Your Idaho Home Is Under Contract but Has Not Closed

Key takeaways

Under contract is not closed. Until the sale funds, the departing residence's full PITIA stays in your ratio unless a documented rule removes it. (Fannie Mae B3-3.8-05, dated 09/02/2026.)
Agency financing generally wants evidence the sale will fund, in practice the executed contract plus the closing disclosure or settlement statement. (Fannie Mae B3-3.8-05, dated 09/02/2026.)
Where the closings cannot be aligned, the answer is a structure rather than a hope. Carrying both payments and recasting afterward is the most predictable. (Fannie Mae B3-3.8-05, dated 09/02/2026.)
Idaho adds no obstacle to borrowing against the departing home while it is under contract, since 55-1003's $175,000 is creditor protection, not a lien cap.
The rental route is generally off the table once the home is committed to a buyer, so the 63-602G exemption question resolves the same way regardless. (Idaho Code 63-602G, verified September 2026.)
Above $832,750 in 43 of Idaho's 44 counties, some jumbo investors will not release the departing payment before the sale funds at all.

Program and regulatory figures verified September 25, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.

By Mike Certo, Cornerstone First Mortgage · NMLS #260555 · Updated September 25, 2026

A signed contract is good news and it is not a closed sale. Underwriting draws that line firmly, and the plan has to account for it.

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Where underwriting draws the line

A contract is a promise; funding is an event. The departing residence's payment comes out of your debt-to-income ratio when the file can show the sale is done or documented to the point the guideline accepts, and not before.

So the practical question is sequencing. If your purchase closes before your sale funds, you are qualifying while holding two payments no matter how solid the contract looks.

What to have ready

The fully executed contract on the departing home.
The closing disclosure or settlement statement once it exists.
Current statements on the departing mortgage, taxes, insurance and any association dues, so the PITIA is exact.
Evidence of reserves, which is the lever that most often carries a file through an overlap.

Your agent handles the contract and its dates. We work on what the money has to do around it.

The Idaho tax note

Because the sale is expected to close, the exemption question is simpler here than on a listing with no offer. The departing home will be vacant through the overlap and, under Idaho Code 63-602G(2)(a), not owner-occupied, so it does not hold the homeowner's exemption during that period. There is no structure that changes that, since Idaho has no tenant exception. See the owner-occupancy page.

Use the unexempt tax figure when you estimate the departing PITIA for qualifying.

Which structure fits

Structure	Fit when under contract
Carry both, recast after	Strong. Sale proceeds become the recast principal reduction, and nothing depends on an investor accepting an offset
Borrow against departing equity	Workable. The second is repaid from the sale proceeds at closing, and Idaho places no state cap on the lien
Keep it and rent it	Generally unavailable. The home is committed to a buyer

If you are buying above the conforming limit

Idaho's 2026 one-unit limit is $832,750 in 43 of 44 counties, and $1,249,125 in Teton County. Above the applicable limit you are on investor guidelines, and some jumbo investors will not release a departing payment until the sale funds, which makes reserves the central conversation. See the jumbo page.

Compare the routes on the structures page. If your home is listed rather than under contract, see listed but not sold.

Frequently asked questions

Does a signed contract on my current home remove that payment from my ratio?

Not on its own. Underwriting treats a contract as a promise and funding as the event. The departing residence's full PITIA generally stays in your debt-to-income ratio until the file documents the sale, which in practice means the executed contract plus the closing disclosure or settlement statement.

What if my Idaho purchase closes before my sale funds?

Then you are qualifying while holding both payments, and the answer is a structure rather than a timing hope. Carrying both payments and recasting the new loan after the sale is the most predictable route, because it does not depend on an investor accepting a rental offset.

Does my Idaho home keep its exemption while under contract?

Not during the overlap once you have moved out. Idaho Code 63-602G(2)(a) requires the homestead to be owner-occupied as the owner's primary dwelling place, and Idaho has no tenant exception, so a vacant departing home does not qualify.

Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Idaho's homeowner's exemption is administered county by county under Idaho Code 63-602G and 63-703, and eligibility depends on your facts; your county assessor, your CPA or an Idaho attorney, and your real estate agent each handle their own part. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.