FINANCING NEEDS

CHICAGO RELOCATION MORTGAGE LOANS AND HOME FINANCE

Relocation does NOT require corporate sponsorship of the relocating employee.  A corporate-sponsored relocating employee is defined as an employee who is transferred by a corporation or a newly hired employee of a corporation, who is seeking to finance the purchase of a primary residence at the new job location, and is sponsored financially by the corporation in some way. 

CHICAGO RELOCATION MORTGAGE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

In the case of the Chicago corporation actually sponsoring the relocating employee, the following is a rule-of-thumb guide:

  • Sponsorship must be at least the lessor of $5,000, 10% of the borrower's gross annual salary, or 3% of the loan amount.
  • The location of the borrower's new employment must be at least 50 miles from the prior location.
  • The borrower must submit written proof from the corporation of the corporate sponsorship such as an offer letter.  The employer's offer letter must be received on company letterhead referencing the borrower's hire date, salary, position and start date, signed by the employer's Human Resources representative.

Eligible property would be limited to SFR/1 Family (including condominiums, co-ops (IL, NJ and NY only) and PUD) type of homes.  Multi units would generally not be permitted.  Credit score requirements are slighty higher than non-sponsored relocation in the case of  a trailing secondary wage earner's income being utilized for qualification; an employer-provided interest rate buy down; a bridge loan needed for qualification etc.  Several mortgage loan programs are obsolete when using sponsorship features including Community Lending Loans, FHA/VA Loans and any FNMA/FHLMC automated approval.  Manual underwrites are usually the only acceptable source of approval.  Other limitations in LTV and Debt ratio calculations also apply. 

Relocating to Chicago With a Trailing Spouse

Trailing Co-Borrower Income can be used for qualifying purposes but may encounter restrictions on how much income is counted.  Some programs allow the entire salary to be utilized, some allow as little as 30%.  The second challenge can be cash reserves of the borrower depending upon the status of the current residence, the down payment on the new residence and the likelihood of gainful employment in the new area (Chicago we assume!).   Self employed trailing co-borrowers are ineligible to utilize income for loan qualification as no history of a self-owned business income can be supported when moving to a new market.

Chicago Corporate Relocation Sponsorship

Should a corporation NOT sponsor the relocation to Chicago and not provide any financial benefit to the relocating employee, the mortgage loan and financing is eligible for, and structured like, any other local home buyer purchase transaction.  Depending upon for what the borrower will qualify, all mortgage programs available for Chicago locals will be available for the relocating employee.  The employer's offer letter must be received and reviewed by the loan officer and all other standard guidelines must be met. 

CALL
JON MILLER
DIRECTLY AT:
312.738.6013 jmiller@chicagobancorp.com