All Forum Posts by: Chris B.

I'd say keep looking.  I just completed a cash out refinance last week at an good rate through a loan broker, but this is my primary residence which I plan to be renting out at some point in the future.

If its your primary, look into a cash out refinance and see if the numbers are good.  You should be able to get a lower interest rate and if the costs aren't too much, you could pull out some equity and have a lower monthly paymnt all in one.  You could also do a regular refinance and get an even lower rate.

Looking at your numbers again, it doesn't look like you have a whole lot of equity and may not be able to refinance or get a HELOC. None the less, I'd keep it and gamble on the appreciation.

Great story!  Thanks for sharing.  I acquired a home once and put a year into making it habitable again also but didn't add the value percentage you achieved.  I learned so much on that project and it was a lot of hard work.

Sounds like great advice. I learned something here also.

If they were of clear mind when the contract was signed and you didn't do anything shady to coerce them into signing it, it sounds like you are in a good position to take legal action.  Do you have any witnesses to back you on this?  Is there enough profit in it to make this worth it to you?  I think that is the answer.  You may also possibly want to find out who the someone else is if you can and let them know you already have a contract.

My process seems to be different than a lot of others, but it works for me at the moment.   I give out application forms like candy for free to anyone interested.  At most 25% fill them out and return them to me, usually scanned in via email.  Of the ones I get back, maybe 25% have decent qualifications.  I then pick out the one I feel best about and ask them to initiate a SmartMove background check.  They fill out the info and pay $40.  Each adult needs to do this in the family.  I get online access to the results.  I used to use e-renter for years, but their credit check aspect has gone down hill and is fairly worthless so there are better options out there now.  I then review the returned background check to make sure everything is good.  If the applicant omitted anything significant in the original application and while talking with me, then they just disqualified them self.  At this point we have a chosen applicant.  Get a contract signed and what you deem acceptable deposit in hand as soon as possible.  Keep advertising and showing until you have the cash and signed contract as they can back out any time prior to signing.  So with my method, I essentially never touch any money until the contract is signed and deposit is concurrently collected.  I'm a small time landlord so I have the time to deal with it this way.  Its simple and easy for me and I don't feel bad taking money from applicants who have no chance.  I think I get a higher than normal percentage of unqualified applicants this way, but I also feel confident I didn't miss the good ones.

If they generally speaking have enough cash and income to live off of, but they don't want to run the business any more, I'm speculating they are getting in their later years and just aren't up for the business aspect any more.  They would like to see if they can cash that in.  Why not as opposed to just closing shop.  No capital gains tax there as far as I know, just other taxes.  Now for the property... if they are old, they may be looking to pass it on to their kids.   When they pass away, if the property isn't worth millions of dollars, the kids will get it completely tax free and they can sell it if they like with no capital gains tax..   Hard to come in and compete with that aspect.

Its possibly in poor taste , but sure its legal.  Take this example: Maybe you said something untrue about the tenant.  Now can they come after you for libel.  Be careful what you post online as there are plenty of platforms where seemingly private posts became public.

I'm no attorney, but I'd speak directly with the seller or seller's agent and explain the situation.  Sounds like its pretty simple and doesn't violate the as-is agreement.  Maybe the seller has some kind of econo-lawyer and the attorney is not obliged to put in any more time.  At minimum, it will inform the seller of the current holdup of the deal and allow them to take action.

Debt to credit available ratio.  Get it down.  We pay our cards off pretty much every month and any time I get a new points credit card for all of the free points, my credit also jumps 20 or so points at the same time.