http://theneuronproject.disqus.com/enTue, 07 May 2013 15:41:24 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2012/09/25/how-to-buy-a-house-while-getting-your-phd/#comment-888443798<p>Well... Canada may have different loan policies than the standard FHA government secured loans here in the U.S. But you should definitely consider the option. Just be careful not to realize buying a home is like adding an additional 5 credit class to your schedule!</p>NateFriedTue, 07 May 2013 15:41:24 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2012/09/25/how-to-buy-a-house-while-getting-your-phd/#comment-888227904<p>.</p>T.Tue, 07 May 2013 11:15:40 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2012/09/25/how-to-buy-a-house-while-getting-your-phd/#comment-864538176<p>Hey! Thanks for taking a read of the article! I'm glad it was helpful. The underwriting process was hell... very VERY scary. But, that is the last step in the process. The first is getting a mortgage company to take you on. Lending Tree straight out said NO to my income being stipend based. Trident Mortgage company said "YES", and so did a local Philly bank, Hyperion Bank. I approached both of them at first by saying, "I work at Thomas Jefferson University and I make $27K/yr." This, along with some documentation, allowed me to acquire the pre-approval. I told them I was going to get an FHA loan which requires the circumstances above to be met 1) if getting a stipend, you need to prove that you have had it for 2 yrs and 2) that you will get it for another 3 yrs.</p><p>Once I had found the house I wanted, they asked for more specifics, so I found a group of letters that disclosed that my stipend wouldn't change in the future and that I would have it for another 3 years. With a PhD program, you can't predict when you will be finished, but it shouldn't be too hard to get a program director to say the expected graduation date is 5-6 yrs after you started.</p><p>At this point, Hyperion bank was cheaper, so I went with them. As I approached closing, they said everything was fine. It went through one underwriter who flagged it and asked for more information. I got them the letters they wanted, but they flagged it again. I went back and forth like this for a couple weeks. They would ask for confirmation of something. I would provide it. They would say, "Yeah, thats cool, but we still are hesitant to approve this."</p><p>Eventually, I dropped them and went with Trident, about $1500 more at closing... of course, I haggled them down a little. This time, they needed to confirm that my stipend had taxes taken out with every check. This was fine since, at the time, I was on a W2 before my fellowship kicked in. This time, it went their underwriters and everything was fine. There were a couple hickups, but they were totally cool.</p><p>So what I learned is that the underwriters will kill your application if they had a bad day, and if it is flagged once, it is hard to move passed that.</p><p>They verified my stipend income by looking at my W2s and 1099-MISCs from 2010 and 2011. They also wanted copies of my most recent paychecks as well as copies of bank statements going back 3 months. With that, I needed to confirm every transaction in my bank account. They even asked for paychecks to my landlord dating back 12 months, and signed testimonial that I had room mates who paid part of the rent.</p><p>Hyperion Bank called my school (the financial lady knew exactly what I was doing so she sweet talked them with whatever info they needed.) But I don't believe Trident Mortgage called the school.</p><p>With all this in mind, I would advise you to find a mortgage company/bank, get pre-approved with the intention of getting an FHA loan (since these support applications with stipend as income), and start looking for a house. You should probably get a pre-approval with multiple mortgage companies just in case one backs out last minute when they get "iffy" about your stipend income.</p><p>Hope this helps, and do ask any other questions along the way! Its exciting to get a house. The one I got last year has been tons of fun, and as my neighborhood is growing, I'm getting excited thinking about how I have made my first smart investment!</p>NateFriedMon, 15 Apr 2013 13:54:53 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2012/09/25/how-to-buy-a-house-while-getting-your-phd/#comment-861373697<p>Hi Nathan- Thanks for posting this! There are not alot of sources for aphD students looking to do something similar. Im at the end of the second year of my program and thinking about buying based on fellowship income. I am curious about the underwriting process, how did they verify your stipend amount? Did they call your school, ask for bank statements,etc?</p>KarenFri, 12 Apr 2013 19:42:10 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2012/01/14/interested-in-the-brain-write-for-the-neuron-project/#comment-410331005<p>Great website to write for!</p>GuestFri, 13 Jan 2012 22:09:50 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2011/09/21/singularity/#comment-333934585<p>One can hope thought right?</p>NateFriedThu, 13 Oct 2011 15:44:22 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2011/01/04/eight-lessons-for-a-science-writer-wannabe/#comment-334191318<p>Thanks for sharing!</p>Ilana PappalardoTue, 16 Aug 2011 22:17:09 -0000http://www.theneuronproject.com/2010/11/03/scientists-erase-memory-of-mice/#comment-334191201<p>That's flipping scary! ...but possibly good? If they achieved it in humans, I could stop drinking to forget.</p>TreyTue, 02 Nov 2010 21:27:56 -0000