All Forum Posts by: Becca Summers

@Ryan Mertens Check out America First Credit Union I believe they will do them on rentals.

@Graden Ostler you're famous! 

@Petra S Jordan Have you thought about doing a detached garage at your home? You could do a home equity line of credit to pay for the garage and then pay rent to yourself to pay it off? 

In Highland, Accessory buildings shall not cover more than five percent (5%) of the total gross lot area.

Or you could do what I'm doing. I'm doing addition with an attached apartment with a four-car garage above it. However, I'm not sure on if you could run your commercial business out of your garage. I'm sure you could call the city and find out.

@Alan, this must be where I know you from. How long have you been posting on BP? 

@Dane Kania being new you need the W2 job to qualify and there are loans that you can do being self-employed after one year but most are two years and they will average your income for the two years. I agree being full time really helps get your business going but it's like pushing a snowball uphill for at least a year to two years depending on how you focus your time. 

You can use the commision as part of your down payment on some loans. I like to use the commision to help offset the downpayment I already have. It helps the cash on cash return to be better. The lender doesn't care what your commission is so there was one deal that the seller paid me more than the average commision and I used that money for the renovation. 

In Utah, you do have to disclose that you are an agent and you can't represent a seller off the market if you are a principal in the transaction. You can have them sign a non represented seller in that case. 

I think the best advantage is being able to run the numbers on the ARV or the rental amount.

@Daniel Howard I bought my first house with no money down and moved into it. I used a Realtor (before I became one) Then we moved into a basement apartment and rented out the house. That was back when you needed two years of rental history to count rental income to help qualify for the next house. We did this two times before we moved into our current house. Then we started buying with larger down payments and hard money. 

For my buyers who contact me from bigger pocket in situations like yours, I recommend just getting into your first home. There is so much to learn and so many ways to go about it. Where you don't have the pay the buyer's agent fee if you buy off the MLS it's the best way to get advice. Just make sure you work with a Realtor who understands House hacking the BRRR method. It depends a lot on the downpayment you have for what would make the most sense. If you have no money down house hacking is the best. You can move in and get renters to live with you just keep in mind most cities only allow 3 unrelated individuals living at one address. If you have a down payment and can do the renovation you could do the BRRR just remember to refinance the cash back out you have to wait 6 months for the money to season. I had one lender do it at 4 months but that made the interest rate 1.5% higher than the market, if we hadn't had the hard money it would have been worth it to wait for the 6-month mark and get a better rate.

@Kristi Harmon @Ryan Mertens is right when you own under four your not required to follow the fair housing act. I did find out from my lawyer as a Realtor that rule probably wouldn't hold up in court if a Realtor owned less than four homes they would still have to adhere to the fair housing.  Just food for thought for those thinking of getting their real estate license. 

Emotional support animals are to be treated just like service animals you can't say no you can't charge extra rent or an extra deposit and it would just come from the normal deposit if the cat damaged the property. I always request to have a doctor's note and that typically stops those who are abusing the system.

@Daniel any lender can do a duplex loan. What would be your Down payment? Lease to own and seller finance traditionally both require a larger downpayment. 

@Laura Johnson When I read the title I thought you were looking to do something against the rules like rent a single family home like a duplex. Which for the record I hate it when people do that, It's banking on your neighbors not turning you into the city. 

I think your plan is great! We are doing the same except we found a home (really the area) we love and are putting on an addition. 

I think you'll be able to find a home that fits what you are looking for if you are searching for it daily. In the last year, there have been 36 homes with basement apartments under $400,000 in North Utah County. So not common but also not rare. Living with a family makes it easier to write an offer as you can jump on something without being contingent on the sale or renting your current home.