<prompt> Human: Warning: big post ahead. Really appreciate anyone who reads through and gives feedback! And if youre in nyc, well buy you a drink! And if this isnt the right place to ask this, let me know, I am a total novice.To give you a bit of background, my fiance and I both finished college in 2012 and have been working full-time since. We spent some time doing long distance, and since August we have been sharing an apartment in New York, each paying a little over 1K in rent a month. I signed a two-year contract to remain in New York when I first accepted my current position, so Im rooted here until September 2014. However, weve been looking into moving elsewhere since once my two years are up Ill have a lot of geographic flexibility. His job also MIGHT allow him to work remotely from anywhere, so it could be better for us to leave NY for someplace cheaper. The cost of living in NY is so high that wed be able to save significantly by relocating someplace else, both where rent and general living expenses are concerned. However, this is where our qualms and your expertise come in. His parents want to sell their current home in Virginia and buy a cheaper one under his name. Essentially, they will make him a homeowner, take out a mortgage under his name, move into the house and make monthly payments on his behalf. There are multiple reasons they think this is a good idea. -First, their current home has appreciated so much over the last few years that selling it would yield them a profit of 80K, with which theyve agreed to repay my fiances student loans in full.-They think buying the house under his name and making regular payments on his behalf will improve his credit score substantially, such that when we buy property of our own within the next three years hell have terrific credit.-Lastly, they intend to return to their home country in Latin America upon retirement, at which point they will leave him with the house that hes already listed as owner of, and he can sell itdo with it as he sees fit. Theyll also benefit from this in the short run aside from the upfront 80K earnings from selling their current home because they intend to move into a house with cheaper monthly payments than their current one. Here are our misgivings: 1. Taking out a mortgage under his name would essentially lock us into our current NY apartment until the house is sold, as there is no way wed be approved to rent another apartment once he takes out that massive loan to buy property in VA. Does taking out a mortgagebecoming a homeowner really improve ones credit score to a degree that making other regular payments on ones credit card, car, student loans, etc. does not? 2.The plan is for his parents to choose a house that will appreciate in value to the same extent their current one did within the next few years, leaving him with a tidy profit should he decide to sell it once they go back to their home country. The risk is if it doesnt appreciateor doesnt appreciate enough by the time we decide to buy property of our ownhell be left with nothing aside from a huge blow to his credit score. Or well be locked into this waiting game that hinges on the propertys appreciation rate. How can we choose the right house? Is this possible? 3.His parents have also offered to list me as a co-owner because our joint income is considerably higher than his entire familys combined and that will expand the range of properties they would be eligible to consider. The benefit again would also be for me to build my credit scoreit also makes sense because we plan on marrying and pooling our funds anyway. However I have qualms about this because if we both go in and something goes wrong, both our credit scores will suffer. Whereas if I stay out of it from the start, I can ensure that mine at least will be intact when we actually decide to buy property regardless of what happens with this venture. Should I agree to be the co-owner? 4.Other risks: while his parents have been very good about making the payments on their current home, their incomes are not high at all. In theory they would have even less trouble making the payments on the new property since they plan on buying one even cheaper than their place now, but I dont think theyre financially stable enough for me to feel 100 cool with lending our creditnames to this endeavor. In my view this is a high-risk high-reward type situation where we could potentially find ourselves with a property that will yield substantial profit once we sell it to buy our real home and awesome credit scores to boot. In the worst-case scenario, however, we continue to lose money for the next few years by living in New York and the property doesnt appreciate. To say nothing of the fact that there is the slim chance his parents may not be able to make regular monthly payments at some point and our credit gets completely shot, which in your early 20s is especially terrifying. The risk-averse part of me thinks that it might be smarter for us to decline this offer, leave NY to save money, and buy property of our own in a few years without doing this which was the original plan before his parents put forward this proposition. But if it is a risk worth taking, I dont want to pass it up. Ive asked my own parents and have gotten a lot of conflicting feedback, so I thought Id pose this question to the community at large in case anyones done this in the past, or has any insightssuggestions. We really just want to know what decision youd make in this situation, and what factors youd consider most, etc., etc. EDIT After reading everyones replies and like five minutes of discussion - all that was needed we have decided emphatically against doing this. His parents solvencytrustworthiness and appreciation rates aside, the fact that his parents would have been paying on his behalf would mean that those gift funds need to be sourced and allocated before approval. Additionally as the sole borrower hell need to meet the monthly payment requirements, including property taxes and homeowners insurance, in order to be approved for a mortgage. By being non-occupying borrowers on a loan, he and his parents will also be held to stricter underwriting standards all credit goes to uquerulous_alacrity in rrealestate for these insights. Im pretty sure we dodged a huge bullet. Thanks for everything!!!  <response>: This is a terrible idea and Id advise against it. There is almost nothing in it for you or your fiance. 