Property Purchase / Loan / Mortgage advice needed - Denver

[Devon Hutchings]

Hello BP,

Im looking for some advice on my current situation and possibly some lenders I can work with. Heres my current personal situation Im trying to change. 

Currently My wife and I rent a home in the Denver Metro. Been renting for years as we have been trying to improve our credit as we are always chasing the rising home prices... Anyway my wifes credit is great - about a 750. Mine is about a 630. We put in a app for a traditional 30 year mortgage loan and were denied due to DTI ratio. Student loans and 1 car loan. I need some different options and I know there out there. I just need some knowledge. One of our main issues is I have been a 1099 employee/ independant contractor. I write off a ton of expenses and traditional lenders up until this point have seemed to frown upon that greatly because I dont claim much income there. My wife is a RN. She shows good income and a great credit score. Also we do not have the 20% most of these banks are wanting down. Homes here are about 300-350K for a fixer upper. Ive located many at 315 that have been on the market a while.

Our plan and what we would like to do is this - Buy a beat up home that needs work here in Colorado. Move in and live in it for 2 years while I fix it up. In 2-3 years we would like to then buy another home and turn this first property in to a rental or depending on where the market is, sell it. Leaning more towards rental as rental houses are apart of my long term plan. Can any BP members here give me advice on ways I can may this happen without going the traditional 30 year mortgage loan right off the bat?  Help me out BP. What do we do? What kind of loan options are available for us?