Buying a house
 

Sorry if this is in he wrong forum but I didn't know where to put it. So anyway, has anyone here baught a house while just being a professional poker player? If I put 40-50% down and show bank statements will they care I don't have a "real" job? Anyone have any expierience with this?

Re: Buying a house
 

bump.

ive been thinking about this for a long time myself and dont know the answer.

Re: Buying a house
 

Im not American, but you can loans against assets even if you have no income (on paper) but you may be looking at a slightly higher rate of interest.

Id be interested to hear who people have got there finance through in the US!

Re: Buying a house
 

You can get a non verification mortgage as long as you are willing to put more money down and are willing to pay a higher interest rate. If your credit is perfect,and with the 40% you are looking to put down, you should have no problem. Talk to a good mortgage broker in your area.

Re: Buying a house
 

If you are willing to put 40% down you should be able to get a mortgage with just your credit score. Here is a link from a radio program that is on every Sunday in Detroit:

https://www.rockfinancial.com/home-l....html?lid=1682

Re: Buying a house
 

No doc is the way to go, and if your credit is 750ish or higher, you can get away with 10% down; right now it's silly not to leverage the mortgage since money is cheap and you'll want to maximize your tax deductions.

Unless you have a 3 year+ audited history (with tax returns) of 6-figure income from poker, telling a bank you're a "poker pro" is pretty much suicide - you might as well tell them you're a professional casino patron. Even with the history, I'd probably bull$hit them and make it look like it's derived from a legitimate internet business; but I digress.

Buy the house, you won't regret it.

Re: Buying a house
 

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right now it's silly not to leverage the mortgage since money is cheap and you'll want to maximize your tax deductions.


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I'm certainly no expert, but I think this is bad advice for most people.

Re: Buying a house
 

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Even with the history, I'd probably bull$hit them and make it look like it's derived from a legitimate internet business; but I digress.


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However, before you start down this road, be certain you are damn sure exactly what is and is not considered fraud.

I would suggest asking a lawyer for clarification, but they would probably tell you that BSing to get a loan of several hundred thousand dollars is a little bit insane.

Re: Buying a house
 

being a professional gambler, you're technically self-employed. in order to use self-employment as your "job" most lenders require you to give them 2 years tax returns showing how much you make.

if you haven't been doing it for two years, then there are a couple of other things. you can do a stated income (they verify your assets, but not income) or no doc (they don't verify anything except credit score). you have to have good (700+) credit to qualify for both of these and they both typically have a bump in the rate.

countrywide has one program for 700+ credit scores called the "fast and easy" where everything is based off of your score and, i think, the rate is actually a little lower.

my suggestion would be to talk to a mortgage broker (not a bank or mortgage company) because they have access to a lot of different lenders and programs and will probably know what you'd need to do based on your credit score.

my girlfriend was a loan officer until last week, so we've talked all about this sort of stuff. feel free to PM me with more specific questions...if i don't know the answer, i'm sure she will...

Re: Buying a house
 

Allow me to clarify:

a) By leveraging the mortgage I mean within the confines of your budget; i.e. even if you have a pile of $500,000 cash and intend to buy a similarly priced house, there are advantages to mortgaging it at 10% down versus 50%, or paying cash outright.

b) As far as misrepresenting the source of your income, there is a less than 1% chance the IRS or a bank will verify that an Ecash transaction into your checking account came from online gambling versus whatever you claim. The former frankly doesn't care as long as you pay your tax obligations; the latter cares since it's a credit risk.

It's all moot anyway; right now the spread between doc and no-doc loans is not significant if your credit is high, so there's no need to divulge the above. All I'm trying to say is if you do have verifiable income going back 3 years, as much as you try to legitimize "poker income" the bank likely will not differentiate you from a slot machine player. Go no doc, end of story.

Consult your attorney is always good advice, of course.