Time to get my wife started!

[Alfredo David]

Hello all! Great news, I've managed to convince my wife that it would be wise for us to begin investing in real estate. Today we are going to a few banks to in hopes to get approval letters and an idea for their interest rates, along with other small details.  This next property will be under her name so i need to make it as easy as possible; I keep our current home (future rental) only under my name.

Here's the goods; I owe $56k on my current loan and have approximately 110k in equity with about ten years left to pay off if. The current monthly mortgage is $1170 (includes escrow covering: insurance, county/MUD/school taxes), should be less after the changing the insurance to landlord /dwelling insurance. According to rentometer the average rent for similar properties in the area is $1300.

My wife doesn't want to refinance our current home because I can afford the mortgage on my salary and she is more than capable of paying for the second property. Question is should I do more to convince her to refinance the property or pay it off in 10 years or less?

[Alfredo David]

I'm currently looking in the single family Houston market however, I do have my eyes open to anything that pops up. Because the city is so big, I've focused my attention to Spring, Alief, Katy, and Cypress.