Offer letter income, start date windows and cash reserves
Buying in The Woodlands on a Job Offer Letter: What a Lender Can Count
Updated November 2026
Can I get a mortgage on a home in The Woodlands before my new job starts?
In October 2026, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide lets a lender count an offer letter's pay on an eligible home purchase loan, if your start date falls inside its window.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, The Woodlands
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, section on employment offers or contracts, October 2026.
Can a lender count pay from a job you have not started yet?
Under Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, yes, for some loans. Its October 2026 section on employment offers or contracts lets a borrower qualify on a job offer.
The figure comes from the letter itself. Fannie Mae says the lender must use the monthly income amount in the offer letter as qualifying income.
The rule is Fannie Mae's. Ask each lender whether your loan will follow Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, and whether it offers this option.
How does the start date have to line up with the loan?
Fannie Mae ties the start date to the note date. Its guide sets the limits at 30 days before the note date and 90 days after it.
For a move on a set date, put the offer letter's start date beside the lender's expected note date before you write an offer. Ask the lender to confirm in writing that the two fit.
A Texas resale contract's option period lets a buyer end the contract for any reason after paying the option fee. Settle the start-date fit with the lender before that window opens, so the option days go to the house.
The borrower's start date must be no earlier than 30 days prior to the note date OR no later than 90 days after the note date.
What does the offer letter have to show?
Fannie Mae's guide says the documentation must clearly identify the employer and the borrower. It must also give the terms of employment, including the position, the type and rate of pay, and the start date.
Read the letter against that list before the house hunt starts. A letter missing the start date or the rate of pay goes back to the employer for a fuller version.
Which purchases can use the offer-letter option?
Fannie Mae limits the option to the purchase of a principal residence on a one-unit property. The borrower cannot be employed by a family member or by an interested party to the transaction.
The guide adds one more condition: the borrower is qualified using only fixed-base income. Ask the lender which part of the offer's pay meets that test before you rely on the total.
In The Woodlands, that means the house you will live in after the move. A weekend place or a rental purchase falls outside the option's terms.
This option is limited to loans that meet the following criteria: purchase transaction, principal residence, one-unit property, the borrower must not be employed by a family member or by an interested party to the transaction, and the borrower is qualified using only fixed-base income.
How does your work history before the move come into it?
Fannie Mae's standards for employment-related income look back two years. Lenders must evaluate whether the borrower's work history reflects a reliable pattern of employment over that time.
Gaps get a closer look. The same standards say borrowers with employment gaps during the most recent 12 months may appear to have unstable employment.
If you plan time off between the old job and the new one, tell the lender at the first call. Ask how the gap would be read alongside the offer letter.
How does a Woodlands address change the payment the offer letter has to carry?
The tax bill sits beside the loan payment, and it varies by address. For tax year 2025, a home in a Montgomery County village paid about $1.69 to $1.89 per $100 of value in all.
Creekside Park, the one village in Harris County, paid about $2.44 per $100. Inside a Montgomery County village, the utility district is the part of the rate that moves from section to section.
Some sections add their own dues, among them East Shore, Windsor Hills and Town Center. A lender requires flood insurance for a home in a designated flood zone, the Texas Department of Insurance says.
Paige Martin of Real Broker, LLC checks which utility district taxes a lot before an offer is written. She also checks whether the county line puts it in Harris County and Tomball ISD.
Questions & answers
The Woodlands questions, answered
Can a lender count a pay raise that has not taken effect yet?
Fannie Mae's standards for employment-related income set a deadline for a future raise from a current employer. The increase must take effect no later than 60 days after the note date. A raise due later than that falls outside the rule. Ask the lender to set the raise's effective date beside the expected note date before you count on the higher figure.
The raise rule and the offer-letter rule run on different clocks. Fannie Mae's offer-letter window reaches 30 days before the note date and 90 days after it, while a raise must take effect within 60 days after it. Ask the lender to say in writing which rule it applies to each part of your pay.
Can I get Loan Estimates before I find a house in The Woodlands?
Yes. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says you do not need a signed purchase agreement to get a Loan Estimate. Once you have submitted the request, each lender is required to send you one within three business days. On a move with a fixed start date, gathering them before the trip leaves the visit itself for the houses.
Bring the offer letter to every request and ask each lender two things: whether it will write your loan under Fannie Mae's employment-offer rules, and what note date it expects. Then ask each one for the same amount of points or credits, as the CFPB advises, so the Loan Estimates can be compared on equal terms.
Will several lenders checking my credit hurt my score while I am relocating?
Not when the checks fall inside one window. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says multiple credit checks from mortgage lenders within a 45-day window are recorded on your credit report as a single inquiry. Plan the requests for a short stretch of days once the offer letter is in hand, so every lender prices the same file.
Keep each request inside the 45 days the CFPB describes. Then set the Loan Estimates side by side on the rate, the closing costs and any lender credits.
What can push a Woodlands closing past my new job's start date?
Two clocks run outside the lender's file. Most flood policies take 30 days to start, the Texas Department of Insurance says, and a Township design application can take up to 45 days to be acted on. Price a flood policy and search the house's Township permit record early in the option period, while there is still room to change course.
The Township's clock matters when a house carries a change the covenants never approved, because the current owner answers for any existing violation. A complete application not acted on within 45 days is automatically disapproved. Set both clocks beside the start date in your offer letter and the lender's expected note date.
Can my agent send me to one lender who handles offer-letter loans?
An agent can name lenders, but the choice stays with you. TREC's license holder guidance says an agent cannot direct a purchaser to any one lender. A license holder employed by a lender should tell the purchaser so and give the names of several institutions. Ask any agent at the first meeting whether they have a tie to a lender.
From the names you are given, ask which lenders will write a loan under Fannie Mae's employment-offer rules. Compare their answers on the start-date window and on the documents they want from your new employer.
Do I need to sign anything before an agent shows me houses on my trip to The Woodlands?
Yes. Texas now requires a written buyer representation agreement before an agent shows you a home or, if none is shown, before the agent presents your offer. TREC calls it a private contract between the buyer and the broker, not the sales agent. Sign it before you travel, so the tour days go to the houses themselves.
Paige Martin works under Real Broker, LLC, so that is the broker named on the agreement. Read each term before you sign, since it binds you once signed. At the first substantive conversation about a specific property, a license holder must also give you TREC's Information About Brokerage Services form.
What do clients say on Google?
Providing excellent service, Houston Properties helped us buy and sell a Houston Heights home we owned for 13 years. Paige Martin helped us find the home and helped us sell it.