Do I need two years of employment to qualify for a mortgage loan?

[Sanita Dubica]

Hello, I’m very new here. I’d like to start house hacking and I know my first step is to find a lender. I have been employed in the service industry and have done freelance work the past two years. There are gaps of 3 months at a time that have been taken for traveling, as well as low income due to freelancing work for a few of the months. How big of a problem is this for a lender?? I currently only have a car payment and credit card that I’m making minimum payments on, I have another year until I start paying off my student loans. Any advice is super appreciated, thank you!

[Lesane T. Johnson]

I spent a few years freelancing, and funnelled all the income into a sole tradership under my name. The tax filing was centralised, so finding a lender wasn't too difficult. It's never too late to restructure. If your freelancing income is handsome enough, you may be able to convince the lender.