Buyer guide · Texas
Overtime, 24-hour shifts and your mortgage: a guide for Texas first responders
How lenders count overtime, shift pay and extra duty for Texas firefighters, peace officers, EMS crews and corrections officers, plus which Heroes jobs qualify and San Antonio's responder program.
Firefighters, peace officers, EMS crews, jailers and corrections officers are all Homes for Texas Heroes jobs. The hard part is income: base pay is easy, but overtime and extra duty need a history, usually two years, and FHA uses the lower of your 2-year average or last year. Shift differential isn't named in the agency guides, so lenders treat it case by case. If your overtime dropped this year, expect the lender to use the lower number.
Which first-responder jobs count for Heroes
TSAHC's Homes for Texas Heroes list is specific, and the lender checks your license or employment:
| Job | Who | How it's verified |
|---|---|---|
| Peace officers | Full-time officers under Texas law: city police, deputies, school and campus police | TCOLE license |
| Public security officers | Full-time armed officers employed by the state or a political subdivision (not private contractors) | TCOLE license |
| Firefighters | Permanent, full-time members in suppression, inspection, investigation, training and similar duties (not clerical) | Texas Commission on Fire Protection |
| EMS personnel | Full-time ECAs, EMTs, EMT-Intermediates, EMT-Paramedics, licensed paramedics | DSHS license lookup |
| Corrections officers | Full-time TDCJ employees with hazardous duty pay | TDCJ verification of employment |
| Juvenile corrections | Full-time TJJD employees with hazardous duty pay | TJJD verification of employment |
| County jailers | Full-time county jail guards | TCOLE license |
Heroes pays up to 5% of the loan amount for down payment and closing costs, as a grant or a loan forgiven after three years. Part-time and volunteer roles don't fit the full-time requirement.
Base pay first, then everything else
Underwriters split your pay into two buckets. Base salary or guaranteed hours go in the first bucket, and they count from day one. Everything else (overtime, call-back pay, extra-duty jobs, holiday pay, bonuses) goes in the second bucket, which needs proof that it's steady.
That matters because for some responders the second bucket is a big share of take-home pay. A deputy working traffic details or a firefighter picking up shifts can add a big share to base pay. Whether the lender counts it decides how much house you can buy.
The overtime rules, agency by agency
- FHA: usable with a 2-year history, or at least 1 year if it was earned steadily and is likely to continue. The lender uses the lesser of the 2-year average or the prior year's average.
- Fannie Mae: 2 years recommended, 12 months or more acceptable with offsetting strengths. If overtime is falling, the lender must confirm it has leveled off before it counts at all.
- Freddie Mac: 2 consecutive years, with 12 months allowed if justified. If income declined, the lender uses year-to-date figures, and a drop of more than 10% needs more analysis.
- VA and USDA: your lender confirms their rules.
Worked example (illustrative figures)
| Year | Overtime earned |
|---|---|
| Two years ago | $18,000 |
| Last year | $12,000 |
| 2-year average | $15,000 ($1,250/mo) |
| FHA counts the lesser | $12,000 ($1,000/mo) |
The drop from $18,000 to $12,000 is 33%. Under Freddie Mac, that's well past the 10% line that triggers extra review. Under Fannie Mae, the lender must show it has stabilized. Be ready to explain why it fell: a staffing change, a new assignment or a promotion to a job with less overtime.
24-hour shifts and shift differential
If your department runs 24-hour shifts, your pay stubs may look odd to a lender used to 40-hour weeks. Hours can swing from one pay period to the next, and some built-in overtime is part of the schedule. Ask your HR office to write a verification that separates scheduled hours from voluntary overtime. Scheduled hours that are guaranteed are easier to treat like base pay.
Shift differential is a gray area. FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don't name it as a separate income type in their guides. Your lender may handle it like other variable pay that needs a history. Ask before you assume it counts.
Promotions, academies and new hires
- Promotion with a raise: Fannie Mae can count a raise from your current employer if it's fixed base pay and starts within 60 days after closing.
- Fresh out of the academy: FHA lets time in school count toward the 2-year history, and Freddie Mac's guide gives the example of a borrower new to the workforce out of school or training.
- Military to first responder: Freddie Mac says active-duty military need no employment history. Veterans may also fit the Heroes veterans category.
- Switching departments: moving from one police or fire agency to another in the same line of work isn't a career change. Gaps of six months or more trigger extra FHA rules.
Local help just for responders
San Antonio's First Responders Homebuyer Assistance Program covers SAPD and SAFD employees, including cadets. It offers up to $20,000 inside city limits, or $40,000 inside the CRAG area, with no income or price limit. It's forgiven one-tenth a year over 10 years of city employment. You must be a first-time buyer (no ownership in three years) and live in the city; the city notes forgiven amounts are taxable income.
HUD Good Neighbor Next Door sells certain HUD homes in revitalization areas at 50% off list to full-time law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMTs at government agencies who serve that area. You need $100 down with FHA, must live there 36 months, and HUD picks among multiple bids by lottery. Listings are few and change weekly on HUD Home Store.
Dallas Targeted Occupations has covered police and firefighters at 80% to 120% of AMI; its current funding is spent.
Paperwork to pull together
- Two years of W-2s and your most recent pay stubs with year-to-date overtime.
- A written verification of employment that breaks out base, overtime and other pay for the last two years and this year.
- Your TCOLE, TCFP or DSHS license, or a TDCJ or TJJD employment letter.
- A short letter explaining any drop in overtime.
- A homebuyer education certificate before closing.
Have the lender qualify you on base pay alone first. If the house works without overtime, you have a cushion. Then check your eligibility.
Readers also ask
Do Texas firefighters qualify for Homes for Texas Heroes?
Yes. Permanent, full-time fire department members in suppression, inspection, investigation, training, education, administration or similar fire duties qualify. Clerical and support staff don't. Certification is verified through the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
Does overtime count as income for a mortgage?
Yes, with a history. FHA wants 2 years, or 1 year if steady, and uses the lower of the 2-year average or the prior year. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recommend 2 years and may accept 12 months.
Are Texas jailers and corrections officers eligible?
Yes. Full-time county jailers licensed through TCOLE, and full-time TDCJ and TJJD employees receiving hazardous duty pay, are Heroes professions.
Is there down payment help for San Antonio police?
Yes. San Antonio's First Responders Homebuyer Assistance Program offers SAPD and SAFD employees up to $20,000, or $40,000 in the CRAG area, forgiven over 10 years of city employment.
Keep reading
- TSAHC or TDHCA: how to pick the right Texas state program
- How a Texas teacher's paycheck looks to a mortgage underwriter
- Your first Texas property tax bill: homestead exemption, the 10% cap and protests
- Texas title insurance rates and the rest of your closing costs
- Texas homeowners insurance: what hail, wind and flood do to your payment
- MUD and PID taxes: the extra bill in new Texas subdivisions
- Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin: where first-home help goes furthest
- Stacking city and county help on top of Texas state programs
- Texas veterans: the VA loan, the Land Board loan and Heroes, explained
