How long do you have to wait to qualify for a new mortgage after buying a home?

By Harry Jensen, Trusted Mortgage Expert with 45+ Years of Experience

Edited by Michael Jensen, Mortgage and Finance Guru

Updated October 20, 2020

If you obtained an owner occupied mortgage to buy the home, you are usually required to wait six months before you refinance the mortgage.  If you want to buy a new home, you are typically not eligible for a new owner occupied loan on a different property for a year unless you sell your current home.

When you apply for the new mortgage on a different property, the details of the loan on your existing property are discovered by the lender. As long as you have not sold your current property and that mortgage remains outstanding, you are not eligible for a second owner-occupied mortgage within a year, even if you intend to move out of your current property and live in the new home.

Lenders apply these guidelines because they do not want you to buy a property that you indicated would be your primary residence even though you always intended to move out of the home and use it as a rental property soon after your mortgage closed.

While you may be able to qualify for a non-owner occupied loan within a year, the mortgage terms are more expensive and the qualification guidelines are stricter, which is an important to understand if you want to buy a new home but keep your current one.

One possible way to obtain a second owner occupied mortgage within the specified waiting period is if the new loan is for a second home or vacation property.  In this scenario your loan terms including your mortgage rate should be better than the terms for an investment property.

Please note that if you are moving to a different county for a new job, you may be able to qualify for an owner occupied mortgage on your primary residence but you need to provide documents that verify your job transfer. 

To summarize, you are usually required to wait six months (for a refinance) or twelve months (for a home purchase unless you sell your current primary residence) before you can qualify for a new mortgage after buying a home or refinancing your current mortgage.  If you are willing to meet the required waiting period or if you purchase a property located in a different county, you should be able to qualify for a new owner-occupied loan and benefit from better mortgage terms.

Because mortgage terms and underwriting guidelines, we recommend that you contact multiple lenders in the table below to confirm their qualification requirements.  Shopping lenders is also the best way to save money on your mortgage.

Sources

"B2-1.1-01, Occupancy Types."  Selling Guide: Fannie Mae Single Family.  Fannie Mae, May 1 2019.  Web.