I bought a condo with my boyfriend in March 2006. Now my family needs me to purchase a single-family home. How do I qualify for another loan? How long do I have to wait until I get equity on the condo that I can use to buy another property?
Qualifying for another loan is a matter of demonstrating that you have the creditworthiness to take on the additional debt. That will require that you file an application with a mortgage lender, who will take into account your income and financial commitments, credit and employment history, and other factors.
As you know, one of those factors might be whether you have equity in other property. Unfortunately, if you bought that condo in March 2006, it's unlikely that you've gained any equity since then. In fact, given the current national housing market and depending on local conditions, you may have less equity now than you did when you bought it. Payments on a relatively new mortgage tend to go mostly to interest, so you've probably not paid down much of the principal of the condo loan. Although it may be a good time to acquire more real estate while prices are depressed, you may not be in the right financial position to do so, but you won't know without discussing your needs with a lender.
A word of advice: avoid any loan that might involve a deeply-discounted initial interest rate, an "interest only" period, or any form of negative amortization designed to help you qualify. That's exactly the sort of loan feature that can result in payment shock and foreclosure when the initial "accommodations" expire.
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Qualifying for another loan is a matter of demonstrating that you have the creditworthiness to take on the additional debt. That will require that you file an application with a 