Best Loans to use to scale

[Thomas Bullock]

My friend and I are both veterans. We invested in a 3 family property about a year ago now. 100% of my friends VA loan was used, however, I am still on the loan because it was the only way we could get approved for the loan. I still have 100% of my VA loan.

It’s my understanding that since we’re both listed in the loan, we both carry that debt on our debt to income ratio. Do we both show for 100% of the loan debt? Can we each only claim 50% of the rental income to offset that loan debt? Did we screw ourselves in a sense in terms of investing towards the next property. Tax season is coming up and we want to start investing in our next property. What is the best way to claim our taxes in order for both of us to get approved for another property in 2023. Ideally we both want to get a multi family in 2023 so we can start expanding faster. 

Like I said, I have my VA loan still and my friend can use FHA.

We both make average yearly salary. We have a joint bank account with a good amount saved in there that we use for all expenses and income.

Would opening an LLC and transferring the property into it help avoid this complications? Or, would the debts still show individually for my partner and I?

Very loaded questions. As you can tell I'm very new to this game. I've tried researching on my own but haven't found clear answers. Any tips will help!

Thanks!

[Dylan M. Davis]

For your next purchase, would you consider a hard money lender or private debt? Do you have enough liquidity to cover a 20% down payment? Hard money doesn't consider your DTI (debt-to-income) it only is qualified on the property financials, borrower liquidity/credit/experience. And the great thing is, servicing doesn't see your names attached to the loan, therefore allowing you to take out as many loans as you'd like with little impact to credit.. (unless a default or judgement occurs of course)