All Forum Posts by: Bryan O.

@Jack B. I'm not sure if you are asking how to tell if the land can support a structure, or if you mean are you allowed to build additional structures. If you are looking to build additional structures, then you can usually find the zoning of the lot. In this example, it is A-1. You can then find the zoning regulations, in this case from Jefferson County, CO online. Some places are more of a pain to find than others!

Otherwise, @Jay Hinrichs hit the rest. Best of luck.

@Phil Sharp I can't link to it, but you can get there on my site. I may have posted it in my BP blog as well, but I recall it had a bunch of difficulties with the tables.

@Phil Sharp it depends on what you want out of real estate. If you need a good place to store tons of money that you know you won't need to liquidate with less than 5 years notice, then appreciation investing might be for you. If you want to change your today (i.e. quit your day job) then you cannot appreciation invest because they do not cash flow and banks will only let you have so many failures before your DTI is too high to borrow. I wrote a blog that breaks down the cash flow vs appreciation investing. I used a high appreciation market (Hawaii) compared to a typical 1% market. Guess what? They're basically the same. The difference is that the appreciation play needs to be sold at the right part of the cycle to really make profits, but is way less headache. The cash flow investing can be sold anytime and allows you to continue to grow, snowballing cash flow into more and more deals, but is more headache because there are more units.

Ultimately, do what is in line with your goals and you won't be far off.

@Brian Tran I assume you plan to live in the property since you are looking at an FHA loan. Your interest rate doesn't really matter. It's just another number you put into your calculations. If the property does well at that rate, then why wouldn't you move forward? If that rate is enough to make deals go from good to bad, then put some energy into fixing it. Why is it bad? Student loans don't hurt your credit unless you screwed up and didn't pay. If that is the case, pull your credit report and dispute everything that is hurting your score. If they don't respond to the request within 30 days then it comes off your report and immediately improves your score. Of course, continue paying all the stuff you are supposed to in the meantime.

@Sierra Sabo that scenario is exactly why you have the jointly and severally liable clause. I would let her know that she is still responsible for making sure the lease is paid. Reach out to the other tenant and find out what their plan is. Inform them both that no matter their relationship status, they are both fully liable for the lease and terms. Then go from there.

@Majid Jordan if you have a year, fix your credit rather than look at ways to close with the higher interest rate given to poor borrowers. Having student loans should increase your credit, not hurt it, assuming you actually paid them when you were supposed to.

One of the easiest ways to boost your credit (beyond beginning to pay what you owe), is to go and pull your free credit report (I believe it is https://www.annualcreditreport.com/). Once you have that, dispute everything that isn't pristine. That puts the onus on the company that reported the "bad thing" to provide evidence that it was a problem. Many do not respond at all, and after 30 days it gets removed from your report. That can juice you up pretty quickly. For anything that doesn't come off you can reach out to those entities directly and try to see if they will modify their report. If not there are some services that can help, just be sure to do good diligence against them.

Best of luck!

@John Bastidas I wouldn't do a deal that is "in the process of having the fines reduced" unless you are confident that it will work to your satisfaction. Is the owner aware of these fines/issues? And are they okay knowing that almost 100% of the transaction may go to paying those off?

@Kizzy Robb The credit inquiry will lower your score, but the increased limit with lower utilization should increase your score. Also, you should be charging/paying at least 1 thing per month on each card (a pair of socks, pack of gum, whatever) so that your payment history can improve your score over time. A non-used card does not help very much, but a card that shows solid payment history does.

Whenever you're trying to influence your credit, you should research how to actually do it. Here is a breakdown of the scoring and weighting for FICO. That should help you understand where to focus. You're almost there. You know the drop from the inquiry, and you know the credit utilization, but the highest weighted item is your payment history, which you neglect by not using the card regularly:

https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/whats-in-y...

@Jeremy Bloom if your system has you as the only person that can do a thing, you can't go anywhere. You can consider training one of your tenants that is always home to be able to do it and pay them for that time (i.e. I'll give you $25 for one week of xx). If you have a friends/family close by that can do it, then that also works. Otherwise, do you have a handyman nearby that won't charge you $50/visit that can do it?

@Michael Zack How does a roof repair cause inconvenience for the downstairs tenant? Regardless, things happen in a rental. I am guessing that you were responsive and quick about the dryer and dishwasher, and that the tenants appreciate that. Paying them because you are doing your job well is not something I would typically consider, but it might be worth doing if you want. Just be careful to make it plainly understood that it is a one-off and that you will not be giving them money every time a house repair needs to be done.