Variable and seasonal income

People with variable income often assume the extra will simply be ignored. Usually it is not ignored. It is evaluated.

The lender is asking whether this income is likely to keep arriving. A pattern of it over a period of time is evidence that it will. A single unusually large month is not, on its own.

If overtime or bonus income has appeared consistently, it tends to be treated as part of your income. If it is sporadic, it may be averaged, discounted, or left out of the calculation entirely.

That is not a judgment about your job. It is an attempt to avoid counting money that might not be there next year, because a mortgage payment does not vary with your busy season.

Seasonal income is workable, and it is common in Michigan. The relevant question is what you earn across a full year, not what you earn in your best month.

If your income follows a predictable rhythm, that rhythm is what gets documented. It helps to be able to show more than one cycle of it, so a lender can see the pattern rather than one peak.

Keep the records that show the pattern. Pay stubs covering a stretch of time, W-2s or tax returns that reflect the full picture, and any documentation your employer provides about how your pay is structured.

Then have someone look at it with you before you apply. Variable income is one of the areas where the answer genuinely depends on your particular shape of earnings, and a conversation beats a rule of thumb every time.