All Forum Posts by: O'brian R.

As I understand it, since CA is a community property state, any property purchased once married is considered to be owned by both spouses. Though I'm curious about the case when buying a property in a non-community property state. 

I know if the property is in CA, you can take title as "Community property with right of survivorship" on the deed. But in a non-community property state, how does a CA married couple take title on an out-of-state property? Can they still have the deed say "Community property with right of survivorship" or would they have to use "Joint tenancy with right of survivorship"? Are the title options dependent solely based on the state where the property is located in?

Thanks @Shaun Weekes for confirming. 

I spoke to another lender today and they basically said the same thing too. 

Is this true? I've heard both recommendations that you should not have your spouse on title and others say that both can be on title as long as they're not a co-borrower. 

Or is it lender dependent?@Shaun Weekes maybe you can you clarify?

Do you know if your spouse can be on title for my properties and still qualify for 10 properties herself? I know they can't be a co-borrower on any of my properties, but I've heard some people say to keep them off title and others say that it didn't matter. 

Ahh, I see what you mean. Good points Randy. 

@Randy Chang . Yea these @links don't always work. 

Since CA is a community property state where any asset purchased during marriage is considered equally owned by each spouse, even if title is taken under my name only, I thought my wife would still be considered a 50% owner. So if I were to pass away, the property would go to her completely. 

This sound right @Elizabeth Colegrove ? Think you were saying something similar.

This is a very interesting thread and like you @Randy Chang I have the same strategy. I'm planning to finance up to 10 properties in my name alone and only after, my wife will pick up properties using financing under her name alone. The only difference is when I started, I was under the impression that my wife should not be on title with me when I pick up my properties. So my plan is to do all 10, finance them under my name and have only my name on title. So when the time comes, my wife will take over on financing and hopefully get past the lending limits with more ease since she won't be tied to the properties in any concrete way. 

I'm currently in the process of financing my 2nd property and will be the only person under title again. This was my understanding at least, but I would like to know if this is not correct.  

Welcome to the site Ken! I'm also in LA with a full time job investing in RE on the side. Househacking is an interesting idea that I thought about trying too. Though I live in the South Bay where the rent to price ratios just don't make sense. You may get some better numbers as you look further east of the 405, though my wife would not be on board. So if you're single and flexible, it can probably work for you. Good luck! 

Thanks for the comments @Shaun WeekesTo answer you questions Shaun, the appraisal was paid for by the bank and the appraiser actually came into the house. I'm going forward with the refinance and reviewing all the docs closely, they are covering all the fees. The only thing I'm bringing to the table is my next monthly mortgage payment (PITI), which is a tad lower because of the reduced rate they're also getting me.

The scenario is still strange to me, but I can't complain since I'm getting a benefit out of it. 

Hey BP nation:

Here's my situation. I bought a Homepath SFH early this summer and have since rehabbed it and rented it out. At the time, we understood that the property offered the then 10% down Homepath program. Turns out, a few months later, the bank I got the loan through cannot sell that note to FNMA because it apparently "didnt qualify", even though FNMA signed the contract under those terms. Now, the bank is holding this note that they cannot sell. They have offered to do a refinance for me at a lower rate and no costs. It seems like a good deal, but I've never refinanced before since this is my first purchase of a property anyways.

I have 3 questions:

1) In a general sense, are there any disadvantages to refinancing that I should be aware of? 

2) Related to my scenario, is there something that my lender is not telling me? The bank says they'll cover all refinance costs and give me a lower rate. Seems too good to be true. 

3) I just got another property under contract, which needs to close by the end of the month. Since my lender was quite insistent to refinance, they had sent over an appraiser a couple weeks ago. So I'm assuming the refi may happen quite soon. I'm wondering if there may be any potential issues with completing a purchase while a refi is also going on? Or should I try to post-pone the refi even though an appraisal was already done?