Buying a new house

I'm not an attorney or an accountant, but I'm going to weigh in on this one.I hate to say it, but payments for fostering ARE income. Think of fostering as having a job; you are being paid to care for children. It's a tough job; you have the children 24 hours a day, and the children often have special needs. You aren't the legal parents of the children; you are employed by the state. The children can be removed at any time.Your rights are limited, because the state actually has legal custody of the children. Still, it's a job, and you agreed to take it. I have a great deal of respect for many foster parents, because they have a very tough job, and stick with it only because they love children and want to see them get a good start in life.Now, we all know that the payments received for fostering are not very large, and don't cover all the expenses of caring for a child. If you are lucky, one spouse can work at another job, while the other stays home, or you both can work, and pay for some child care, in certain situations. Still, that's the same as with a job. If you choose to work at a certain job, and it pays minimum wage, you may not be able to pay all your bills without getting a second job or cutting back your expenses dramatically.There's one big difference between foster parenting income and regular job income, which is actually a benefit to most foster parents. Income from fostering is not taxable, in most cases; job income is taxable. So you get to keep more of the money you earn from fostering. When lenders look at your fitness to borrow, they are going to see the money you receive as a foster parent as income, because it IS income; in fact, unlike job income, it isn't taxed, so you get to use more of it. Hopefully, they also look at your expenses, and see that you may be spending more than the average, non-fostering family -- not because you like luxuries, but because your foster children often come to you with nothing except the clothes on their backs, and often have issues that require you to spend on items such as special foods, transportation to therapies, special schools, and visits with biological family members, and so on. But if they are determining your eligibility to be considered for certain special rates, based solely on income, yes, your foster parenting income may disqualify you.Unfortunately, much as you would like a nicer house in a better community, and much as you want a new house in order to provide your foster children, and any Biological children you may have, with better schools, you may have to postpone your dream, if you wish to keep fostering. Luckily, the quality of a foster home doesn't depend on whether the physical house is new, big, or in a great neighborhood. As long as your foster home is safe, you will be judged solely on how well you parent the children. And lenders, unfortunately, can't give you special rates for being good parents.For more details, contact a financial professional or your attorney.Sharon