All Forum Posts by: Charles Han

@Michael K.

Also new to the forums as well as the Portland area in general. My fiance' and I just closed on our first rental property last week and are also looking to connect and plug ourselves into the local investor network.

We recently signed up for Rarebird membership after being very happy with the first meeting. Let me know if you'd ever like to connect and maybe we'll see you out at one of them. 

@Andrew Narsi makes sense! The 200k example really opens my eyes. Helps to put them side by side like that. Thank you so very much. I'm definitely leaning now more towards the conventional and my lendor has also suggested a possible heloc down the line for 90% equity. Thanks so much.

@Jaron Walling that was going to be my next question. I am pretty new to all of this but was wondering about locking in the interest rate now versus a variable rate. The plan is definitely buy and hold so that paired with the fact that I wouldn't have to refi to remove PMI is pushing me towards homepossible.

Thank you Andrew! Thank you for explaining the PMI scaling. I was very confused as to why the payment was so different between the two loans. Very helpful.

@Chris Mason thank you for this! That’s a super clear benefit. 

Would you happen to know if this path would also benefit me in my future planning? Is it less of a pain if to get a second property with an FHA after Homepossibble versus refinancing out of a FHA to acquire a second FHA? I've never refinanced anything before so I'm not aware of what would set me up for better and faster success down the line.

Hello everyone,

Fairly new member (and overall investor) here looking for help. Thank you beforehand for any advice!

I have the opportunity to get into a duplex with either an FHA loan at 3.5% down or with a conventional loan at 5% down with the Freddiemac Homepossible Program. I understand that the benefits of conventional would be that the mortgage insurance would drop off at 20% equity so I wouldn't need to refi in order to achieve this.

If I went with an FHA loan, I would live there a year while performing rehab and then hopefully refinance and pull equity out once my owner occupancy was satisfied to reinvest into another property. I'd also need to refi out of the FHA because I wouldn't be allowed to have two of these loans going at once.

With this scenario, I am having a lot of trouble seeing the benefit of a 5% conventional loan if I planned on refinancing out of the FHA loan in a year anyways. Both plans would have mortgage insurance for the length of that year (as I would need 20% equity before removing it on the conventional) and with FHA, I would have more cash remaining to spend on rehab costs versus 5% down.

I had my lender run both scenarios and the FHA scenario is cheaper by about $150.00 a month as well. So this means it'd be a cheaper monthly payment and more cash on hand with FHA.

I have read a few forum posts and it seems most people recommend 5% conventional over an FHA at 3.5% down. Could anyone shed some light on what I am missing in terms of benefits? When I look at the numbers in front of me, I am having a hard time seeing why and want to make sure I am not missing anything as this Homepossible program is no longer available to me after I purchase my first property.

Thanks again for any clarification. Really appreciate the feedback!

Thanks for this great advice. I’m working with an investor friendly agent who has been passing me pocket listings that I have been offering on. Eventually something will hit and I am definitely in this for the long run. Truly appreciate this feedback!

@Jay Hinrichs That’s great to know! I will look deeper into this and plug in with a lawyer who can help verify. Thanks much. 

Jason, I am that dumb and hopefully lucky kid now as a new investor and first time home buyer in the area and looking to hack my way into a multifamily. However, hearing about all the regulations and changes coming into place is a little worrying to read about when I haven’t even started yet. It’s very inspiring to hear about your Beaverton multifamily though and I hope I get as lucky. 

I will probably continue investing locally because I’ll need to owner occupy the first few but definitely see the next step being out of town investments if I survive the intro period. 

@Jarrin Benson thank you! Glad to be getting out of my comfort zone and reaching out. 

@Mike Nuss thanks for the advice! I’m definitely trying to do my due diligence but jumping in headfirst and learning on the way down as well. I just grabbed coffee with @Caleb Webster and he recommended rarebird again. I will definitely be making it out to a meeting. Looking forward to hopefully connecting with you and learning during the meetup!