Wow, this is the first time I actually have a question to ask here.
So here's the situation. My current Subaru Impreza still has payments to be made on it, and my wife's Chevy Equinox is paid off. We're in the midst of selling our house, but would like to reduce the monthly car payment. One option would be to lease a new car. I currently slam down about 380 bucks a month on my Subi, and it gets paid off in two years. The plan is to trade in the Subi, use the 2 grand from trade in as money down for a lower lease payment on a Ford Edge (or something along those lines). My wife gets the Edge, and I get her Chevy. I spoke to my local Ford dealer and we could get a lease for like 180 a month, more than half of my current monthly car payment.
My question is, will this have a drastic impact on my mortgage approval? A lease isn't really taking on debt as you "rent" the car and have a monthly payment and my monthly payment on the lease would be less than what I currently pay for my Subaru. Or do banks consider the value of the car as your debt despite a lease?
I mean instinctively I want to just sit on the new car thing until we sell our house and get a new one; however, with my family getting bigger in the past year, we're starting to really need a bigger car (with better gas mileage too). The housing market is still slow as molasses, and the other factor could just be that our house doesn't sell for another year. If a car lease has no impact on mortgage approval (if the monthly payments get reduced), I think I'd jump on getting a new car.
So here's the situation. My current Subaru Impreza still has payments to be made on it, and my wife's Chevy Equinox is paid off. We're in the midst of selling our house, but would like to reduce the monthly car payment. One option would be to lease a new car. I currently slam down about 380 bucks a month on my Subi, and it gets paid off in two years. The plan is to trade in the Subi, use the 2 grand from trade in as money down for a lower lease payment on a Ford Edge (or something along those lines). My wife gets the Edge, and I get her Chevy. I spoke to my local Ford dealer and we could get a lease for like 180 a month, more than half of my current monthly car payment.
My question is, will this have a drastic impact on my mortgage approval? A lease isn't really taking on debt as you "rent" the car and have a monthly payment and my monthly payment on the lease would be less than what I currently pay for my Subaru. Or do banks consider the value of the car as your debt despite a lease?
I mean instinctively I want to just sit on the new car thing until we sell our house and get a new one; however, with my family getting bigger in the past year, we're starting to really need a bigger car (with better gas mileage too). The housing market is still slow as molasses, and the other factor could just be that our house doesn't sell for another year. If a car lease has no impact on mortgage approval (if the monthly payments get reduced), I think I'd jump on getting a new car.
