Having a Baby &/or Getting a Mortgage (Renewal)

Hi, everyone. How are you? It's Leah Coss with The Mortgage Centre. Now, having a baby is obviously an awesome time in your life. It's a very emotional decision. But it also needs to be a financial decision. You want to make sure that you're not withholding anything from your baby's lifestyle. You want them to have the best growing up. And so, likewise, you should be looking at your finances before having a child, which most of us know. But, one thing that we don't always look at is our mortgage. Do we currently own a home? If not, do we want to? And then, secondly, if we do already own a home, when is it time to renew or refinance? Because, once you get pregnant, or once the bank hears that you're wanting to get pregnant or that you are pregnant, they don't like that so much. They're not sharing in the warm and fuzzy emotional time in your life. What they're actually seeing is, "Great. That means the wife ain't going to be working for the next nine months, or for however long her mat leave ends up being."
As well, it is fact, but many women, a majority of women, who end up getting pregnant and going on mat leave never actually return back to work. And that's a scary fact for a bank, because what that's essentially saying is, "On the income that we qualified you originally for your mortgage, you're not having that income anymore. Therefore, can you hold yourself above water?" Not to mention the fact that now you have another body to feed and clothe and all the other stuff that goes in with having a child.
So, just some advice for you. If you currently do not own a home, then, before you go and start getting pregnant, get a mortgage. Buy that home that you want, get comfortable and get approved, and then go off, have your child, enjoy the emotional time without the financial stress of trying to buy a home while your wife is on mat leave.
If you already own a home, take a look at when you're coming up for a renewal, because, if you're coming up for a renewal and the bank finds out that you're having a baby or that the income situation has changed, or if you're one of the smart people out there and you know better that upon renewal you should be changing lenders so that you can get a better competitive rate, then you're going to need to re qualify with your income again.
That means that if your wife is on mat leave, or if she is quite pregnant and the banks know that, they are going to eliminate her income. They may take into consideration her mat leave income, which is normally around half or so, depending on the company that you're with. But, like I said, there's that scary statistic that hangs in the back of the bank's mind, knowing that, I think it's like a scary 60 or 70 percent of you ladies who get knocked up, you don't actually go back to work. And that's a scary situation for a bank, as well as yourself, because now you don't have the same income to pay for your debts.
So, that's my advice for today. It's somewhat of a hard nosed line or advice when it comes to something that is so emotional, like having a child. But is the reality of the situation, and I don't want you to have to stress of renewing or purchasing a home on your mind during such a happy time in your life.
So, if you have any questions about this, or if you'd like to get into a home now or refinance or renew now, before you go and have any more babies, then give me a call. Leah Coss with The Mortgage Centre. Thanks so much.

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