advice needed on buying first house/apartment

[homeboy604]

so i'm a 400nl grinder looking to finally buy some property.
this will most likely be a 250k-300k apartment.
i currently live with the parents in vancouver, canada and i am 24.
i quit my job in august and have been playing full time since.

i have roughly $62,000CAD in liquid assets (includiing BR) and within a month or 2(where i will have hopefully saved at least 10k more) am looking to buy an apartment.

my credit is not the best, but i dont have any outstanding debts currently (although there were some in the past.)
i do however have a pre-paid credit card, and i imagine that helps a bit with my credit rating.

what is my best play here in looking to get a mortgage ?
i am going to have aprox. 40-50k available for a down payment/fees.
i know that if you have 25% of the total cost of the property, you are "pre-appoved" for a loan, but what does this entail? i was told that just because you have the 25% of the money, doesn't mean you are actually approved.

now obviously i have some roadblocks, as i do not currently have a "real job" and have no plans on getting one.
i can make approx. 10k a month playing poker, but i might have a hard time convincing a bank of this since i have not yet declared myself a "professional gambler" with revenue canada.

i have a few outs though.
i have a good friend, that knows a broker out of alberta who gives loans to people such as myself (as long as you have a 10% downpayment available.)

my aunt in edmonton, is a bank manager and im hoping she can help me out as well. i will be seeing her in person in 3 weeks and will be talking extensively to her about this.

so any suggestions for what i should do here?
should i just bite the bullet and declare the "professional gambler" status with income canada, pay my 30% tax for the year and get a loan that way (which will probably be complicated and take time," or should i go through my friends broker (which sounds sketchy and will probably charge me a high interest rate.)

do i have any other outs available here?
thanks for the help!

[mtgordon]

1) If you are a professional gambler you should file as such.

2) Your should not really be considered "liquid". For playing professionally you should have a very large bankroll plus 2 or 3 months of expenses saved up. Whatever you have beyond that should then be considered "liquid" .

[raptor517]

how long are you planning to take to pay off the loan? no doc loans generally have a higher interest rate, and you have to put down a larger down payment, but you dont have to deal with all of the oh you filed this last year this is your job blah blah blah crap. thats what i did. also.. i dont recommend putting down 2/3 of your bankroll for a down payment. thats really really really not a good idea imo. anyways, i dont have any other advice than to ask about no doc loans when you talk to your aunt, but she should be able to give you more info on these and help you find a workable solution. holla

[doh742]

I am a mortgage loan officer for a large american bank. You will need to look for what is called a state income or no income no asset loan. The interest rates and closing costs will be higher. In addition, these loans are credit score driven and you will need a good credit history. With out a good credit history you are looking at sub-prime loans with much higher interest rates. As far as using you income as a poker player, you would need a two year history with tax returns to prove the winnings. However, if you deducted losses, you still wouldn't have any income. Further, most banks probably would accept gambling income as income.

You should focus on establishing credit history first. I think you may be looking to buy too soon. I would advise you if you were my client to get a couple credit cards, a car loan or a line of credit first, build a credit history and then buy your home.

OF course, Canadian lending will be governed by different guidelines, but it should be similiar.