Hitting A Wall

[Amelia Cooper]

Hey BP’ers…

I am really discouraged and looking for some advice.

Context: My strategy is small MTR’s in Tulsa, Columbus,  and Asheville. I own a primary in Vegas. I’ve identified two condos at $40k each I want to buy. 

Background: I am an entrepreneur- I own two businesses. My most lucrative business my ex husband got half of last year when I divorced him (worth it). My other business is a restaurant I own a third in. My only W2 income is the salary I take from the first business, which has been cut to 48k post divorce. I've picked up contract work and rent out two of my rooms to nurses, brining my income back up to just under six figures. However, none of that is W2. I've got 300k equity in my home, a credit score so clean you can eat off of it, and no debt except my mortgage. I've got $20k in reserves in a high yield savings account, plus the usual mix of speculative crypto and blue chip IRA.

Issue: for the life of me, I cannot get 80k in financing. 

Here are my attempts and their outcomes: 

1) Found a credit union with a good rate to take a HELOC out. Only qualified for $69k based on my W2 income. Other income didn't count.

2) Posted here, got a referral. Talked w lender, he said he could do a bank statement loan. Found out I only needed $80k. Told me it wasn’t really worth his time to do anything less than $125k.

3) Asked my agent for a lender referral. Lender can’t make it work of the low W2. Other income sources can’t be factored in. Was told to go commercial, and have been in a holding pattern for weeks waiting for my CPA to finalize my taxes so I can try that route (my CPA is amazing, so I’m not going to be pushy.)

4) Spoke to a high end client from one of my other businesses about what I’m doing. She offered to fund me. Cannot get her pinned down- she has the kind of money that lets her do whatever she wants, including traveling at the last minute. She has no sense of urgency and often bails.

**I have started to apply for jobs to boost that W2 income, which is ridiculous to me bc I make quadruple per hour in my freelance trade. I’m not very hireable, I guess, bc of my background. I probably look like a really odd choice, considering I’ve only worked for myself for nearly two decades.

I’m beyond frustrated and emotionally exhausted. I’m having a hard time understanding why this is so difficult, based on the background I provided above. 

I did identify a different property that would actually be better than the first two- a duplex. But this one is a cash only offer that would need rehab, and at this point I don’t even know where to go to finance it. 

I’ll take any insight you can give me. I’ve succeeded and failed many times in my career but never have I known this kind of “stuck” before.