The growing number of gig economy workers in this country may have the freedom to work whenever they want, and sometimes from wherever they want, but when it comes to buying a home, all of that freedom has its price.
It turns out employees who have many part-time jobs, hops from one short-term contract or project to the next, or rely on freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs, don’t come packaged in the tidy financial box that mortgage lenders typically like.
Historically the mortgage industry wants everything — residency, credit score and a two-year history of employment. And we’re also trying to predict the likelihood of that continuing for the next three years. With the gig economy, we’re seeing less and fewer people fitting in that box.
Gig economy workers don’t often have the requisite stack of W-2s to document wages. And predictions for future income can be murky. All of which can make obtaining a mortgage an uphill climb unless you, as the gig economy worker, do your homework and start preparing your finances and paperwork well in advance.
Here are six tips to help prepare you for the home loan application process.
1. Get Organized
The No. 1 piece of advice for gig economy workers who want to own a home is to spend time organizing all of your documentation, including proof of employment and income, the names and phone numbers of references, previous employers, landlords and more.
You’ll also want to pull your credit scores so you know exactly where you stand. Within Kenya, we have three institutions with clearance to check on none performing loans, Transunion, Metropol and CreditInfo.
Related: How to check Credit score status online Kenya
Have all of your records, have all the dates of where you worked, who you worked for. It’s going to be onerous from a documentation standpoint, but you need to be prepared.
Gathering this information is more important for gig economy workers than typical borrowers because you will have to work harder to convince a mortgage lender to approve a home loan.
2. Go the Extra Mile to Educate Your Mortgage Lender
You need to be able to explain to your mortgage lender what you do for a living.
Take the time to educate them about your job. Perhaps print out a news article or other information that will help a lender understand what you do.
You need to prove that your past two years are normal. And that the likelihood of continuance is there. Be prepared to supply a lot of documentation for that, such as articles about your industry. Things of that nature go a long way. The mortgage lender is not going to make a decision based on it, but it will help create a level of comfort.
In addition, showing consistency in terms of the type of work you do will improve your chances of obtaining a mortgage.
A mortgage underwriter is looking for a stable history. Even if the gigs themselves start and stop frequently, gigs within the same industry or utilizing the same skill set will be considered more favourably.
3. Ease Up on the Deductions…
Self-employed individuals, as gig economy workers typically are, often use a Schedule C when filing taxes to report income and write off numerous expenses tied to working the way they do.
The downside of deducting a long list of expenses from your income is that it reduces your profits on paper. You may bring in kes 7,300,000 in a given year. But after deducting the cost of everything from internet and cell phone bills, to travel, business meals and professional memberships, your net income on paper may be far less.
Use caution in how you’re deducting expenses as it’s the net income that’s used to qualify for a mortgage, not the gross pay. Although it’s tempting to use the full breadth of the KRA tax laws to reduce taxable income, but every shilling that is reduced from that taxable income reduces the income that can be used for qualifying for a mortgage.
So, if you know you want to buy a home in the near future, consider forgoing some or all of the deductions for a year or two to increase the income you’re reporting.
Related: Mortgage Mistakes to Avoid if you’re Self Employed
4. Talk With a Mortgage Officer About Your Goals
Before completely doing away with claiming any or all expenses on your tax return, however, talk to a mortgage officer about your home buying goals.
Go to a mortgage officer and say, ‘This is the amount of home I want to buy, how much income will I need to show?’. Don’t just arbitrarily stop writing things off.
In other words, get educated about the income you’ll need to show on paper first, before throwing write-offs out the window. Once you’ve identified how much mortgage you’d like, it will be easier to determine what the monthly mortgage payment would be and thus, how much income you’ll need to be able to document.
The first step is to talk to a mortgage loan officer and then take that information to your tax preparer and say, ‘This is the number I need to hit in terms of income.
5. Get Your Debt Down
Let’s stress this one more time — because you are a gig economy worker, mortgage lenders will require more assurance that you’re qualified for a loan and that you’re a good risk.
To that end, work to get your debt down to zero, or as low as possible before applying for a mortgage, and keep your credit score in excellent standing.
Self-employed borrowers are going to be held to a higher standard because there is an added layer of risk with them.