Buying my wifes rental property

[Joe Sniadowski]

So i’m very much a noob to real estate.  I literally just started in the past week reading up on it.  In that short time ive listened to about 15-20 bigger pocket podcasts all day while at work and reading as much as possible when not working.  Its my new addiction.

Anyway my question may seem extremely stupid or unrealistic but its worth asking.  My wife bought a condo right before the real estate crash in 2008.  Prices were high.  She put no money down on it and as of now (10 years later) has only paid off the interest but is just now chopping away at the mortgage with a rental.   She purchased the condo at 180k.  Her monthly mortgage is 1200 but pays 150 in condo fees.  When her and I got engaged 3 years ago, I purchased a new house (in my name) for us to start a family in.  At the time the condo value decreased to about 160k and we decided at the time if we could just rent it out to cover the mortgage and fees, we could make some equity and sell it later even though we werent making cash flow on it.  We had a reliable renter already lined up so didnt have to worry about the search or vacancy. Fast forward a couple years to now.  The economy is turning around and we are in a better financial place as well as a returning market.  We also already have tenants so arent rushing anyone in to avoid vacancy.

My, admittedly, ignorant question is, can i purchase her condo, which is in her (maiden) name, myself?  In MY theory, I buy the house from her and am able to put a downpayment on it.  I can restart the 30 year mortgage but with lower monthly costs, thus making our current rental bring in more cashflow without raising our current tenants cost.  Also my wife would be getting the money in equity so it stays in our pocket and we dont “lose” on the purchase end.  And we can use the money she “gains”  from the sell to maybe put back into condo itself to eliminate some interest (or for other purchases, expenses, etc.).  Or is this something the bank would see and out the kanish on it.

Does any of that make sense or seem plausible or is that the pipedream of an inexperienced noob?

Thabks for any help!

[Peter M.]

Yes you can do this. You'd just be refinancing the loan. Both of you go to the bank together, explain you want to refinance into your name (or both it doesnt matter). The new bank pays off the old loan, you get a new note and deed the property into whatever name you want. You just have to factor in the costs of a new loan and if the lower payments will make it worth doing. Unless you do a cash out refi, you (or your wife) wont be able to get any money out of this deal, it will just stay in the property as equity. It is pretty simple, I think you are overthinking this plan.