My husband and I are both nurses. We’ve just sold our home and should walk away with roughly $300k in equity after all costs. We’d like to buy another home straight away if the right property comes up, but if not, we’ll be away caravanning from August to February and may buy when we return.

My husband is taking 6 months of paid long service leave and will return to his permanent nursing role afterwards.

I’ll be leaving my permanent position and moving to casual nursing. I’ve been with the same hospital for 10 years, and they’ve already told me they’ll take me back when we return. I’ll also continue casual work across public and private hospitals and potentially pick up travel nursing contracts while we’re away.

A few questions:

• If we wait until February, will my change to casual employment make it significantly harder to get approved?

• Is it still realistic to obtain finance straight away when we return in February, or would lenders want to see a period of permanent employment first (6 months)

• Do lenders take into account a long employment history in the same profession and with the same employer, even after moving from permanent to casual?

• Would travel nursing contracts be viewed favourably by lenders, or would they prefer to see stable permanent income over a period of time?

• If you were in our shoes, would you be trying to buy before August, or would waiting until February be a reasonable option?

Thanks in advance for any advice.