VERY new REI from San Jose, CA

[Aldwin De Torres]

Hey everyone! This place is amazing! I wish this was around 10 years ago (I'm 33 now). Background: I was always interested in accumulating wealth at a young age, but fell victim to the cookie cutter mentality of 1) go to college 2) get a good job 3) and die. I made up part 3, but you get what I mean. Anyway, I knew I wanted real estate in my early 20s, but made a decision to start a business that failed around 2007 when people lost their jobs and had no more expendable income. I was lucky enough to find an entry level job at a tech company and stayed with them for a few years before I left to start another business. 

Fast forward to now and my situation. I'm married with 2 beautiful kids and a wife that has been out of the work place to take care of them. Yes, we were able to find a way to live in San Jose on a single income! And no, I do not clear $100k/yr. My wife plans to get back to work to help generate us more cash to eventually buy a property.

After a long winded intro, we are in a situation where we have roughly $75k-$100k in equity if we sold our home. I looked into getting pre-qualified for a loan, but my W-2 and our business doesn't show enough income to make lenders feel comfortable. We are contemplating this:

Wait up to 6 months after my wife gets a job to qualify for a loan, then sell our home and move into a house hack or Single Family home to eventually rent out. However, by the time she gets a job and we wait 6-12months, the value of our home may change for the worse

I just hope we don't lose out on the equity that was built up. I would love to hear any thoughts or opinions or suggestions from you! Thanks! - Aldwin