Need solutions to a unique financing situation

[Casey Ferry]

Hello a unique situation with timing of trying to get pre-approved for a loan and looking for a solution to this problem. I am looking to buy my first property (single family that can easily be converted into a duplex to house hack which is my plan) I am in the military and am deploying in April and can use my deployment orders to move my wife to her home of residence which is back in Oregon. This way I can use a VA loan there. The problem is I don't have 12 months of retainability so I can not use my income and she is still job searching (plus about 2/3 of our potential income is what I make). I attempted to go the FHA route as well but ran into a similar problem because my date of separation is on the LES and the FHA will not qualify as such. We are currently waiting for some of her interviews to go through to use her income to pre-qualify with a letter of intent but that could take a while and we would like to make an offer on this property because the area is rural and there are not many house hacking opportunities there. Trying to look into a lease to own or something similar but do not know enough about it or if there are any other options.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post! 

[Caroline Gerardo]

I assume the suggestion above to put 20% down is impossible.

Talk with owner. Get an agreement in writing to purchase for x price on June 1 2023. Agree to rent the property for seven months at market rate. She needs an actual real job offer and first paycheck to close. Give yourselves the time to move, her to settle into happy job, you save a little cash, and you will have the 12 months to close a VA loan. The VA product is cheaper than a FHA.

Don't remodel but get everything lined up to do so, maybe even she gets a roommate to cover expenses while you wait.

If the house is free and clear you can ask seller to carry a promissory note but generally they are going to want a larger down payment than the zero down that VA affords or 3.5 that FHA does.