All Forum Posts by: Chris Ball

Here's a suggestion... explain in all new leases that any payments received after the due date = you're officially late, and goes on the record that way (for future landlords/lenders). And any payments received after the "grace period" (I think 3 days is better than 5) you assess a late fee and possibly a Pay or Quit notice.

2 Votes

That's a great game. We used to play it with our other investor friends all the time.

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Hey all!

My partner and I have been offered a privately owned cash flowing opportunity in the Philippines which is right on the ocean in a very popular location, and at what seems to be a very good price. I am ready to begin analyzing this deal but honestly, where do you begin with an international deal? Who do you trust to give you quality information? I can say, on something like this, being new to the international realm, I will be looking strictly at the numbers and approaching everything cautiously. But certainly don't want to let something which may in fact be a good deal slip away.

With that said, does anyone here have any experience buying international properties, especially in the Philippines (or have connections with someone who does) and what steps do you typically take to ensure your analysis is thorough? Who do you need to contact?

Thanks!!

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Originally posted by @Matt J.:

@Nicole Heasley two comments on this thread. 1st, I’d suggest visiting myfico dot com. This websIte wIll tell you exactly what factors determIne your credIt score. @Chris Ball your explanation is almost spot on. The only thing I’ll add is that the FICO scoring model looks at each individual credit card, limit and associated balance. So if you have two 10k credit cards and owe 1k on one of them you’d be at 10% of your limit on that one and zero on the other. It’s not a total available limit across all cards compared to what’s owed across all credit cards. Please don’t take my comment as an insult, I’m only trying to provide accurate information which is why I suggest visiting FICO’s website.

To clarify Matt, I was just responding on the post to which you are referring to. :-)

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Andrew B.:

Closing your open credit lines would reduce you credit score. Credit score is based on several factors: On time payments, length of credit history (average # of years each account is open), credit utilization (what % of your open credit lines are you using), total available credit, recent inquiries, and new accounts.

I'm going to simplify this somewhat, but if you have 2 credit cards and both have a limit of $10k, you have total available credit of $20k. If you charge $1k, your utilization is 5%. One card has been open for 10 years, and the other has been open for 1 year, your average credit history is 5.5 years.

Now if you cancel the 10 year card, your available credit goes down to $10k, your utilization doubled to 10%, and your credit history dropped from 5.5 years to 1 year. Those are the 3 items that have the most impact on your credit score. Now tell me, do you think its a good idea to close those open accounts?

What your friend may have been trying to explain was your debt to income ration. For example, when you take out a loan the bank looks at your monthly obligations, (car loan, student loans, mortgage, etc.) They add up all those obligations and divide by your income. If your current debts take up 90% of your income, they are unlikely to give you a loan. In that case, you would want to payoff some loans or increase your income.

By far, the best explanation I've seen on this subject @Andrew Boettcher!!

2 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Chris Ball

Chris Ball has started 3 posts and replied 16 times.

Post: Broker playing mind game with me?

Post: What to do with new tenant who submits rent past agreed due date?

Post: Cashflow® Game Night--No Investor Left Behind--Hampton Roads

Post: How to Analyze International Deals

Post: Closing some of my credit cards makes sense to me. Am I correct?

Post: Closing some of my credit cards makes sense to me. Am I correct?