How Do New Lawyers Get Mortgages?
I'll be graduating in June. Although start dates have been pushed back, once I start I would like to buy a condo. Does anybody know how a First Year Associate goes about getting a mortgage? In particular, how do you circumvent the problem of having your income look like its only the 35K you earned over the past summer? Do most large law firm's have lenders with unique loan qualifications/processes for attorneys? Am I screwed?
(15) Comments
If your firm isn't going to help you out, consider joining a bar association.
For example, the NYC Bar Association has a member benefit on mortgages with Chase:
http://www.nycbar.org/JoinNYCBAR/BenefitsofMembership.htm#16
(They've also started programs to help deferred associates too.)
Whoever handles accounts for bar association members should be more knowledgeable about the personal finances specific to lawyers so you'll probably get less hassle from them.
HTH.
Thanks, any others particularly for people outside of NY where the bar isn't an option?
Citi banks 80% of the big firms. They typically have a private banking relationship for the benefit of the firms' attorneys. Through that relationship, first year attorneys can get loans. (The firms confirm your employment with them, and your annual salary.) If you are going to one of the few large firms that doesn't bank with Citi, I would suspect that whoever is banking your firm will have a similar relationship. If you are going to a mid-sized or smaller firm without a banking relationship, you may have to wait a year to show that your career has legs.
Why not try renting while the condo market continues deteriorating and then you'll be in better shape when you actually have some money instead of just the hope of money?
This would also save you the embarrassment of having the bank tell you that the firm would not confirm your employment since the start date is a fantasy.
You are not screwed, there is a solution for everything, just try and make the best decision and if you can ask someone. Good luck!
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always ask from trusted organization. good luck on your career.
there are different banks and financing corporations that offer this kind of assistance and finances to people like you, just be smart which one to choose.
Don't buy real estate now. It has not bottomed out. Once you own real estate, you are no longer flexible when it comes to changing jobs or careers. Remember, no job or career is secure in this current economy.
I got a mortgage fresh out of law school based in part on a letter from my firm indicating what my annual salary would be.
Of course, that was in 2005, when a mortgage company would accept a note from your mom written on a cocktail napkin indicating that you're certain to achieve vast fortune at some point. Times are different now. At least I hope.
(To be sure, I offer no opinion on whether it's a good idea to be buying real estate either in this market, or at this stage of your career.)
If you want to wait until you start working, or close to when you start working, you will have no problem. All the bank needs is confirmation from the law firm that (1) you do indeed have a job there and (2) your salary. Usually banks will only allow you to do this a month or less before your actual start date.
On a practical side, I would make doubly sure that you do have a job at a firm that is doing reasonably well before you even consider buying. All you need is a mortgage plus law school debt and no job.
I am curious as well.
Do you get a better interest rate if you go through your firm, assuming it has a relationship with a lender?
Of course lawyers get mortgages...just like any other professional around the globe.
You are a dumbass! It will not kill you to keep renting until you have a stable income and some savings built up for a down payment. And, as previously mentioned, the market has clearly not bottomed out yet.
This is not the time in your career, in your life, or in this economy to settle down with a mortgage and a home. There has never been anything wrong with WAITING.
You should also look into mortgages that are only available for lawyers and doctors. They offer 100% financing and no PMI fees. Just ask your bank if they offer these kinds of mortgages. This website talks about it generally, but I don't know if they are any good (probably better to just shop around on your own):
http://www.doctormortgagealliance.com/attorney-loans-s2146.html