All Forum Posts by: Natalie P.

Hi everyone!

Wow! Thank you all so much for the helpful information. It has certainly given me more to research and think about. 
I'll be going back to my loan officer to see if a 12 month bank statement program would work for getting us qualified. I also think I'm going to knock out the debt I have hanging around to lower my DTI… and hopefully those two things combined will help us qualify!

For more context, my current house and primary residence with the large amount of equity, was inherited, and I feel like holding onto it and renting it out would be a great opportunity as the interest rate I have is really low (4%), making it a really good potential cash flow opportunity. 
 
Also  for even more context, my boyfriend and I have been together for almost 10 years and have a 15 month old. So yes, this is for the long term ;), but I agree, it’s always smart to plan for the “what if” just in case!

Thanks again to the Bigger Pockets fam I greatly appreciate it. 

My boyfriend and I are trying to buy a property in the Sacramento, CA area. We’ve gone through the process of doing an application and submitting the required documents, and our lender is saying our combined income is too low, even with a significant down payment. 

The details: 

I alone own a property and would like to rent it out and buy single family with my boyfriend. I make around $47,000 a year with a W2 job. I have a car payment as well and around 10k in credit card debt. So my DTI to buy another home is not looking very good.

My boyfriend does not own any real estate, but has owned a previous home for over 15 years. He owns his own business and writes off a significant amount. Before writing off, he makes $109,000 yearly. But afterwards, makes around $20k……  

We both have credit scores in the 760 range. 

My question: 

How could we ever buy another house with our tricky situation, and still keep my current house for rental income? Our lender suggested we just sell my home as it holds around 300k in equity, but my real estate investment brain is telling me not to, and hold out until I can make this work. 

How do investors get approved for and acquire multiple properties at once? 

Thanks in advance!