Yes, you can buy a house in Arizona without a paycheck. Lenders count Social Security, pensions, annuities, and regular retirement account withdrawals as income, as long as you can document them and they will keep coming. Age is not what trips people up. Paperwork is, along with which of your accounts a lender is willing to turn into monthly income. Here is how it works for buyers in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and the rest of Metro Phoenix.

What counts as income when you are retired

Lenders want income that is stable and likely to continue for at least three years. Retirement income usually clears that bar more easily than a commission job does, because a pension check or a Social Security deposit does not swing from month to month. The table shows what we ask for.

Your age does not decide the loan. Your documented income, your credit, and your cash do.

One detail helps a lot. Part of your Social Security benefit may be nontaxable, and conventional guidelines let many lenders add 25% to the nontaxable part when they figure qualifying income. Say $2,800 a month of nontaxable benefit. For qualifying purposes it can count as $3,500. Whether it applies to you depends on your tax return, so ask early.

Here is a real scale. Take a $450,000 home with 30% down, which is $135,000. The loan is $315,000. At 7.25% the principal and interest payment is about $2,149. Add roughly $450 a month for taxes, insurance, and HOA dues and the housing payment is about $2,599. At a 45% debt to income ratio with no other debts, a lender wants to see about $5,800 a month in qualifying income. A couple with $2,800 in Social Security, $2,000 from a pension, and $1,200 a month from an IRA clears that with room to spare.

When the income falls short, your savings can fill the gap

Plenty of Valley retirees have large balances and modest monthly income. That is exactly what asset depletion loans are built for. The lender takes your eligible assets, divides them by a set number of months, and treats the result as monthly income. The divisor varies by lender and program, and some lenders count only a portion of a retirement balance. The table is an illustration of the idea, not a quote.

Same savings, three very different results. That is why shopping this product matters, and why a brokerage that works with several non-QM lenders can find the divisor that fits you. Our guide to asset depletion loans in Arizona walks through it in more detail, and if your plan is to pull from a retirement account for cash to close, read using a 401k to buy a house in Arizona before you move a dollar.

Use the calculator below to test a price and a down payment. It shows principal and interest only, and the numbers are estimates.

Run your own numbers

Where the down payment comes from

Most retirees who buy in Arizona fund the purchase from the sale of a prior home. A closing disclosure from that sale is clean documentation, and the cash is already seasoned. If you need to pull money from an IRA or 401k, the withdrawal can create a tax bill, so talk to a CPA before you decide how much to take. Gift funds from family can also work with a signed gift letter. Whatever the source, a lender has to see where it came from, so avoid moving large sums between accounts without a paper trail.

It also pays to think about how much to put down. A bigger down payment lowers the payment and can remove mortgage insurance, but it also drains the savings you may need for a roof, an air conditioner, or a medical bill. We often run two versions side by side, one with 20% down and one with more, so you can see what the extra cash buys. If you are planning to sell an existing home in a 55 plus community first, our guide to selling a home in a 55 plus community in Arizona covers the timeline.

What a lender cannot do because of your age

Federal law bars a lender from denying you credit or changing your terms because of your age. They can ask about income and assets, and they can judge whether you can repay. They cannot say you are too old for a 30 year loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains your rights as a borrower, and HUD publishes the rules for FHA loans, which also have no age cap. If you ever feel a lender is steering you away because of your age, get a second quote.

The Valley market for retiree buyers

Freddie Mac reported the average 30 year fixed rate at 7.18% this week, its third straight decline. That is still well above what many retirees locked in a few years ago, so the real question is whether the move is worth it. Some buyers are better off paying more cash or buying smaller. Others are downsizing from a big Scottsdale home into a lower maintenance place and coming out ahead on monthly costs even at today's rates. For local figures, see Homes.com's Phoenix housing market report.

If you are weighing a few neighborhoods, Arizona Luxury Property Search lets you browse higher end homes across Scottsdale and nearby. You can see the products we shop on our loan programs page, learn who we are on the about us page, and walk through the steps on our process page. You can also start at pillarmortgagegroup.com. If you already own and are thinking about your income for a different reason, see how lenders treat Social Security and retirement income on a refinance.

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