Some questions about getting a mortgage

 I have about $400,000 in savings and recently started a new business
which has netted around $20,000 annually in the last two years.  When I
was going to school, my income was less.  I don't know my credit score,
but I pay on time and am currently carrying about $6,000 on my cards.

I may have the opportunity to buy an apartment and I wonder if, because
of my low income and being self-employed, I'll find it hard to get a
mortgage if I put down about $200,000 (not from my savings but from a
prospective buy out for my current rental).

A side-issue is that I've been thinking of putting most of the $400,000
into various rewards checking accounts that pay about 6% interest.  Some
of the banks offering these do hard credit searches and I wonder if
opening so many accounts (about 16) would make it more difficult to get
a mortgage.  I can lower the number to 8 if I open joint accounts with
my brother, but what would the effect, if any, be on my getting a loan
if some of the money is in a joint account?

Thanks for any info and advice.  I've just started to think this through.

Janie

 

Why not find a home that you can afford, for lets say $250K,
$300K tops, pay for it in cash, have no payments, have $100K
left in the bank, pay off those cards, and live like a king.

-john-

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John A. Weeks III           612-720-2854            john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications                         http://www.johnweeks.com  
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 John A. Weeks III wrote:

Thanks, John, that's one possibility.  I have some constraints about
where I can live, as I need to be near my elderly father, and my
neighborhood is expensive.  Also the $400,000 in savings is family money
that is earmarked for his care. It may be that I will never get it, but
I can use it to secure a mortgage, hence my questions.

Janie

 
That's quite a different situation than you first described...

Since the money isn't really yours, and the investment has to be safe &
liquid because you will need to draw on it, you should put it into
renewable CDs with as high a yield as you can find.  Several banks in
Seattle are offering 4.5% right now.  Stagger the maturities so you get
access to the amount you will need to draw every 2 or 3 months.  It may
take several months to a year to get all of it into higher-yield (i.e.,
longer term) CDs with the proper stagger.

 
Make sure to split it among institutions, as well.  FDIC, and all
that.

--
Keith