Partnering by jumping on the deed?

[Aaron Millis]

Hi BP,

So my girlfriend bought an investment property in October and the plan was either to flip or Brrrr it. We’re leaning towards the Brrrr method but have a potential issue.

She bought the house with a conventional owner occupied 3% down loan.

She bought it for $82.5K and based on the comps it’s currently probably worth around 170K. So there’s plenty of equity in there. Plus she’s owned it longer than 6 months now, which I think is the required “seasoning period” before you can refi for most lenders (I could be wrong about that- maybe it’s a year).

The issue is that she is maxed out for her DTI and wouldn't qualify for a higher loan amount if she went for a cash out refi.

So my question is: if I have enough income/assets/etc... Can she add me onto the deed as a co-owner of the property and then we both do the cash out refi? I'm assuming the lender would just factor our combined DTI and everything to qualify us for the bigger loan.

If this is possible would the “seasoning period” start over if I was added to the deed? Or are there any other rules or things I should know about this?

Thanks