Live in Renovation with Friends?

[Hamilton Sutton]

Hello,

So I've been out of college for about 2 years now, living in the Denver area, and have been looking to purchase a live in renovation with two close friends of mine. I will try and provide a brief summary of our situation and then ask you all for some advice.

Fortunately, I have known each of these two guys for many years and have lived with both of them at one point or another, so feel confident about having a positive living situation with them. Each of us has a fairly lucrative day job (two engineers, one aircraft mechanic), though we also have a fair bit of student debt which would likely prohibit us purchasing as individuals. Our current plan is to find and purchase a live in renovation (3 bed, 2 bath most likely), live in it for two years, then sell it. We also plan on having some documentation written up to detail what our expectations are regarding both financial and labor contributions, exit strategy, etc. 

My first question is what kind of mortgage options would we have available to us? I have a done a bunch of research on FHA loans which seem attractive with the low down payment (especially given the expensive market in Denver), though I am unsure of how that would work with three of us.

Second, would it be wise to refinance my personal student loan to lower my monthly payments, free up additional cash for the house, and lower my monthly DTI? Would this make getting a mortgage easier or does my high debt balance still hurt me too much?

Any insight on this would be much appreciated.