All Forum Posts by: Bill Hamilton

Same advice as some of the above. Tire plugs (even in my pricey area) run between $10-20 per plug. If they are asking for $60 total......just pay it to them and move on. Then again, in my area, rents are in the multiple thousands per month and therefore, as a percentage of rent, that amount is insignificant. That might not be true in your situation/area.

I suppose it depends on the lender, but in general it will only be the amount you are required to pay monthly, based on your credit report. The same way that even if I have $50k available credit on my credit card and only owe $10, the lender won't assume that I am going to have to pay the amount that would be required if I racked that card to it's max and missed a payment. It will be based on what I currently have to pay each month. 

I think you are going to need to provide a lot more detail for anyone to give you a realistic answer.

What are the HOA fees? That is a huge factor in condo's or townhomes.

@Rivy S. Some lenders won't use the rental income until you personally have collected it for two years. The same way some/many lenders won't count your income from a second job until you have worked at it for two years. Or even your primary job if it is a big change from what you were previously doing. For instance, if I switched from being mid level management to doing sales (even in the same company) the lender might decide that I have no track record in sales and therefore my income is not stable until I have been making it in that position for two years.

To clarify, some lenders have overlays, which might not allow you to count the rental income until you have received it for 24 months or something like that. Check around or find a good mortgage broker who knows which banks don't have such an overlay.

@Jameson Sullivan I would say that with the employment being through a staffing agency, you are not going to qualify for any loan through Fannie or Freddie, or any governmental backed loan. I am pretty sure you cannot get a balloon loan (I am assuming this is your primary residence) as those are no longer allowed on an owner occupied house. Your best bet is some of the portfolio lenders who hold and service their own loans. You might try Washington Federal and US Bank for some of the bigger banks in your area. They both have some portfolio stuff (no idea if it will work for your situation). If those don't work, you might have to try some private lenders but those will require going through a mortgage broker. Keep in mind that your max LTV will probably be 75-80% so the max amount of cash generated back to you (before expenses) would be $55,750 - $68,000. I am going to page @Chris Mason to see if he has any ideas for you.

The HML is probably not going to care. They would rather you be smart with their money than waste it and them have to go after you to recover it. On the earnest money, it just depends on how the contract was written. If you are past all the contingency periods then, yes you will lose that money. If you used a RE agent to do the contract, check with them.

If you are a title company state, then pick a title company and ask them to pull it. That shouldn't be very expensive. If you are a closing attorney state, then I don't know if will be quite expensive. Just my experience between the different states.

Are you a temporary employee or are you a 1099 contractor? Also, how much is the house worth and how much do you owe? That percentage is what the lender will look at as opposed to the amount of equity.