All Forum Posts by: Ryan B.

I agree with the idea of trying to sell it to a neighbor.

I just bought an old bank that had been turned into a rental house. The lot the bank is on is only as wide as the building so there was almost no yard. While doing some painting, the neighbor comes over and offers to sell me the empty lot next to my building. Ended up getting the lot for $2,000 and now my rental property has a huge yard.

With each new property I buy, the bank asks me when I want the payment due each month. I always have them set it up to be due on the 10th of the month. By the 10th of the month I will have had either the rent collected 3 days before this or already have started the eviction process.

If I have already started the eviction then I know I will be paying the mortgage out of reserves for that month.

I agree with what Jon mentioned. For some people it is better to pay a pro to do the job, but it just depends on your situation. I am in the same boat as Jon, not in the market for purchasing another rental at the moment, so as long as I get a good return on doing it myself it is time well spent.

Steve,

The bank that does use escrow accounts sends me a statement each time a disbursement is made by them. It never fails that I ususally end up getting a check at the end of the year for about $200 - $300 as they have overestimated my escrow and there is a balance left in the account.

My properties are split, half have escrow accounts and half do not. Personally I think I like the escrow better, but again that us just a personal preference. Mine are split as one bank does escrow accounts and one does not.

Have not seen the HBO special yet, but from the sounds of it, reminds me of a documentary I saw on Goldman Sachs. No joke, I felt sick to my stomach and wanted to vomit just from watching it. Sometimes a log shack, off the grid in the middle of the woods sounds like paradise when I see stories like this.

Rotweiler named cupcake works like a charm.

Not trying to sound dumb, but am I missing something here? I keep hearing people talk about how banks are not lending and how it is hard to get loans for low dollar amounts and so on and so forth. I have been hearing people complain of this for several years.

I guarantee I am not in any better financial position than most people on here, but as long as I have the down payment and stay under the debt to income ratio I have had absolutly no problem getting loans. I am actually closing on another low dollar amount ($27,000) loan next Friday.

I am using a small local bank, but they are reselling the fixed rate loans just like everyone else, so I do not see what the difference would be. Do you think it varies from region to region on banks "loosening up" on lending? Or could it be that I am shooting for loans that are low dollar amounts compared to higher dollar amount loans?

Like I said, am I just missing something?

I have to agree with Bryan on this one. I am actually going through the same situation right now with another property I am buying. I was trying to decide between 15 and 30 year loan, either way the property is going to cashflow well. With the 30 year, I have a very low interest rate locked in for a long time if I want it, but I also have the option of paying extra and retiring the loan earlier.

The extra cashflow is nice with the 30 year, plus as long on you do not overleverage yourself, it will actually help with debt to income ratio as payment will be less than with a 15 year loan.

My lease is set up the same way that Jeff explained, it automatically turns into a month to month with a 30 day notice clause.