When a person is a co-signer on a loan, he or she is legally responsible for debt repayment if the primary borrower does not make loan payments in a timely manner. Legally, co-signers are responsible for any debt for which they co-sign regardless of whether or not they have an ownership interest in the property that the loan was made to purchase.
Be very wary of advice to the contrary, and check it out with an attorney who specializes in real estate transactions before proceeding further. It is true that the FHA does have some rules that allow the income of non-occupants to be used when qualifying homebuyers for a loan.
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