I think the plan would be to do it before we D. Based on the numbers we should qualify seperately (actually with some room to spare) for what we are trying to do. She is worried that because it is a community property state that my new mortgage would could count against her, even though it would be in my name only. I was going under the assumption that the view that the state takes on things and the view that the lenders would take on things would be different. We could qualify and do it all together. But then we would both be living with mortgages in our names that we were counting on someone else to pay. Over the long haul, that seems dumb. And refinancing immediately would seem pretty stupid, too.
I'm not even sure what flavor of expert is right to answer the question, and I don't want to tip my hand to the wrong one!