Got my pre-approval for house hack and now lost job

[Wayne Stevens]

So I finally got my courage up to jump into real estate, got my pre-approval done. Found a nice house that I was about to make an offer on to start house hacking, and then life came around and gave me a sucker punch to the gut and ended up losing my job. I'm in auto sales and went from one place that I was at for 6 years onto a new place last November for a better position and almost double the salary. Which I now recently lost 2 days ago. I won't have a problem jumping right back and getting my old job back, it was already offered to me. However i'll be about 40% less income then what I was making when I got my pre-approval. Will this stop be from being able to get my FHA loan? Do I tell the loan officer about going back to the place I was at for 6 years but making less money?

I'm not giving up on real estate because of this. I just need help to figure out how I can make it work. I'm sure my pre-approval purchase price will drop lower... If I make the difference of income up with say driving for Lyft or Uber on nights and days I'm not at the dealership will that help? Or will it not matter since it's a different industry? 

Thanks so much for any advice,

-Wayne

[David Faulkner]

You have to look very carefully and honestly about your new situation ... if your new income would put holding this property long term at risk, then you absolutely should cancel escrow and back out ... that is precisely what the financing contingency is for. If this is the case, then the fact that this happened while you are in escrow is a blessing, not a curse. It would be much worse if it happened to you right after you closed ... So, I know you want the property, but you have the opportunity right now to take a step back and reassess the situations since circumstances have changed ... you need to be honest with yourself, take a step back, and reassess IMO. Not saying you shouldn't still try to close after you do this, just that you shouldn't try to jump straight to the closing table without stepping back and taking in the big picture first.