All Forum Posts by: Ali Radhi

@Cody L. Thanks for your well thought out response. The occupant happens to be a family member my father is allowing to stay for free (on a temporary basis - but we'll see how that goes). 

A cash out refi on the second home will likely get us the same amount, which is what prompted me to look at blanket portfolio loans - which seems to be the unicorn of lending.

Appreciate your thoughts...

BP Community,

Hope you're all doing well. I'm currently having some financing challenges and figured this would be the best place to ask for advice / opinions. Here's the scenario: My father is currently retired and owns two homes: his primary residence (worth around $300k with a $80k mortgage) and a secondary residence (worth around $225k free and clear).

Thus far, we've approached conventional lenders and a credit union and they've been reluctant to give us a HELOC on his primary residence, which we were planning to use for a down payment on a multifamily property. While his credit score is near 800, his DTI is 55% due to retirement. Therefore, we're sitting on a pile of equity that seems very difficult to access.

The one option we've been offered is a cash-out refi on his current property. He'd be required to payoff all outstanding debts, which would leave us around $60k to invest (not to mention raise his current interest rate by close to 2%). If this option provided access to more funds, I wouldn't think twice. However, access to $60k doesn't move the needle that much.

Does anyone have other recommendations regarding how to use a retiree's current or secondary home as collateral to secure a loan? Or, can anyone recommend any specific credit unions / local banks in the Houston area that would go higher than 50% DTI on a HELOC? I'm open to any other advice you may have as well.

Thank you very much for your time,

Ali Radhi

I appreciate the encouragement. The theme that I see is continue to network, which I'm doing. I have been looking at the wholesaling route as well.

@Mark Sewell I appreciate the insight. Can you advise where I can find out more about these Quest IRA meetings? I'm definitely interested in attending.

Hello Bigger Pockets Community,

Late last year, I began to seriously explore opportunities in buy and hold real estate (primarily in the small multi-family niche). In March, I had a four-plex under contract that fell through due to inspection. Now, eight months after beginning this journey, I have yet to close on my first deal. I’m frustrated… mostly with myself for not finding a way to make it happen yet.

One of the primary challenges I have faced is funding. While I make a good income, grad school loans have hurt my debt to income ratio, which has made me heavily reliant on partnerships, which have not worked thus far. I have also explored private and hard money options but my lack of experience have made these less viable options.

If anyone has any advice, recommended contacts, or is at all interested in meeting in person or virtually, please reach out to me directly. I am certainly happy to find reciprocal ways to add value as I understand time and attention are finite resources.

Thank you all and I look forward to meeting / working with you!

Based on the inventory of multi-family properties currently available, I’ve started to look closer at single family homes for buying and holding. Of course, it’s far more difficult to scale that way but it has become very difficult to find multi-family properties that cash flow from day one. From my perspective, I’d avoid betting solely on appreciation in a market that just hit record sales volume, average home price and median home price.