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All Forum Posts by: Chris Lopez

Chris Lopez has started 2 posts and replied 6 times.

Hi Everyone, 

I'm looking to get into a home to house hack in California.  I make 60k, have 15k saved, and have a 759-770 credit score.  There's also 2 down payment assistance programs that I would be using. The first is 10% as a grant/free money.  The second is 120k as a loan.  My problem is I don't make enough to get into the property.  Besides having a cosigner, does anyone have any advice on how to get through that door so I can house hack?  

I understand that you can leverage the income you can get on multiple units but there's still the problem of getting in the property.  Once I'm in, i can get the mortgage paid. I just need that in. 

Thank you, 

Quote from @Nolan M.:

@Chris Lopez I’ve done 3 seller financed deals, the most recent being 4 years ago. They are all in a small town where houses are cheap. Since the prices are so low, buyers need to come with cash, or the seller must be willing to finance. The reason for this is because banks won’t finance properties worth less than around 70k. My advice is to look in a small town within a couple hours of where you live, likely you’ll find cheap properties that will cash flow. You’ll have to deal with older homes, and the headaches they can bring, but it’s worked out nicely for me.


 Hi Nolan,

I’ve been doing just that. I’ve been looking out of state as well. The thing that gets me about looking for a cheaper investment property is that I’d be forfeiting all the first time buyer programs for a small investment. Living in CA, those are the things I’d need to make a deal happen here. But like I said, I’ve expanded my reach to desert and woodsy areas to see if there’s anything!

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:
Quote from @Chris Lopez:
Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

First, you need to correctly define what "seller financing" is.  What you described is a "private loan", not seller financing.  The definition of SF is pretty simple.  SF is where you don't go through conventional means (bank, etc...) to get the money to buy the property, and instead of using cash (as actual cash or from a loan) and pay 100% of the cost of that property up front, you buy pieces of the equity in that property over time from the seller, and thus bypass the need for cash...and/or a loan upfront.


 Thanks for the reply Joe!
So I can ask someone selling a house if I can pay them monthly payments for their home? 

Let me give you an example:

A quadplex is selling for 1.5 million and bringing in 2k per each unit per month in a 3-3.5k neighborhood. The reason why monthly rent is so low is because there’s a rent cap only allowing a 5% increase in rent each year. This makes it hard for buyers to get approved based off the self sufficiency rule. So, the seller is finding a hard time finding a buyer. Now what I getting from all this is, I can reach out to the seller and offer to buy the property on seller financing. I could offer my 15k down, a payment every month of 4K, and 10% of the rent. This would leave me with money in my pocket every month and give me the advantage of confront the interest rate. 

Does that sound right or am I missing something?

You're missing what the seller's monthly expenses are.  What's the seller's taxes, insurance and mortgage payment?

 Hey Joe,

I’m not sure about that information. Seller financing really only works if the property is paid off, correct?  How does that all play into this deal?

Quote from @Joe Villeneuve:

First, you need to correctly define what "seller financing" is.  What you described is a "private loan", not seller financing.  The definition of SF is pretty simple.  SF is where you don't go through conventional means (bank, etc...) to get the money to buy the property, and instead of using cash (as actual cash or from a loan) and pay 100% of the cost of that property up front, you buy pieces of the equity in that property over time from the seller, and thus bypass the need for cash...and/or a loan upfront.


 Thanks for the reply Joe!
So I can ask someone selling a house if I can pay them monthly payments for their home? 

Let me give you an example:

A quadplex is selling for 1.5 million and bringing in 2k per each unit per month in a 3-3.5k neighborhood. The reason why monthly rent is so low is because there’s a rent cap only allowing a 5% increase in rent each year. This makes it hard for buyers to get approved based off the self sufficiency rule. So, the seller is finding a hard time finding a buyer. Now what I getting from all this is, I can reach out to the seller and offer to buy the property on seller financing. I could offer my 15k down, a payment every month of 4K, and 10% of the rent. This would leave me with money in my pocket every month and give me the advantage of confront the interest rate. 

Does that sound right or am I missing something?

Quote from @Dominick Johnson:

Welcome to BP. As stated, you are confusing private lending with seller financing. I find it hard to believe you wouldn't qualify for a conventional loan based on your stated credit score and income, which can require as low as a 3% down payment. Student loans are not counted as debt when qualifying, so your DTI ratio is low (assuming your only debt is rent payments). Sounds like house hacking would be the best place to start if you are wanting to get into investing and need a small down payment.


 Hey Dominick,

The problem is I live in California and that’s where I’ve begun my search. I’ve considered outside of the state but struggle with the down payment being so high, considering I wouldn’t move from CA. If I get a duplex for 100k, down payment is 25k. Not like I can’t save that but there’s closing cost as well. 

What really draws my attention is seller financing! 

Hi everyone, 

I've been spending about two weeks deep diving into investment property.  I've been told I can qualify and I can't by 10 different people.  Now, I understand that living in the property is different than just making it an investment property and how the loans are different and the % down changes with each and all that stuff.  Ultimately, the problem that I'm having is the down payment and being able to qualify for a decent loan to get a decent property.  What really gets me and draws my attention is the stories of people using seller financing to get a loan for an investment.  From what I've learned is they find someone to give them the money on a property that has potential for excellent growth.  My question is how do you find these people???  Investors make it seem so easy!

Currently, here is where I stand:  Credit Score of 770, 60K yearly before taxes, 25k student load (on hold), and no liabilities (except the girlfriend, lol).  

So realistically, what can I actually get?  I couldn't imagine someone giving me a million dollar loan for a property with no experience in real estate even if I had an amazing deal.  

Let the discussion begin!!!