Using someone's credit for a conventioal loan

[Ryan McCook]

Ok, here's the scenario. I am married, and file my taxes jointly, but am the sole income earner. I have 9 rental properties all 30 year fixed conventional loans. My wife is not a signer on the loans, but on title of the properties only. That means I can't qualify for any more fannie mae/freddie mac loans - and need commercial loans moving forward - but technically she could still get her own 9 loans, but she has no income so would not qualify.

I'm looking at a portfolio of 9 properties, and all of them are under contract with a paying tenant, so they technically can cover the mortgage and then some by themselves, but I still don't think my wife would qualify for a loan, given that she has no income herself.

With rates HISTORICALLY LOW, I started thinking of outside the box ways to get my wife her 9 loans. I started thinking about having a co-signer. I figured no one would do that without a benefit for themselves, so I could compensate them for that, and it would still be a major savings for me. It would obviously have to be someone who trusts me, since they would have to fully understand the potential risk they are taking. But say my cousin or a family member wanted to do that - is that possible? Anyone ever do something like that? What am I missing about this scenario?

and lastly, could I repeat that over and over again? Can someone else sign the note of the loan, and I just be on title only but be the one making all payments and take on the tax obligations, etc.? Meaning - maybe I don't stop at 9, maybe I keep doing that over and over again if I find people interested in signing on our behalf for a payment.

If you have any advice, I welcome your thoughts.