<prompt> Human: My mother recently asked me to help her co-sign a mortgage for a home shed like to buy in Pennsylvania. I currently live alone in an apartment in NYC. Currently my mother rents an apartment for 1,300 a month where she lives with my two younger siblings, but she says her monthly mortgage payments would be considerably cheaper in the home she wishes to buy and it would be a great help to her financial situation. She assured me that shed make her payments on time every month, but her income isnt high enough for the mortgage to be approved and shes a single mother so she needs me to be her co-signer. Both of our credit scores are in the 700s but my income is higher than hers. Im in my early 20s and havent established a career or finished my studies yet. I also know nothing about home ownership or mortgages in any capacity. I dont want to disappoint my mom but Im terrified that somehow my future finances and credit score can be wrecked if something goes wrong with this. What are the risks associated with this situation if I follow through and co-sign her mortgage? Any help is appreciated, thanks.Assistant: If you cosign, then you will not be able to buy a house of your own unless the loan underwriter determines you can comfortably afford both mortgages. As such, co-signing on this loan will likely have the effect of you never being able to buy a house of your own without either a hefty down payment or marrying somebody with substantial means.Its almost never a good idea to co-sign. Financial info could help here IE, if your mom is buying a 60K condo and you make 100K a year, cosigning isnt quite so bad, but the general advice is Never cosign.Human: My yearly earnings are in the low 30Ks hers are in the 20Ks and her mortgage would be 800-900 a month.  <response>: 900month means that your DTI debt to income ratio would be 32 assuming you make 34K.At that, it may not get approved even with you cosigning most lenders want to see 31 for housing, 43 for all debt service.And this means that, should you wish to buy your own home of guessing here value of about 150K, youd need to make more than 2x what youre currently earning today to be able to pass underwriting muster.Theres no easy way to shake out of a cosigning, either - thisll be with you for 15-30 years. 