Bubba,
First let me say, I am in the mortgage business. Second, I am not here to solicit your business. So here’s some free advice, take it for what it’s worth.
You need to look at your overall financial picture. What is your projected total outflow and inflow of $$? Your wife’s credit is okay and should be good enough to do a ‘stated’ income loan. Keep in mind that this income must be believable for the type of job and area. Check out salary.com to get an idea. This is something underwriters use.
I would definitely need much more information, but from what you’ve given, my suggestion would be this: Find a local mortgage broker who you can trust and will be creative with your transactions. Actually, find a couple. Don’t let them pull your credit until you decide exactly what you are doing. Or if you do, see them both within 2 weeks. Too many credit pulls may drop your credit and the world can change from 720 to 719. I suggest seeing a couple so you get a feel of who you can trust and will deliver. Don’t get sold. Get recommendations. Don’t shop strictly for price but look for competence, savvy and don’t get ripped off.
From there:
I would suggest buying your personal condo first and putting as little money down as possible. Look at getting an 80/20 loan or some variation with a small down payment 80/10/10 or 80/15/5 (5% down may be best for your situation). Structuring the loan like this will help to avoid private mortgage insurance (PMI).
Secondly, do your primary home loan as a full doc loan? Document your wife’s income with 2 years returns etc. This will give you the best pricing options available. I personally like 30 fixed loans with interest only options. Rates are still historically low and getting the option for interest only costs little compared to the flexibility it offers. Do, however, make the fully amortized payment when possible.
Now, why do I recommend a creative broker as opposed to a banker (like myself)? Because now your broker can shop to other lenders for you other loans. Which one or both will most likely need to be stated income. A banker cannot do this because the income is already in their system.
The reason I suggest putting little down on your primary residence is so that you can put more down on your investments. Investment rates will be much higher. Possibly 1% more. So now you finance, only $41k and $33k on your investments, while you financed $79k on your own home. This lower loan to value on rentals will get those rates better. Also, depending on proximity of these properties, you may be able to finance one as a second home (not investment). This is will help pricing/rates too. Check with your broker.
So why not pick up the rentals first? It will add income, right? NO. The rental income that you receive will only be credited at about 75% of gross rents. So you may actually be creating a deficit in this situation, another liability making it more difficult to qualify. This is because the lender will assume that 25% goes to maintenance, taxes, insurance, vacancy etc. for those rentals.
As for product, I suggest 30 or 15 year fixed on the rentals. Here’s why: these low loan amounts can be paid off quickly by your renters. There will be little difference in your monthly payment with any adjustable rate even 1% lower. With a 15 year loan you may increase your monthly payment about $100. Which according to your calculations lowers you positive cash flow to about $100. But you pay the loan off in half the time and enjoy that much more positive cash flow that much sooner.
Take it one step further. Get your full amortization schedule from the bank. This will be a spread sheet of how much each payment goes to principle and how much to interest. With your first payment send a separate check (this must be a separate check) with the words “apply to principle up front”. The check should be in an equal amount to your payment. In essence you are making 2 payments the first month. This will reduce the number of years you pay on your mortgage dramatically. This is really hard to explain without the visual, but when you look at the spread sheet look down to where your principle payment is after reduced by the additional payment you made. On a 30 year fixed, you skip 10 payments, shaving off nearly 1 year of payments from making one additional payment up front. Do this to a 15 an BANG!
Always keep your comfortable cash flow in mind and have a reserve in case you are not able to rent or you need to maintain your property. This is why the 30 year is a possible solution to the rentals.
You may also want to look at holding the rentals in LLCs - you can learn more about that here.
I am not sure where you are located, but you should be able to find a reputable mortgage consultant nearby. There’s one everywhere.
Best of luck, I hope this was useful and helpful info. Take care,
David