Conventional mortgage without a premanent JOB

[Blake Reynolds]

I have been looking around to finance my first home, hopefully a small multifamily that I can live in while renting out the other unit/s. I currently am working a contract position that is not permanent and from asking around it seems like it is hard to get approved for a conventional mortgage when you do not have permanent employment.

Does anyone have any experience or advice on other forms of lending or financial institutions that accommodate for individuals in this position?

I recently graduated form college and just entered the workforce so I don't have a lot of recent employment history and I don't have a lot of money saved up to this point so I am looking to do an FHA loan.

[Jan H.]

Have you tried with any banks yet? What I can tell you is not to take "No' for an answer.

My experience is that larger banks (BOA, Chase, Wells Fargo etc.) have pretty strict guidelines and someone in a New York office cubicle somewhere on the 55th floor looks at your application and decides about it. I've been told no by 4 banks and 3 mortgage brokers   that I can not get a loan because I had a shorts sale 2.5 years ago. Had nothing to lose and went to our small community bank, I was able to talk to the underwriter himself, I explained my situation and he gave me a loan. If you have good credit and own assets, that will definitely help. I would highly recommend start building a relationship with smaller, local banks, they are golden.

I told my story to the mortgage brokers who told me "No way you can get a loan for 7 years, blah...blah...blah" and they could not believe me. They call it luck, I call it not giving up. You can do it!