Confused on whether to include spouse on loan

[Ryan Moyer]

My wife and I are looking at our first investment property, a STR vacation home in east Tennessee.

I work and she stays home with the kids.  We both have excellent credit and no debt other than our primary mortgage, which has both our names on it.  Putting her on the mortgage loan would probably neither hurt nor help what we qualify for (which should be plenty either way).

We are going to use a vacation property loan on our upcoming purchase which allows us to put 10% down and get lower rates.  If we do this loan (and any subsequent loans) in just my name could we potentially qualify for another vacation property loan down the line in just her name if she is back to working when the kids are older?

If the answer is yes to that and it's better to just have my name on this loan, then I guess the next question is how do we make sure the house would go to her in case I were to die?  We currently have a trust set up, but as I understand it we have to have our properties deeded to the trust for that, which includes both of our names.  Could I do the loan under just my name and then move the property into the trust that includes both of us?