Debt-to-income is my barrier

[Eddie Lozada]

Hello Everyone! I will try my hardest to keep this post short and sweet. 

A little bit about me. My name is Eddie, I live in the Los Angeles area with my Fiancé (I get married next month) and 1.5 year old son, Enzo. We purchased our first home in 2020 right before the shutdowns. It is a single family home with an ADU. We rent the ADU out and live in the main house.

We purchased using an FHA loan and 3.5% down. So we do not have enough equity in the home now to pull out or get much for a HELOC (that's fine).

I just got denied approval for a loan because my debt to income is too high. My credit score qualifies, I make enough money and I can make the payments, but this debt to income ratio has proven to be a bit of a nuisance so far and two lenders do not want to approve me. I also cannot seem to use my rental income because it has not been active long enough. 

My question is (and I have not heard any of the BP podcasts cover the debt to income topics so please let me know if you have a specific one in mind) has anyone had this problem when first starting out? Do you know of someone that has? What did they do to get pass this barrier? I own a business (33% there are 3 partners) is there a work around? I do not want to use this business to purchase the property, though. Most of the stories I hear about is people not having money or lacking the courage to take the first step. I am ready able and willing, my barrier right now seems to be this debt-income. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I am motivated to make this work!

Thanks in advance,

Eddie