To buy now? or after me and my partner have a good foundation.

[Jake LaRoche]

heres a loaded question that i felt like made sense to put in the Lending category. me and my father are partnering up to build a large real estate portfolio. full transparency I'm sitting at about a 590- 600 credit score with 15k cash and 8k in credit card debt. my father is at about 720-730 credit score with also about 15- 20k cash, no debt. we share a very small, uncomfortable apartment. we'd like our first property to be a house hack i.e. 2-4 unit with a rehab as we live in one of the units. my question is, should i dump my money on my credit cards, and use the money ive been saving for a down payment on that property, ultimately delaying our purchase by months? or should we just use my dad's income and credit to get our foot in the door, then fix my credit before purchasing more properties after that first one.

with my dads income of 100,000, a score of 720-730 and no debt, what could he even qualify for using the new 5% conventional loan (upstate new York)

[Liam Naughton]

Hey Jake,

Have you looked into any down payment assistance loans?

Looks like New York has DPAL sponsored by the State of New York Mortgage agency. That might be a way for you to keep your cash on hand for some renovations and forced appreciation to boost your portfolio a little.

My personal recommendation is always to pay off debts first before going after an asset because it directly impacts your purchasing power.

In this case, if you were to pay off your debts and then combine your income with your father's, you would qualify for more. Your credit score would impact your borrowing situation and paying off your debts would help with that as well.

Good luck!