All Forum Posts by: Al Casino

She needs to be present so she can formally release her dower right. The Ohio Revised Code says that either spouse is entitled to an interest in real property upon the passing away of the deceased spouse. It's supposed to be on property that was acquired during your marriage, but most banks will be conservative and have the spouse sign regardless.

Real Estate License

Eric P. , Thank you for your thoughts. Since I'm at the beginning of this journey I'm open to all ideas, and I think yours is a good one for someone in my position.

Julie Marquez , Congrats on the pending birth of your child. There are many interesting perspectives that have been presented, all of them good. I commend you for your frugality, because the alternative, I think, is worse. I can offer a suggestion that is off topic, but I think is helpful. What is the goal of your frugality? You've mentioned before that it is to save and buy your next property. But that's the next step, what is the end game? Andre Agassi, and maybe you don't know of him, was a dominant tennis player in the 90's and early 2000's. As a young man he became the number one tennis player in the world, yet it brought him no joy, and eventually he settled into drug use. At his low point , probably rock bottom, he changed his purpose. Interested in helping disadvantaged youth, he created a foundation to assist them. Returning to tennis, he again found success , because now he realized he could use his winnings to help fund his foundation. While not as successful during his younger days, he didn't need to be. He was still earning a great amount of money, and he knew that any amount helped benefit his foundation. In other words he didn't need to win, but knew that if he did, the more people he helped. And either way, his new goal was more sustaining (he writes of this in his autobiography, Open). Julie, If you hit the magical $2,000 a month figure, fantastic. But if you fall short, realize it's still okay, because you're that much closer to buying your next property. I hope you found some value in my post.

James Wise , Peter Mckernan , Thank you for reminding me that I'm not giving my work experience enough credit in what I have to offer to an agency. Chinmay J. , Thank you regarding your advice in considering what the agency should offer to me. Jeff Brower , you're just 15 minutes North on 271! Thank you for reaching out and persuading me to do this! I will be very interested in reaching out to you to cherry pick on your experiences. Good Luck in this endeavor

Thank you James Wise

Matthew King , Thank you for your insight. My eventual goal is to grow a portfolio of buy and hold properties to support my retirement. I have a great day job. If I could ask you to expand on your comment, could I offer support when I'm limited to hours outside the 9 to 5 (evenings and weekends)? Quincy Knighten , Good luck to you, let me know how things go for you. If you read Jake's post, and go with his mindset, starting out as part time agent can lead you towards a successful career. Jake Thomas , Wow. While I don't see myself becoming a full time agent, your passion to become one definitely came out in your post. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Your perseverance is a quality needed to become successful in any area of REI that I choose to pursue.

What service/value could a real estate agent offer to an agency on a part time basis? In my situation I have a full time job as a banker and work with real estate from the credit side, but want to start learning about it from other perspectives. I work and live in the Cleveland Ohio area, and am interested in the opinions of the BP Members who are brokers in this region.

Welcome Kenny Engel . I like your post and profile. Good luck to you moving forward.

Hi Victor Velazquez . I have a REI portfolio of one SFR, but I've been a banker over 3 decades. When you co-signed your mom's house loan, you limited the pool of lenders willing to work with you. The reasons why you did so are yours, and you don't mention if you or she is paying that mortgage, but as you found out lenders will consider it part of your DTI. Chris is right that if you keep searching, you will probably find a lender willing to consider potential rental income when calculating your DTI (if I were the lender I'd ask if the deal is in place). But consider this, there are risks with high leverage. At some point you could be making 3 mortgage payments a month from you and your wife's income, your personal residence, your mom's home (if she's unable or you already are), and your REI if it is vacant. Regardless of your financial situation, that puts strain on your household, financially, psychologically, and emotionally. If you move forward, you and your wife should both be on board with that possibility. I'd suggest that you have a cash reserve of 1-6 months available if you ever need to make all 3 house payments at the same time.