All Forum Posts by: Bill Brady

Denise and Kyle - Awesome information. Thank you. It's 4.5% with 20% down and 0 points. I can buy it down to a 4.125 with 1 point but not sure if that extra $20 a month is worth the upfront :)

Thanks for the info, Nathan!

Kyle - $107,000 purchase price, 20% down, 796 credit score, 30 year fixed.

Hello Bigger Pockets Family!

I have a quick one for you --> What's a good rate for a 30 year fixed loan on a duplex? I was pre-approved through Bank of America with a 4.5% interest rate but am not sure if that's a good rate for an investment property.

Assume excellent credit. Is that rate ok? Are there any other recommendations?

Thanks!

More good information, Bill...thank you. The tenant is getting a $100 credit per month...my agent advised me on the deal and was the best offer I got. My intention was to sell the house completely but couldn't make it happen.

Ren - I'm in a short sale position, yes....but, besides me not wanting to contribute to the American problem as well as wanting to keep my 800-ish credit score, I'd rather not go this route. $150 per month isn't killing me by any means...I just don't like losing money unless I'm in Vegas :)

This forum is the BEST forum I've been on....and the only one that has people respond to it with intelligent advice...thanks to everybody so far.

Great idea, Brian....I have a VA loan with my current house and just bought it 3 years ago. The numbers just don't work out with it just yet. If I can get rid of the PMI I'll be very happy.....$80 per month for 10 years is a lot of darn money I've wasted. Ah how young and dumb I was...LOL

Mike - You are dead on with the math and didn't even think about contesting the taxes...I appreciate the direction. As far as PMI goes...I was told that PMI would be removed once I hit 80% loan to VALUE and not off the original loan. Is this incorrect?

GREAT information...thank you so much!

Thank you, Chris and Steve...good information. My concern is most definitely the appraisal. Rural GA was hit harder on the mortgage defaults so I doubt, even 10 years later, that I'm a true 80% loan to value. I am planning on holding onto this for the long-haul...the tenant agreed to a 3 year contract with 3% annual lease increase so that will eventually help out. Given the cost to refinance, it looks like I'll just have to suck up the negative cash flow and take a look at it again next year and manage the property myself. I think by doing that, I should be able to break-even from the month to month mortgage side of things and will just have to pay maintenance expenses out of my own pocket.

Thanks for the help!!

Thank you! I realized that but figured, being that I was so far away from the property, it would be easier to just have them manage it for me. Come to find out, there really isn't anything (at this point) that they're managing except for collecting the rent. Being that the tenant is on a 3 year lease purchase agreement, I might eat the costs this year and cancel with the property management company.

Thank you for the quick reply!!

Yes...I live about 40 or so miles away from the property and can manage the property...but I wasn't able to show the property to potential tenants myself and needed to hire the property management company to help out. I've got to keep them for another 10 months or so.

My wife and I are in the beginning stages of planning our road to wealth via the real estate train...we're hoping to buy our first true investment property within the next month or two under a "buy and hold" strategy. I say "true investment property" because I already have a tenant occupied single family home that was, at first, my primary residence and, as the subject heading implies, I'm losing money on it.

Here are the facts:

I bought the home in Oct 2002 for $123,000 at 100% financing through an FHA loan with a 6.375% interest rate.

I owe right at $100,000 on the mortgage.

Mortgage payment with PITI + PMI = $975 per month.

Tenant pays $895 per month under a 3 year lease-purchase agreement for the asking price of $129,000 (in which, I think he'd be an idiot to buy the house at that time but let's not rule it out). We're only 3 months into the 3 year agreement.

I have a property management group managing the property for me for an 8% fee ($72 per month).

There have been a lot of foreclosures in the neighborhood that have been purchased around the $60k - $70k range and are being rented out for $100 less than mine.

My intention when I moved out was always to sell it, however, with the market the way it was in rural America, that just wasn't an option for me. Now that I'm 10 years into the mortgage, I figure that I should hang on to it for a while longer until at least when the market turns around but I'm trying to find a way to make it cash-flow positive or at least neutral if that's at all positive. I've research all over the place and can't find an answer and am finally turning to the experts.

Any advice?

Does it make sense at all to refinance IF I could with a lower rate?

All help is appreciated!