How long do I need to wait between loan applications?

[Jennifer Cornforth]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum. My husband and I just bought and started renting out our second property (besides our home) and I'd like to buy one more property this year. But the thing is that although we own all our properties outright (no mortgages) we got a loan this past June. Though we paid it off within a few months (the loan was to finance a move), it's still on our record. Not only that, but we'd sort of done a loan application the fall before last—when we bought our first rental property. It got denied, if I recall, but we didn't care because we had cash.

Anyway, to the banks, it looks like we've been running around asking for money. In reality, we own 3 properties outright and haven't had so much as a late credit card payment in 20 years. Borrowing is a massive hassle for us for reasons I don't want to get into. I WISH i could fast forward to 1.5-2 years from now when we can count our rental income as "income" for tax purposes.

My question is, how long should i wait at this point to apply for a loan from a bank? We have one aborted application from Nov 2015, one heloc from Jun 2016 paid off in October 2016. Should i wait until June 2017? Wait until we have 2 years of rental income on our taxes? Or look for alternate financing? 

I'm in Hawaii, if that makes any difference. :)

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Jen