I hope you are well! I am sure loving this sunshine! I'm a much nicer person with a tan. HAHA.
I would definitely say that the mortgage industry is about the slowest to catch up with the times. Sometimes it feels like a grumpy, curmudgeon grandpa that won't consider anything other than "his way or the highway". I have often let out deep, annoyed sighs when we have had lending limitations on tiny houses, family commune and off grid properties as well as alternative forms of income, even if they were consistent and verifiable. This has made me pull my hair out because people are needing to get creative with housing these days in order to make it affordable! One such income is cannabis growth and distribution. That has been a hard stop for a long time. Most investors would allow for income from EMPLOYEES of cannabis industry to be included in the debt to income calculation but NEVER would allow for OWNERS of these businesses to use their income for the file. What was even more crazy was that, most of the time, the income was awesome, there had been a long-standing history of receiving it AND an excellent prospect it would continue.
I had a realtor friend of mine approach me with just this such client and I assured him I thought we could find a home for their loan. We are a newer mortgage brokerage and the options for financing have just exploded in front of me. I promised I would find an investor willing to play in the sandbox with cannabis distribution income. I got a few no's but very quickly found interest with one of my favorite non-QM investors. They were VERY interested! We were able to put together a bank statement loan from a very healthy cannabis distribution business!!! It was AMAZING! The client was incredible and super willing to jump through any hoops necessary.
I was completely FLOORED when everything went perfectly! This beautiful little family was able to buy a gorgeous home in Bozeman using income NEVER BEFORE used! They are over the moon excited and so am I!
What I love so much about being a mortgage broker is all the options. We have investors competing for our business and coming to the table with solutions! No longer are we limited by the same 5 products with their tight little box of requirements! I am a problem solver, I'm really good at manipulating the puzzle pieces until I find a legal and compliant way to make it work! This was a perfect example of that and I'm just smiling ear to ear about it!
If you know folks in the cannabis industry that keep getting the door slammed in their face by other lenders, send them my way! We would love to say YES to them!!
Hope you have a great week!