Down payment for multi-family

[Todd Bailey]

My fiancee and I are buying a multi-family.  She has the down payment $ from the sale of her house, but I will take the mortgage in my name (credit score).  A lender told me today that "gift" $ cannot be used as a down payment.  Questions:

- Can her assets be listed in the bank application even though she will not be on the mortgage?

- If we add her as a cosigner, will her lower credit score impact the rates?

- any other creative ways to transfer those funds to my account?  I imagine a single transfer of the full amount will raise eyebrows.  For reference, we are getting married this year...

- I can also take a loan from my 401k, but we would then just move her $ to repay the 401k loan after closing...

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Teti]

Hey Todd. I would call another lender and discuss these different options with them. I don't know if it's different in NY, but there shouldn't be any reason you can't use a gift as a down payment and they can run some #'s on what the rates would look like with just you or with you and her included. Good luck!