I will be applying for my first mortgage to buy a home. I'am married and was wondering if my wife is required to be put on the mortgage as well as me? I would rather she not because she doesn't have credit but I do. I know she would make my interest rate to be higher.

In the event of your untimely demise, the mortgage company will require another person to pay the mortgage.  The good news is as long as your credit history is good, and your loan amount falls within your budget, your loan will be approved.  Having NO credit is far different from having BAD credit, and the interest rate SHOULD be based on the loan type(VA,FHA, etc..) and duration(15yr,30yr).  Always shop for the best lender, same as you would for a car,pair of shoes, or corn flakes.  

Let us know what rates and terms you are presented with.  Several of use will have the benefit of house purchases under our belts and would be able to provide insight to the options available.

Of course, this information is provided with good and honest intentions, and is worth the full purchase price of $0.00

Semper Fi

It depends if you live in  acommunity property state.  If you do, then for the most part she has to be on the mortgage as co-borrower. I live in Texas and your spouse has to be on as a co-borrower.  There is a way around it that involves some paper work.  

Does she not have any credit or has she had some credit problems?  There is a difference as far as the mortgage company is concerned.

Palmer, DP & Mike are correct. You could buy the property in your own name if you had the cash...mortgage company requires info for the two of you.  Debts or notes are the responsibility of both partners in a community property state, regardless of who incurs them.  

If wife has bad credit, you'll save a lot of interest by doing whatever it takes to clean up her report.  

Let us know what happens.

hanko

Thanks for the tips. The wife does not have bad credit, just no credit. And she is not working so I thought that it would be two strikes against us(no credit,no job). My credit score is around 630 and have been with same employer for 13 years.

It would just seem easier if it was just me on the mortgage. Going for a FHA in late fall or early winter.

I bought last year before I was married.  When I refi'd (thanks 47!), she was just put on cuz I was now married.  It could have been done without her co-listed on the papers for the refi.  
Also, shop for realtors.  Try and avoid a sale where the realtor is also the seller's realtor.  Start looking at places now so you get an idea of what's in your price range and areas that will be in your range.
Now I had not so good credit when I first applied for a loan and had to do a fair amount of cleanup.  FHA still took me and I have a nice place now.  Do everything you can to clean your credit up now before you actually apply.  Pay of outstanding charges, close any excess credit cards, etc.  You will have to write a short explanantion for bad items on your credit report.  
Read up as much as you possibly can on buying a house between now and then.

Palmer,

I live in NY. I have never applied for a FHA loan so the following info may be different in your case. I applied for a regular mortgage at a bank.

When I first bought my house, I could not qualify for the loan amount so my mom also put herself down on the load application. What happened in this case was that both my mom's name and my name is on the deed to the house.

Fast forward a few years and my mom thinks that it may be a good idea to remove her name from the deed since I am now married with a family. My lawyer told me that the only way to do it was to pay off the first loan. So, I refinanced and pay off the remainder of the first mortgage and for the refinacing loan, I just used my name and did not include my wife. So, the deed is just in my name but should anything happen to me, the wife should get everything.

What I understand about this community property state is that they will look at your wife's record anyway, however, it's because of any judgements that might be able to give your wife's creditors rights to your house through her community property rights. Since that doesn't seem to be the issue here, I don't think it would be a liability in this case and actually might help her credit, not to mention save headaches for her if something happened to you. If you do it without her, she'll probably have to sign papers excluding herself from the deal.