts on rate dropping before 5 years to refinance. Is it worth it to just keep the $6000 and put it into some upgrades to the house. Either way I’d be putting that money into the house? Mortgage company I’m using told me there will be no cost to refinance with them. Let me know if any other info would be helpful.

Hubby and I are looking to buy a house for around 200k-250k with between 2-4 bedrooms 1-2 bath. Luckily in our area there are a lot of options for this, so finding a house wouldn't be too complicated. We just don't know if we would qualify for a mortgage.

The situation:

We currently both do part time college, part time work. We are both on scholarships that pay 100% of tuition.

We have $0 dept and no expected oncoming debt in the coming years.

Between the two of us we average 2.3k/month in income (we are currently living with my dad which makes this possible for us right now).

Hubby has either an 800 credit score or extremely close (think 780 or 790), and I do not have a credit score because I have never had a credit card (yes, I know this is something I should do probably asap).

About 20% saved up for a downpayment in our price range. Still some left over for an emergency fund.

We plan on having a friend move in and renting a room from us. Potentially two friends if we get a 4 bedroom place. This would undoubtedly help with monthly costs.

Realistically I know we couldn't qualify making around 2k combined a month, so the question is how much more income would we need considering the good credit and $0 debt?

Would 3k be enough to get approved? 4k? Do lenders require a full time job vs one or two part time jobs? Will I need a credit score too if I am to be included on the mortgage and the deed of the house? Anything else that's not on my radar yet?