09/08/2026
🚨Hey homeowners! The rules just changed‼️, would this make you re-think buying a house?
Fannie Mae just made a change that could be a big deal if you own a house and love your rate but need to move.
Here's the situation. You want to buy your next place but keep your current home as a rental instead of selling it. The problem has always been qualifying for two mortgages at once.
Fannie Mae updated its Selling Guide on September 2, 2026, and changed how that works.
The old way used a lease agreement to prove rental income on the home you're leaving. That's gone. Lease agreements aren't allowed for this anymore.
Now lenders have to establish market rent through one of these:
An appraisal that includes market rents
Fannie Mae's Form 1007 Comparable Rent Schedule
A market rent analysis using MLS, Zillow or Redfin data, backed by at least three comparable rentals
From there, lenders can generally use 75% of that market rent in the calculation. Here's the math:
Market rent x 75%, minus PITIA (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA dues if you have them)
If that number is positive, it offsets the payment on your current home. It doesn't count as extra income on top, it just cancels out what you owe on the old mortgage. If it's negative, that gap gets added to your debt to income ratio.
Quick example. Say your current PITIA is $2,000 a month and market rent is $3,000. 75% of $3,000 is $2,250. That's enough to fully offset your $2,000 payment when qualifying for the next home.
One catch. If you don't have at least 12 months of property management experience, Fannie Mae wants six months of PITIA reserves for that departing property, on top of whatever other reserves apply.
Timing wise, lenders can start using this now but have until November 1, 2026 to fully implement it. So don't be shocked if your lender is on the old rules still while another one down the street already switched.
Worth noting, this is Fannie Mae conventional guidance specifically. FHA, VA, Freddie Mac and individual lenders may not handle it the same way.
Why this matters. If you're sitting on a 2, 3, or 4% rate and have been avoiding a move because you didn't want to give it up, this could change the math. You might be able to buy your next home, keep the low rate on your current one, and turn it into a rental instead of selling.
If you've been on the fence about moving because of your rate, this is worth a conversation with your lender before you put a sign in the yard.
Would you keep your current house as a rental if the numbers worked out?
