Buying a home without a job after retirement

[CactusSurfer]

Is it possible to buy a home with assets but no job after retirement? Do HOAs, condo boards, or sellers want to see a job or regular income like a pension? Or do you just need to show up with the money? I'm about two years from financial independence and I want to move someplace cheaper and less subject to climate change at that point. I'm in Tucson in case any of you are curious. I've rented all my adult life so I have absolutely no idea what's involved in buying a home.

[chenda]

Vendors just want cash, the won't care about your income. You might need to provide proof of financing i.e. confirm you have x amount of cash in your bank account before they accept an offer.

[unemployable]

Co-ops in places like NYC will basically interview you about your life and can vote you down.

Otherwise, not likely if you're paying cash. If you're looking to finance it may be easier and cheaper to get a margin loan than a traditional mortgage, or pull assets from IRAs, which can't be put up as collateral.

We've had a few discussions about renting without a job, one thread is here: viewtopic.php?t=10520 Unfortunately real estate in the US has become markedly less affordable since that was written.

[Ego]

If you are buying into a coop you may need to apply to the board and get approved before purchasing. The application process can be rather intrusive. That said, they must follow fair housing rules so they cannot discriminate the usual categories. In many states, including Arizona, source of funding cannot be considered as long as it is legal. So you do not have to worry about that. Though there are a lot of gray areas.

[take2]

If you’re buying cash for a single family home you should be fine. If you need financing then obtaining a mortgage may be a bigger issue.

+1 to unemployable if you do need financing.

[white belt]

If you're looking to finance it may be easier and cheaper to get a margin loan than a traditional mortgage, or pull assets from IRAs, which can't be put up as collateral.

Can you elaborate on this? 30 year mortgage rates are between 6-7%, while Fidelity margin loan rates are 9.5% for assets from 250k-500k. So I’m not understanding how it is cheaper unless you’re saying that you don’t need a down payment, so you can increase leverage.

[unemployable]

Can you elaborate on this?

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/t ... -rates.php

IBKR right now is 6.83 on the first 100k and then 6.33 up to a million. This might be a wash versus an ordinary mortgage right now but most of the time it's lower by about a whole handle.

Other benefits include that a margin loan looks like cash to the seller, lower closing costs and some stuff can be skipped in the buying process, you do own the home outright (it's not collateral against the loan, your stonks are) and the process of getting the loan is probably more straightforward.

Naturally you want to have a plan for anticipating and meeting margin calls.

[jennypenny]

You used to be able to get a no-doc mortgage with 50% down. I think they were specifically called NINA/NIVA depending on whether you were using personal assets or anticipated rental income to cover the payments. Not sure if these are still available?

[Gewie]

As others have said, no one asks about your income or credit history if you can pay cash. Having cash means you have additional opportunities to get a better price if you are willing to consider homes that are foreclosed or otherwise cannot be mortgaged. Some of these homes can be in pretty bad shape, but I think generally if you are willing to put in some work the return on your time (ROI?) can be quite high if you find the right house. Having cash also means you can take as much time as you want to wait for the right house to come along.