All Forum Posts by: Bridget A.

My husband and I are buying a property with my father in law as the co-borrower. He will be on the title and own 1/3 interest. My husband and I are putting in all the equity and making payments. We can only qualify with the father in law as the co-borrower until we eventually refinance and remove him from title.

My question is how should we take title? We can either own the property as joint tenants or my husband and I own our interests as community property and the father owns his interest as a joint tenant? Escrow said the latter is not possible but I heard from an attorney it is an option. 

Thoughts? 

My husband and I are buying a 1M house and we are putting down 235k.  His father is co-signing the loan so we could go conventional. For his protection we are putting 1 year worth of payments including property taxes in a trust account. He also wants us to sign a quit claim deed if we don’t make payments. He will keep the deed and won’t file unless we miss payments. We are going to refinance in 6 months - 1 year and get him off the loan. He wants to be on the title, with 50% ownership as tenant in common. This concerns me. He has 4 children including my husband. He is in his 70s. If he passes away, it’s my understanding that his interest goes to his heirs. It could also go in probate. We are going to be making payments and have a good amount of equity in the home, so I also want to protect my husband, baby on the way and myself. How should we take the title? Any suggestions? I want to make sure his interest goes to us if he passes away. 

I have 200k cash for a down payment. I live in Los Angeles where the housing market is insanely HOT right now. Single family homes are getting multiple offers and going for above asking price.  I want to get my first property.  I was first looking into buying a live in flip to buy, rehab and sell but comfortable enough to live in. Then, I started looking at B and C class neighborhoods where small multi family properties are under 800k. Not bad. I am very new to the world of real estate investing so I am not sure what direction to take. I've heard that it is a terrible time to buy or to not buy an income property especially in lower income properties because we are in a recession and values drop a lot more in lower income areas where I'm currently looking to buy. However, I cannot afford the 1M and up properties in the nice areas. Cash flow is not good in these ares and I am not looking to buy, hold and hope it appreciates...although it will and maybe I should work towards this? I like the idea of quitting my job and eventually just having a portfolio of rental properties. That's the goal. I wish I lived in another area where housing cost a LOT less. And should I use the entire 200k as a down payment to keep my monthlies low or no?

Any thoughts for a newbie? Just need some guidance on how to start.