Community – I’ve got a question. My girlfriend’s mother owns a home in Brooklyn. She has like 7 years left on the mortgage (@7.5%). She wants to refinance (15 year mortgage) the house and take some cash out. According to the bank, her mother does not have high enough income to refinance.

If my girlfriend is put on the title of the house, and refinances it with her, will any “first time home buyer” benefits/program be unavailable to us whenever we decide to purchase our own home?

Anyone suggest pros/cons of her becoming part owner of the house?

Side notes: It is a 2 family house. Rental income is 1300/month. I am not 100% sure on the mortgage balance, but its definitely under 100k. The house is “worth” around 650-700k, according to trulia, zillow, etc.

Thanks in advance.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Agree with many comments here. Why refi a mortgage for such a small amount? Rates are very low for home equity loans.

    Would recommend a FIXED rate home equity loan — perhaps from a credit union. Can do a 15 year loan, and generally after a few years, there is no prepayment penalty if you want to get rid of it. And sometimes credit unions pay some of the closing costs–which are not that high, anyway.

    Do NOT go for the variable rate HELOC (home equity line of credit)…these do not have STABLE rates and may be dangerous over time.

    Overall the home equity seems like the simplest thing and keeps your GF out of it.

  2. Agree with Curiosity.

    Many organizations will give a low-cost loan for that amount for home repairs. Contact a bank, take out a HELOC, Neighborhood Housing Service (NHS) of Flatbush, your local community credit union, and so on. It’s not worth it to refinance.

    NHS of Flatbush in particular and other neighborhood organizations like it offer very low cost loans for home repair of all kinds.

    Good luck.

  3. Closing costs alone will be quite expensive. If the goal really is just for the $25,000 in cash, surely there are other options than going for a full refinance and getting family finances all complicated.

    Good luck!

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