All Forum Posts by: Christian Scully

Definitely don't sell until you've spoken with a loan officer who can help analyze your scenario and see how your plan would play out. How is your own DTI? What area would you be willing to shop for a multifamily? How much would the rents of the multifamily appraise at? How much would your fiance's current single family home rent for if you weren't living there? Do you have any assets to use for downpayment on the multifamily?

Lots of questions to answer to look at every possible scenario and choose the one that works best for your goals and qualifications. Maybe you find out that the best move is to stay where you are and go the route @Nathan Gesner suggested. Feel free to reach out if you want assistance going through the process.

Does anyone have any experience with a HELOC using PenFed, Signature FCU or Elements Financial? These were the most legitimate lenders I have been able to find that will go above 80% LTV at a decent rate, Prime + 1. PenFed will go to 85% while Signature and Elements will go to 90% at Prime + 1.

I've read mixed reviews of each, wonder if its anything to worry about or if they have a decent customer experience. Open to more suggestions if you know of any! 

This is for a single family primary residence in RI.

@Eladio P. Congratulations on making it through the challenging process of correcting credit and getting on top of your finances, that's a huge step. It doesn't sound like you have been pre-approved through RI Housing yet, so I thought I'd mention that they have income limitations for their downpayment assistance. Also, you mention you want to buy your "first" property. Keep in mind that if you buy through RI Housing you will be agreeing to occupy the house for the lifetime of the loan, likely 30 years. If you wanted to move to your "next" investment property you would have to refinance out RI Housing, which comes at a cost. Just bear that in mind. We just went through that ourselves and refinanced out of RI Housing so we can then look towards our next property, both from an occupancy perspective and having the option to use an FHA loan in the future. Our original loan was a 203k through RI Housing to get a better rate. We did not use the downpayment assistance. Personally, I would save for the 3.5% downpayment and not go through RI Housing. Of course, everybody's situation is different. Feel free to reach out with any questions.

@Matt Davis Congrats on gearing up to take the next steps towards your first investment! Feel free to reach out for any local recommendations or to discuss neighborhoods. Multi inventory can be tricky depending on what kind of deal you are looking for and necessary rehab level, but certainly more affordable than where you are living now. You may want to consider some areas just outside of the city that are greatly improving, for difference reasons. My wife and I made our first multifamily investment in Providence 2 years ago and have certainly learned a lot I'd be happy to share.

@Account Closed We may have some options to help your buyer, I just sent over a message.  

I'm anticipating the coming issues with the new Airbnb rules in Providence and how it will impact future purchases. They are not going to allow non-owner occupied short term rentals. My wife and I are considering buying a new property outside of the city to move into. I am trying to figure out a solution where we don't have to give up a significant amount of income by making the move. Maybe making our current house an actual B & B? 

Hey Providence folks, I'm wondering if 2nd homes are considered owner occupied? 

@Luciano A. I appreciate your advice and will definitely be taking that into future purchases. Our current house we made up as we went along because we were not planning to BRRRR. We found out after we did rehabbed one unit, that the 2 family we bought actually is a 3 family in the building department records. So knowing that we wouldn't need a variance to turn the attic into a 3rd legal unit, we gambled and took out the rehab loan to maximize the potential of the house. Certainly screwed up in a lot of ways and learned a lot in the last year. Once our finances are settled with a good plan moving forward I'm looking forward to a nice breather before collecting my learned lessons and doing it again.

@Ana Coello this was in August of 2017.

@Paul Rumsey this is good to hear, thank you, and is what I'm now leaning towards. Can you clarify what you mean when you say you "put all your money in"? I'm not clear on that section of your post.