Best course of action to get mortgage loans with good rates for investment properties

[Anonymous]

Hi, I hope everyone is doing well.  How can I get the most mortgages in the shortest time for investment properties?  We have about 900k in assets.

My wife's fico is 760, mine is 711.  We own a 500k home with no mortgage (that we plan to sell in a few months to invest in additional sfr homes that are about 100k each)

We also currently own two 100k properties with no mortgages, they both rent for 1k a month each.  My wife is retired with a pension of 1500 a month.  We have 200k in savings. I have 23k in credit card debt.  I make 75k a year.  (our total including rent from investment properties is 120k) My wife and I would like to get as many mortgages as possible (I heard the maximum is ten each)

Is my fico too low to get conventional loans?  If so how can I raise my score to an acceptable amount asap.  Is it absolutely necessary to immediately pay off the 23k in cc debt? (IOW how much would paying it off completely affect my score and how soon?)  We have no debt aside from the credit card and a $300 car payment.

My son has a fico score of 800 (but he works part time and going to college), I would not mind putting homes in his name, would his high fico be any use despite having low income?

Any advice on how we could get the most mortgage loans with the best rates would be greatly appreciated.

[JM-AM]

You have several options available to you.

While your scores are fine for conventional loans (from the scores you posted), you would have to know all 3 of your FICO scores. Since your rate is based on the lower middle score of all applicants, you really need to know them all.

Depending on Lenders (Banks), the best rates available can vary by what their minimum score requirement would be for their tiers. A score of 720+ middle score will qualify you with majority of the Lenders (Banks) for best rates. But other things do play a part in rates, such as down payments, any negative information on your credit reports as a few examples.

You can choose to speak with an LO at a Banking Institution directly, or speak with a few Brokers. I can honestly say from being a Broker myself, dealing with an honest ethical Broker will 99.9% of the time give you a better rate and terms dollar for dollar, than any Bank will offer, since their wholesale rates are lower. Like any financial decision you make in my opinion, you need to shop a few different avenues and see what will offer you the best overall package.

Paying off your Credit Card debt, will have different scoring factors depending on different scenarios. For example you have 23K in CC debt, but you didnt mention if that is on one CC or several CC's. For best scoring purposes in all my experiences is to have a small balance of 1-3% on only ONE CC, while having all the other CC's reporting a zero balance when statements hit. Others in forum will say under 9% is fine. Most (not all) Lenders, and Brokers, really have no idea on how credit works and things you can do to improve your credit. Generally they all give you limited advice and hope you reach your mark for scoring purposes.

If you start paying off all but one CC in full, and keep them at a zero balance before statement hits, this will give you a boost once your next statement period is reported to the Credit Bureaus. As an example if you paid them today, assuming your statements come out next month around the 15th of the month, you would see a boost for UTIL usuage between the 16th-30th of the month depending on when Credit Bureaus update. Once you have paid down all CC's to zero except the one CC, on the CC with a balance bring down the balance to report 1-3% total of your credit limit on that card (you can do this while paying off the other CC's at the same time, whatever is easier for you). Now you can use your CC's anytime you like, just pay the balance in full before statement hits, and leave a small balance on only one CC.

You can also use your son if needed to for additional properties, but depending on how much he makes part time and down payment, you will most likely have to be on the loan with him. For scoring purposes, if you are on the loan with him it is still the lower middle score of all applicants.

In my opinion, print out a current copy of your credit reports and FICO scores, and go talk with a LO and or Broker. They will give you the guidance you need to acheive exactly what you are trying to do. Do not have them pull your credit until you are ready to do business with them. Do not sign anything until you are ready to do business with them.

If you need to come back and ask more questions according to what the LO's or Brokers are suggesting, feel free to post your information and or send a private message.

Keep us updated on your progress...