Co-signing legally binds you to that debt, and lenders add the full payment to your DTI, which can push it from 32% to 47%.
Fannie Mae lets lenders exclude a co-signed mortgage from your DTI if the primary borrower shows 12 months of clean payments, but you must ask.
Co-signers planning to borrow should collect payment proof now, raise the DTI exclusion with their loan officer, and explore a refinance to remove their name entirely.
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Consider a hypothetical example. Robert, 63, co-signed his daughter Emma's mortgage two years ago so she could clear underwriting on her first home. Her monthly payment is about $2,400. She has never missed one. Robert now wants to sell his family house and buy a smaller place near the coast for retirement. His pension and Social Security comfortably cover the new loan on paper. When he applies, the lender denies him.