Buying in both spouses names?

Question

If I wanted to set myself (and my wife) up for purchasing multiple properties, both now and in the future, is it best to buy properties in just one of our names at a time?

In theory, can we have 10 properties under both of our names or 20 properties under our names collectively, (if we buy under one name at a time) 10 for her and 10 for me?

Thanks for the advice!

Tanner Sherman · Answer

@Cody Hartman that is correct- you can have 10 conventional mortgages in each of your names, 20 total. You can have unlimited commercial loans, however.

So if you put both of your names on the mortgage you each can get 9 more conventional loans, or 18 more total.

Brian G. · Answer

@Cody Hartman you want to find a great mortgage broker. They are key. To answer your question yes. The most efficient way to maximize your conventional loan max (ie 10/person) is to have *one person* on each loan. My wife is a home maker and thus does not generate income from a typical job. So, right now I’m signing on the mortgage with my W2 income but *we are both on title* because we can use the income from our real estate that she is on title to, to help her qualify later for conventional financing. If she’s on title the taxes/ins count against her DTI but the P/I payments do not. However, the income is counted on properties for which she is on title to help her DTI. Pretty cool right? The formulas for how they figure out DTI can get confusing in this situation but no worries. Find a great mortgage broker and they can help you. Go get em!

Todd Rasmussen · Answer

@Cody Hartman

Yes, the caveats being that you have to both be able to qualify for ten mortgages individually as the requirements step up as you purchase more properties.