Financing my 1st House Hack

[Benjamin Sulka]

I just got engaged with my girlfriend but we are not yet married. 

She is 100% on board with starting our real estate investing journey and we are buying our first multifamily to house hack in the coming months. 

Here is my situation. 

I'm 23 and just graduated college so my DTI is a bit higher than I'd like it to be. This limits the amount of $ I can qualify for individually. I could definitely buy a multifamily by myself but it would be in a less desirable area that we might not feel as comfortable living.

On the flipside, if we got the loan together, it would open us up to most of the B-A neighborhoods that we would rather live in. 

I know that going on the loan in my own name would allow me to put more loans under my belt in the future before we get married and become one unit. 

What route would you take? What are your thoughts? 

-Ben, aspiring multifamily house hacker