All Forum Posts by: Blake Piedrahita

Thank you, this is helpful as she does have an FHA loan on the property.

Hello, my long term girlfriend and I are breaking up (for reasons I don't want to get into here).  We currently live in a house-hack duplex, but we purchased it under her name so we could take advantage of a first time homebuyer program.  

Now that we are splitting up, she has no desire to continue living in the home and plans on selling.  I put in most of the work and manage the day to day of the AirBNB, and very much want to continue living in this house.  My question, is what is the best way to purchase this home from my soon to be ex-girlfriend?  It has appreciated by about $50k since purchasing and I'm happy to pay her full market value, but I'm wanting to do so in a way that minimizes transaction costs.  She has a sub 3% rate on the mortgage too, so if there is any way to transfer ownership to myself and keep that rate it would be ideal, but not 100% necessary, as I could afford the mortgage on a 5% interest rate.  

Any help is much appreciated, and happy to add more detail if needed.  

Hey Bryce,

I'm also a young investor here in the Denver area.  I've been at it for a year and am in the process of making another acquisition.  Hit me if you want to meet up for coffee or a beer when you're in town.  

Blake

Thanks Stephanie, it helps to think of the outcomes at the more "extreme" scenarios and you are right that both are not bad places to be.  I'm looking forward to doing some mortgage shopping this week.  

This is great advice here on how to do the simple calculation.  This math makes sense and I will be reaching out to lenders this week to see what kind of offers I can get.  

I purchased a 2 unit home in March for $322k and have spend 6 months renovating.  The property was so cheap because it wasn't in great condition and was listed at about 1,200sqft, but was mismeasured and is actually about 1,600sqft.  I'm estimating that if I did refinance that the new appraisal would be somewhere around $400k, but I am conflicted on whether to do this now or to wait until year 2 (I'm planning on living here for 2 years and then renting it out so I won't have to pay capital gains when I sell in year 5).

I'm conflicted on whether or not doing a refi now is a good idea or not and have thought of the following PROS/CONS.  Please take a look and I'd appreciate any advice or thoughts from the community.

PROS of Refi: 

• - Could reach 80% LTV and get rid of PMI
• - May be able to get a slightly better rate (currently at 3.75apr)
• - Would get a better understanding of the value of renovations in my area

CONS of Refi:

• - Refi fees
• - Would have more equity if I refinance at the end of year 2

Honestly working with CHFA was a great experience and made me feel much more prepared.  It is not only financial assistance, but also has an educational component to help first time homebuyers learn more about owning in Colorado.  PM me if you have any more specific questions.

Where is this coming from?  Los Angeles (the only one I can truly speak to on the list) and they have a very UN-resilient job market.  The city is filled with an insane number of contract workers surrounding the entertainment industry and a large immigrant population (probably ignored in these statistics, smh) that subsists on gig work that has quickly come to a halt.

Also wtf, $3,432 average rent in Boston.  People from the area, is this actually right?

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) other investment.

Purchase price: $322,000
Cash invested: $5,000

Combining the strategies of 'house hacking' and 'live in flip' I am living in the main part of this home (3BR, 1BA) and renting out the apartment unit (1BR, 1BA) to cover the 'ITI' expenses on my home. I have made significant improvements to the apartment unit and the landscaping, while making cosmetic improvements all over to increase the home value.

After living here for 2 years I will be moving into another house hack while renting this property out, so I can sell in year 5 for 0 CG tax!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to invest in my current market and get practice at the local level before eventually making the shift to investing out of state. This deal provided me the ability to gain a TON of knowledge, cut my living expenses, and build equity through forced appreciation that will allow me to increase my financial position to prepare for more deals.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal by searching with the help of my agent, who was immensely helpful during this process, as he has a much better knowledge of the Denver market than I do. After the first bidder on the property went under contract and then fell through, we sensed the sellers urgency to close and were able to get our offer accepted after receiving appropriate concessions from the seller to make this a great deal.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a 3% conventional loan and leveraged the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority first time homebuyer program to provide an interest free loan to cover down payment and most closing costs. This allowed me to get into this property for very little money out of pocket so that I had ample funds for renovations.