Job Longevity and Buying a House

July 2, 2013 8:30 PM

If I leave my current job, and I putting my ability to close on a house in danger?

My current restaurant job is really starting to suck. Hours being cut, randomly given dish shifts, stuff like that.

I'm looking for a second job. If I find someone who is willing to give me full time hours, how important is it that I stay at my current place?

When I moved where I am now I started washing dishes and prepping at a big around town chef's new restaurant. Stayed there around 20 months and left when it became apparent that their promises to move me onto the line were lies.

Went to an established place in town and stayed there for about 3 months. That was a terrible fit and I left. Went on another 3 month stay at another terrible place that shut diwn not long after I left. Then another 3 month stay at a place where I could handle prep so they moved me to the line. Couldn't keep up with their standards and was let go.

I've been at my current job since December. I'd really like to stay at a place for a while but apparently I suck at finding restaurants to work at. That's an issue for another time.

I won't be leaving this job unless I have something else that gives me so many hours I can't work both. But my wife is worried that it will look bad and have a negative impact on us if I leave where I currently work.

posted by theichibun to Work & Money (11 answers total)

What's your timetable for closing on the house? Have you been pre-approved for the loan?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:33 PM on July 2, 2013

The bank who did the mortgage on my house called my then-employer to re-verify that I still worked there a couple of hours before closing. I don't know what would have happened if I had changed jobs between applying and closing on the house, but I can't imagine that it wouldn't have had at least some negative impact on the process.
posted by deadmessenger at 8:35 PM on July 2, 2013

Response by poster: Yes on the approval. Closing in November. It's a community where they're building the houses as people buy them.
posted by theichibun at 9:09 PM on July 2, 2013

Best answer: Talk to your mortgage lender. I bought a house a few years ago, not long after changing jobs (though I changed jobs before I started the house-buying process). The lender told me that as long as I was staying in the same industry, I'd be fine.
posted by Hatashran at 9:12 PM on July 2, 2013

Best answer: My husband was looking for another job when we bought our first house, and we asked our lender this question. We were told that as long as he stayed in the same industry, that switching jobs was ok. You should ask your lender what their policy is, because I have no idea if that is universal or just a quirk of our lender.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:13 PM on July 2, 2013

Or what Hatashran said.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:14 PM on July 2, 2013

I swapped jobs in the middle of closing. I'm salaried, so this may not apply to your position - the broker needed a letter of intent with the new salary, and everything was peachy. I'm not certain what the equivalent would be in the hourly world - maybe a letter with the hours and pay per hour the new boss promises? It also helped that I was in the same field of work at the new position.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:33 AM on July 3, 2013

Also depends on if it's a special builder financer or just a regular old bank. I've done it through the special financer but as long as the industry/money was the same or better there seemed to be no problem. However, this was in the bubble up time as things were aching to burst in 2004; the mortgage was sold before we even signed to a major bank that was too big to fail.
posted by tilde at 5:42 AM on July 3, 2013

Best answer: Mortgage underwriters are obsessed with seemingly irrelevant details. There are various reasons for this, some of which even make sense. E.g. they want to be able to resell your mortgage as part of a package in which all the mortgages in it have similar characteristics. For this reason they will continue to check and recheck various details as your closing time approaches. Different pieces of information they have on you will "expire" along the way and need re-verification. Any changes you make (such as leaving a job) will shake up their collection of data and require a bunch of new paperwork. This doesn't mean you can't do it. It means you'll have to jump through new hoops. Chances are this will be more of an annoyance than anything else but it is best not to surprise them by making "sudden moves." Plan out in detail what you will do and discuss with them before you do it.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:52 AM on July 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

It also depends on whose income is more 'important' to the mortgage. If your wife is the major wage earner in your family, then it may not matter as much.

Have a conversation with your lender though.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:56 AM on July 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wife talked to people involved and confirmed what was said above. Which is really great news for me.
posted by theichibun at 6:58 AM on July 8, 2013