> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Moving To Another State? What Happens To Your Pre-Approval - URL: https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/moving-to-another-state-what-happens-to-your-pre-approval/ - Published: 2022-08-17T21:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-04T21:30:57.000Z - Description: Most loan officers are licensed in one state - so if you change your mind about where you're moving, your pre-approval doesn't move with you. Debbie explains what actually transfers, why you don't have to start the new job first, and the research list every relocating buyer should work through. - Author: Deborah Marcoux - Tags: Podcast, Mortgage Mom Radio, #episode-backfill Mortgage Mom Radio • “Relocating To A New State” • Live show from Wednesday, August 17, 2022 • 56 minutes • Hosted by Debbie Marcoux, NMLS #237926 Most loan officers hold a license in exactly one state — the one they live in. That's fine until you change your mind about where you're moving. In this episode Debbie explains what actually happens to your pre-approval when you switch states mid-search, why a multi-state lender saves you from starting over, and the research list she wants every relocating buyer to work through before they pick a destination. ## Key takeaways - **Change states, change lenders, start over.** If your loan officer isn't licensed where you decide to buy, a new lender has to re-pull your credit, take a new application, and collect every document again. Working with a lender licensed in several states means a change of heart costs you a phone call instead of weeks. - **You do not have to start the new job first.** With a relocation or a new position in the same field, Debbie works from your offer letter — verifying the employer, the start date, the pay, and that you've cleared every contingency in the offer (drug screen, background check). No move required, no first paycheck required. - **“Pre-approved” and “pre-qualified” are not the same word.** A pre-qualification is a loan officer's opinion. A pre-approval is an *underwritten loan commitment* — an underwriter has actually reviewed your file. Ask your lender, out loud, which one you're getting. - **Moving somewhere with cheaper taxes raises your buying power.** Qualifying is based on the whole housing payment — principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA. Lower property taxes and cheaper insurance in the new state means you qualify for a higher price. - **Remote income and sign-on bonuses both count.** If your employer confirms you're remote and your pay doesn't change with location, that's the income Debbie qualifies you on. A verifiable sign-on bonus — part of a relocation package or not — can go toward your down payment and closing costs. - **Never trust the payment on a listing app.** Those estimates typically use the seller's current tax basis, not the one you'll be assessed at, and often skip mortgage insurance entirely. - **Do the homework before you fall in love with a state.** Debbie's list: state income tax, state sales tax, and the county property tax rate (they trade off against each other), schools and specific programs, distance to an airport, medical care you actually need, air quality, weather you can live with year-round, and the small daily stuff — which stores are there, whether delivery services run in that area. ## Chapters - 00:43The Great Migration — and why this show isn't “leaving California” - 06:20Why most loan officers can only lend in one state - 07:22The states Debbie is licensed in - 08:56The states where she'd tell you to use a local lender instead - 11:39Q&A: do you have to re-qualify if you change states? - 14:43Agent referrals in the state you're moving to - 18:43Q&A: buying before you start the new job - 22:48Q&A: lower property taxes, bigger loan amount - 24:21Q&A: get pre-approved before you shop, not after - 26:26Q&A: pre-qualified vs. fully underwritten - 31:38Q&A: transferring in 90 days — can you buy now? - 34:13Q&A: does an underwritten approval beat a competing offer? - 36:19Q&A: working remotely, and using a sign-on bonus - 38:24What to research before you pick a state - 49:33Q&A: filling in taxes and insurance on an affordability calculator - 54:11Wrap-up ## Questions answered on this show ### “If I qualify for a home in one state, do I have to re-qualify if I decide to move to a different one?” With a lender who is only licensed in the first state, yes — completely. Say you get pre-approved for Florida, then decide on Texas. That lender has already pulled your credit, taken your application, and collected your pay stubs, asset statements and ID. If they aren't licensed in Texas, none of it transfers. You're back at square one with a new lender, a new credit pull, and every document sent again. Debbie's point in doing this show: if you genuinely don't know where you're going yet, start with a lender licensed in several of the states you're considering, and tell them the whole list. ### “I'm relocating and I already have the new job. Do I have to start the job before I can get a loan?” No. If you're staying in the same industry — or you just graduated and the offer is in the field you studied — the loan works off your offer letter. Debbie verifies with the employer that they are hiring you, that the terms in the offer still stand, what your start date is, and that you've completed every contingency in the offer, such as a drug test or a background check. You don't have to move first and you don't have to work a day first. You do have to have the job secured in a way that can be verified. ### “I'm moving from California to a state with lower property taxes. Would I qualify for a bigger loan amount?” Yes. Qualifying looks at the entire housing cost — principal, interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, everything that makes up the payment. If taxes and insurance are cheaper where you're going, more of your income is left for principal and interest, so the sales price you qualify for goes up. ### “Is it better to qualify for a loan before I move, or wait until I find a home?” Always get pre-approved before you start looking — whether you're moving across the country or across town. Getting fully approved can take a couple of weeks; a house you love can come and go in that time. And you may be shopping at the wrong price entirely. You might not qualify for the neighborhood average you assumed was yours, or you might qualify for considerably more than you thought and be looking in the wrong place. Know the number first. ### “Is there an advantage to being fully underwritten before I write an offer?” Yes, and it's the difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval. A pre-approval is an underwritten loan commitment — it comes from the underwriter, not the loan officer. Debbie is blunt about why that matters: loan officers are human and every lender's guidelines differ. She works with roughly seven different jumbo investors alone, each with its own underwriting rules. A loan officer can genuinely misremember which lender allows what, and you find out in escrow, when switching lenders changes your rate and pricing. Walking into a deal knowing an underwriter has already signed off removes that risk. Ask your lender directly: am I being pre-qualified, or pre-approved — and has an underwriter seen this? ### “My job is transferring me in 90 days and I found the perfect home. Can I buy now?” Yes. Occupancy is generally required within about 60 days of closing, and a typical transaction takes about 30 days to close — so if you're 90 days out from the transfer and you go into contract now, the timing lines up. You close, sell or pack up where you are, and move into a home that's already yours instead of scrambling in the week before a new job starts. One thing Debbie wants on your radar: the same job at the same company often pays a different rate in a different state. Confirm the new figure before you build a budget on the old one. ### “Will a seller take my offer over another buyer's if I'm fully underwritten?” Debbie's answer: apples to apples, yes — if she were the seller she'd take the offer with the loan commitment letter attached. You still have to do your part: the inspection, an appraisal that comes in at value, insurability. But between two otherwise identical offers, the one that can demonstrate an underwriter has already approved the borrower is the safer close, and sellers know it. ### “What if I work remotely and can live anywhere?” Then the lender verifies with your employer that you are remote and that you can work from anywhere with no change in pay — and that's the income used to qualify you. A lot of people don't realize the income follows them. It does, as long as the employer will confirm it in writing. ### “Can I use my sign-on bonus for my down payment?” Yes. Whether it comes as part of a relocation package or simply as a hiring bonus, money you've earned from a job and that can be verified is allowable toward your down payment and your closing costs. ### “How do I fill in property taxes, insurance and HOA on an affordability calculator when I don't know what they'll be?” For property taxes, look up the county rate and use it as a percentage of price — Debbie's own rules of thumb on air were roughly 1.25% in Los Angeles County, around 2.6% in the San Antonio area, and considerably lower in Arizona and Utah. Search the rate for the specific county *and* state, since the same county name exists in several states. For homeowners insurance, email her the city, state and rough price range and she'll give you a number to plug in. And know that her app's affordability calculator is deliberately conservative — she'd rather under-promise and then qualify you for more than get you excited and walk it back. ### Not sure yet which state you're landing in? Call [844-935-3634](tel:8449353634) (844-WE-LEND-4), [start an application](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/apply/), or run the numbers with the [mortgage calculators](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/tools/). Get the weekly rundown in the [newsletter](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/newsletter/). Full transcript (lightly edited for clarity) *Auto-generated captions cleaned for readability. Commercial breaks and repeated housekeeping have been trimmed; licensing information appears at the bottom of this page.* ### Relocating to a new state Hello and welcome to Mortgage Mom Radio. I'm Debbie Marcoux and I am the Mortgage Mom, and today our show is about relocating to a new state. I'm here in California and there are a lot of people leaving California — but there are also a lot of people going numerous places, moving to many different states, so I didn't want to title this one “leaving California.” We're across the nation. We have people listening by podcast and YouTube everywhere in the U.S., and the general story is that people are moving. This is the Great Migration. We've done these shows before and talked about tips and tricks to make the move easier. Today I want to talk about the lending side of it: how can my team help you, where can we help you, and do you need to get completely re-approved if you decide to change from one state to another? ### Why most loan officers can only lend in one state The first thing to understand is that most loan officers you talk to in your area are licensed by their state, and they're offering lending in the state where they live. That's it — unless they work for a federally chartered bank, where they're covered by that federal license and can do loans everywhere. So finding a loan officer with a large number of state licenses is difficult. It has taken me a lot of time to get those licenses in many different states. I currently have 13, and I'm working on three more, so by the end of this year I should have 16 — which makes it easier for you to call me, talk with my team, and not have to reapply every time you change your mind about where you're going. I actually wrote them down this time, because I rattle them off in shows and always forget one. Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. I just finished the licensing classes and passed the test for Utah, so that should be on the radar very quickly. If you've been listening to the show and you know you want to work with me and my team, reach out and let me know what state you're looking in and I'd be happy to look into what it would take to get licensed there. ### Where I'd tell you to use a local lender instead There are states I think are more difficult to lend in, and for those I believe you're better off with somebody very local to you. Most of them are on the East Coast. New York, for example — I would not want to do lending in New York personally. You really have to live there and understand it; it's a completely different market. Maryland, Washington D.C., Boston — those are more attorney-driven, quirkier markets, and I think you'd genuinely be better served by somebody in your neighborhood, your city, your county. For the vast majority of the United States it's much more standard. You just need somebody who is licensed there and understands it. ### Q&A: do you have to re-qualify if you change states? Heather asks: *“If I qualify for a home in one state, do I have to re-qualify if I decide to move to another state?”* Great question, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to do this show. Let's say you decide on Florida. You start talking to a real estate agent there, they refer you to their lender, you get pre-approved. They've pulled your credit, taken your application, collected your income and asset documents, your pay stubs, your driver's license — everything. Then you change your mind and want to look at Texas. If that person isn't licensed in Texas, you are now back at square one. Another lender re-pulls credit. You reapply. You resend all of your documentation. So it's genuinely useful that my team carries licenses across the country. If you aren't 100% sure where you're going, we're a good place to start — and if you tell me you're thinking about Oregon and then decide on Montana, that's already on my radar and I'd go get it done. ### Agents in the state you're moving to Because we're licensed in so many states and my team lives in different states, we've worked with real estate agents across the country and we've been able to pick the ones who work the way we do — who have your best interests at heart, who will slow down and explain things to a first-time buyer. So we can also refer you to an agent in the area you're moving to. We have agents we trust in Texas, in Tennessee, in Georgia, in Las Vegas, in Washington, in Idaho, and obviously all over California. Now you've got everybody working together as a team, and that matters more than people expect. I understand how much you need from a seller in closing costs to make your cash-to-close work. Your agent understands you need four bedrooms and a house just came on the market — they'll run out there, FaceTime you, show you the home, call me, and I'll run the numbers with you and talk about whether it's actually affordable. I'll get the pre-approval letter out immediately and call the listing agent to tell them what a strong candidate you are. That's what takes the stress off you. This past Sunday I did a home buyer workshop — three hours, on YouTube, from the very beginning of what all these words mean all the way through closing your loan and getting your keys. If you haven't bought a home before, or it's been a long time, go back to my channel and watch it. ### Q&A: buying before you start the new job Heather asks: *“If I'm relocating and I already have my new job, do I have to start the job before I can get a loan?”* No, you do not. If you have a new job, you're relocating, and you're staying within the same industry and field — or you went to school, graduated, and now have an offer in the field you studied — we're looking for your offer letter. We verify with that company that they're hiring you, that everything in the offer is holding true, what your start date will be, and that you have completed all of the items in the offer. Many offers have contingencies: pass a drug test, complete a background check, other requirements before you're hired on 100%. We confirm those are taken care of, confirm the start date, confirm the income, and that's it. You do not need to move there first, you do not need to start the job first — but you do need the job secured in a way we can confirm. ### Q&A: lower property taxes, bigger loan A listener asks: *“I'm moving from California to a state with lower property taxes. Would I qualify for a bigger loan amount?”* Yes. If you're moving somewhere the property taxes are less expensive and the homeowners insurance is less expensive, that affords you a higher sales price. Remember we're looking at the complete picture — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, anything that goes into the actual housing cost — to calculate what you qualify for. If the housing cost where you're going is cheaper than where you are, you will absolutely qualify for more. ### Q&A: pre-approve first, shop second Heather also asks: *“Is it better for me to qualify for a loan before I move, or should I wait until I find a home?”* You should always get pre-approved before you start looking — out of state or in your own backyard. You're going to find a home, you're going to get excited, and sometimes it's a couple of weeks of work to get you pre-approved and able to make that offer. That home could come and go. You might also be shopping at the wrong price. Maybe you assumed the average price in your neighborhood is your price, and it isn't. Maybe it's well below what you could have qualified for and you should have been looking somewhere else entirely. And you might think you can afford a payment because you've been looking at Redfin, Zillow and realtor.com — which, by the way, don't give you the correct monthly payment. Then you call a loan officer after seeing the home and find out it costs more than you expected. Get pre-approved, talk to a professional, understand your down payment and your closing costs first. ### Q&A: pre-qualified vs. fully underwritten Another question: *“Would I be at an advantage getting fully underwritten before writing an offer?”* Yes, of course. When you talk with a loan officer, ask: are you getting me pre-qualified, or are you getting me pre-approved? And when they say pre-approved, ask the follow-up — are you getting me underwritten, or are you giving me a pre-approval letter? Those are very different things. A pre-approval is an underwritten loan commitment. It comes from the underwriter. Loan officers — and I'm one of them — make mistakes. We're human. We're trying to hold the guidelines for every program out there: USDA, FHA, conventional, jumbo, bank statement loans, debt-service loans. Within my company we work with about seven different lenders for jumbo lending alone, and every one of them has different underwriting guidelines. My job is to put you in the right fit and review your income and assets to make sure you qualify with the lender we're placing the loan with. But the underwriter is specific to that program. So I could make a mistake. I might not remember that one lender has a different guideline than another, and then you're in escrow, excited, and suddenly there's a loan program problem — I have to switch lenders, and the rate and the pricing change. You don't want that. You want to know when you walk into a deal that the deal is going to close. ### Q&A: transferring in 90 days Heidi asks: *“What if my job is transferring me to another state and I find the perfect home, but I'm not being transferred for 90 days? Can I still buy now?”* Yes, we can do that. You do need to occupy the property within about 60 days of closing on the loan. If you're transferring in 90 days and you make an offer now, most transactions take about 30 days to close — which puts you right around that 60-day mark. So you can close on the home, get your current place sold, get packed, and move into a home that's already yours instead of arriving a couple of days early and starting a new job in a rush. One thing to keep in mind: when you get transferred — say you work for a large employer and you're transferring from one state to another — there are often different rates of pay for the exact same job depending on where you're relocating. Make sure you understand what you're walking into. Talk to us in advance, because most of our clients recently have been people relocating, and we can tell you what to check before you find out on your first paycheck. ### Q&A: does an underwritten approval beat another offer? Next question: *“Will a seller take my offer before other buyers' offers if I have a fully underwritten approval?”* I would say yes. A seller is more likely to accept an offer where you can show a loan commitment letter and demonstrate you've been fully underwritten and can close without concern. You still need to do your due diligence — your home inspection, the appraisal coming in at value, making sure the home is insurable. But if you and another person walk in with the exact same offer and you have an underwritten loan commitment, if I were the seller I'd be taking yours. Apples to apples, that's a real edge. ### Q&A: remote work, and using a sign-on bonus Carrie asks: *“What if I work remotely and can live anywhere?”* That's fantastic. We verify with your company that you are remote, that you can work from anywhere with no change in pay, and voilà — that's the income we use. A lot of people don't realize that if they're working from home and want to move somewhere else, we can continue to use that income and qualify them with it. Heather asks: *“Can I use my sign-on bonus for my down payment?”* Yes, you can. If you're getting a sign-on bonus for making the move — which many people do as part of a relocation package — you can absolutely use part of that as your down payment. And if you're not getting a relocation package, you're just choosing to move and they're giving you a sign-on bonus, that works too. Any money you've earned from a job that can be verified is allowable toward your down payment and your closing costs. ### What to research before you pick a state Now to the part I keep promising. Here's what I think is genuinely important to research before you make a decision about where to go — and most of this holds true even if you're only moving across town. First, a warning about the apps. I'm on realtor.com all the time too. The difference is I know how to run a mortgage payment. The payments those apps show you are frequently not accurate: they often use the current seller's taxes rather than the tax basis you'll be charged as a new buyer, and many times they don't show mortgage insurance at all if you don't have a large down payment. My phone app has calculators that will show you what a USDA, FHA, VA or conventional payment actually looks like, including the upfront funding fee or upfront mortgage insurance where those apply. Text the word MOM to 844-935-3634 and you'll get the link. Then the research list. What is the state sales tax? What is the state income tax? What is the average property tax base in that state and county? Those three trade off against each other — you might find a state with no income tax and then discover property taxes are considerably higher. If you have kids, look at the schools and how they rate. If your kids are in a particular program, check whether the schools there have it. The East Coast is huge on lacrosse; for years lacrosse barely existed in California. It's here now, but it might not be in the state you're considering. Anything that's important to you and your family, do the research to make sure it's a fit. What stores are in the area? Are the ones you actually shop at there? Do the delivery services you rely on run in that area? I use grocery delivery constantly because getting to a store is difficult for me — and if that's not available where you're going, that's a real change to your schedule, from one small thing. How close are you to the nearest airport, if family will be flying in? Do you have a health condition where you need to know the medical care is there — are there good doctors for the thing you need handled? Air quality, if anyone has asthma, allergies or a lung condition. For me personally, boating matters, and so do the specialist services and the special-education programs my family needs, so I have to make sure a town has them. And the weather. Are you okay with humidity, or would you rather have dry heat? How do you feel about cold, about snow, about driving in snow, about tornadoes? I lived in Illinois for years and my absolute favorite thing was watching The Weather Channel in winter and seeing “today will be a high of 10 with a low of 1” — or negative 10 with a high of 1\. I personally can't do that. My husband would love Montana. He can have it. Bugs, too — a listener brought that up and she's right. I got excited about a lake this morning and then found out it has alligators. That's not going to work for me. Whether the state is politically red, blue or purple, if that matters to you — I'm not here to tell you which one you want, only that it's on the list of things people care about and should check. The best advice I can give you is to sit down and make a list of everything that is important to you, and then check off every single box before you move. You want to make one move, get there, and be happy. ### Q&A: taxes and insurance on the affordability calculator Wendy asks: *“When using an affordability calculator, how do you factor in property taxes, homeowners insurance and HOA when you don't know how much they are?”* First, about my app's affordability calculator specifically: it is extremely conservative. If it tells you that you qualify for a certain amount, when you talk to me or someone on my team we can most likely qualify you for more than the app shows. I would much rather show you accurate information than get you excited and then say no on the other end. For the fields you have to fill in yourself: property taxes as a percentage. In Los Angeles County you'd use about 1.25%. Around San Antonio, in Bexar County, you're probably closer to 2.6% — I've seen those taxes as high as 2.9% and as low as 2.3% depending on the property. In Arizona you're likely around 0.71–0.74%; in Utah, roughly 0.81–0.87%. Do the research: type it straight into Google, “average property taxes in X county,” and make sure you include the state, because there are counties with the same name in several different states. Homeowners insurance is one you can just ask me. Send an email or a message through the app: tell me what city and state and roughly what price range, and I'll give you a good annual number to use. Some basics: in Los Angeles County, a $500,000–$600,000 single-family home might run about $1,200 a year. Texas is quite a bit more expensive — more like $1,800\. Las Vegas is closer to $800. ### Wrap-up I hope you enjoyed the show. Everything I gave you works even if you're looking at a home in your own backyard. One more time, the states we can help you in: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. I just finished Utah, and Colorado, Montana and Hawaii are in progress. If there's a state I didn't mention that you'd love us to help you in, reach out and ask — I'd be more than happy to look into what it takes to get licensed there so we can make the transition easier for you and your family. To reach the team, call 844-935-3634 — that's 844-WE-LEND-4\. Or go to mortgagemomradio.com and use the contact button. Text the word MOM to that same number and you'll get one text a week letting you know when I go live, so you can jump on and ask your questions during the show. I'll be back next week with all kinds of good stuff. Debbie Marcoux is licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, NMLS ID #237926, and additionally licensed in AZ (0941504), FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, NV, NC, OR, TN, TX, and WA. Rates and figures discussed were current as of the air date of August 17, 2022, reflect national conforming averages, and are not an offer of credit or a rate quote. Debbie Marcoux is not a financial advisor; consult qualified professionals about your individual situation.