How do you quit your day job if you need a job to get a loan?

[Jeremy Davis]

Hey everyone, 

I live in Los Angeles, got married just before Covid hit, and my wife and I want to move to another state to start our lives, and hopefully a new financial freedom in real estate investment. Whichever the investment strategy, we have fantastic credit, under 10% debt to credit, and more than enough cash savings to provide for a solid 20%+ down payment in any over-priced market, Problem is, we don't know how to get a loan if we need to prove income but we cant prove income because we are "non-essential". With all of Los Angeles shut down, the longer we are unemployed, the more we dip into savings, and we can't move to another state to buy property unless we have a job which we can't get unless we are a resident of that new state.... quite the conundrum. 

So help me brainstorm, how do we get out of our "day job" to commit all of our time to this new career endeavor? What does a lender need to provide a loan to a person that only does REI?

How did you guys start doing this full time?
Thanks in advance

[JD Martin]

Relocating without jobs:

1. Person A relocates without Person B, hopefully with a job, and lives as absolute cheap as possible.

2. Person B goes on job search (electronically) in area where Person A is now working, lines up interviews, and or jobs.

3. Person B moves back to Person A. 

If you don't have the financial means to withstand a long period of unemployment and related costs to moving somewhere else, then that is the most logical alternative. In this scenario, Person A is, ideally, the person without a job right now, such that they aren't really contributing financially anyway. They have the ability to go somewhere else and get a job. In a good scenario, you would be going somewhere that you already have connections and is probably a lot cheaper than where you already are. Then Person A couch-surfs with a friend or moves back in with the parents while they bankroll money. Once they have enough money bankrolled to open up a household, Person B leaves their job and comes back to Person A in new household. In a good scenario, Person B has been looking for a job the whole time while Person A is socking away cash and finds a job about the same time as there's enough money to start a new household. In a less than ideal situation, Person B just quits their job and relocates and starts from scratch in the new location.

This scenario is the one that immigrants have used for at least a hundred years. The modified immigrant version leaves people behind in the home country while one person goes forth, gets started, then brings the others in. You're doing the same thing, only immigrating from LA to Cleveland or Kansas City or somewhere else that works for you. 

It requires sacrifice - time apart - and most people aren't willing to do that or aren't confident enough in their relationship to believe it can survive the distance.