Truth in Lending Act and the adjustment made in 2009...

[Tyler Mallard]

I'll try to keep this brief and to the point..

I have an investment property of which I refinanced for 90k to pay the mortgage and my school loans(settled at 3.62% before closing costs). I set up the tenant with section 8 housing which still allows the rent to cover the monthly refinance loan payments. 

Initially I was excited to start looking for a personal property in Santa Barbara. Now come to find out that even if I pre-qualify for a 300k loan I am only able to be financed for 210k or less since my debts are carried over. I was told by a mortgage banker that this is due to an adjustment made to the Truth in Lending Act in October of 2009 preventing creditors from making higher than priced mortgaged loans. 

How do you proceed with making future property purchases if you don't have cash in hand?? I was really hoping that an additional income from my tenant would offset the loan and not affect my pre-qualification.

Thanks for your time,

Tyler