If you have enough income to service the debt at a ratio of 1.20+ then the borrower (sponsor) is secondary.

There is NO place where the money can be used for other than narrowly defined needs, and owner debt is NOT one of them.

We have about 30K in low-interest (2%) student loan debt and 5k or so in credit card debt.

Christian,I don't believe your comments are entirely true.The was a federal act passed in DEC 2007 the lenders cannot hit you with a default judgement on your primary residence keep in mind the irs can and will tax you on the spread in a short sale and one morning you will wake up to a 1099 in your mail boxOn the contrary, House Resolution 3648 prevents home owners from being taxed on forgiven debt.

Last I checked (correct me if I'm wrong), consumer credit card debt was at $1.1 Trillion and rising.

HUD does not only offer people discounted homes to purchase but the ability to finance their purchase or consolidation of existing debt.

TCS Foreclosure requires $10,000 to start that automatically eliminates them from my list.

I know with my first home I bought they looked at my income to debt ratio and wouldn't go any higher than like 45%, but since I already have one mortgage, do they look at that with investment properties?

Typically what you will find is that they will allow cash out only to 65-75% of your purchase price which leaves a significant portion of your cash and improvements tied up.Better NOT to buy with cash but always make sure there is a note/deed of trust or mortgage filed at closing on the purchase so you are alwys paying off underlying debt.

To get rid of all emotion would eliminate the passion that pushes me to higher returns and further excellence in this business.