All Forum Posts by: Ben Duq

My mortgage officer told me the other day that I would no longer be able to do a 80/10/10 loan as the max loan that Fannie would allow is 80% including a HELOC. So now in order to complete my transaction I have to come-up with an additional 10% out of pocket.

Has anyone heard anything about this? I tried to do some research online about this and couldn't find anything related to these new loan requirements.

Got a potential offer going on a small multifamily home, it has 2x 3br 1.5 ba + 1 large studio in Hawaii, Oahu. The property has no flooring, so I am trying to negotiate with the seller to help cover this cost as the lender is requiring flooring to be installed soon after close.

Current offer is $630k + seller agrees to pitch in $8k to cover flooring installation. A conservative estimate on the rents are $1,500/month for the 3br units and $700 for the studio.

My plan is to live in one of the 3br units and rent out the studio and the other 3br. This will not cashflow, but it will improve my current cash position from the apartment I am living in now.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone have a similar situation where they rented a unit on their personal property?

Thanks!

Yes Mike, I would and do fight. I fight for the principles of this country, that anyone can be anything they want if they work hard and have the guts to take risks, and against big government that want their hands in any and everything. The nationalization and government ownership of the car industry (and private businesses), the singling out of a group of individual citizens for punitive taxation, healthcare reform, the value added tax etc, etc are just a few of the most current examples.

I fight against any and all limitations set by the government that promote mediocrity, the status quo, irresponsibility and the message that the government will solve all my problems.

How do I fight, not violently, but with letters to my representatives, educating others to current events, and by reading and posting on forums like this one that promote innovation, creative, free speech, and the bettering of oneself.

Allen, thanks for the tips, I will have my property manager check on the extension cords being plugged into outter outlets. Have you ever had anyone go through the walls etc to get to the power line that runs to your property. Could you elaborate on the "Jumper cables" comment that you made.

I am trying to think outside the box here and this is a condo, so there are no basements nor attics, and limited outlets exposed to someone. The property does share two walls with neighboring units.

I recently received a bill from my electic company in the amount of $400 for my vacant 1 BR (600 sqft) town home/condo! The bill states that I used ~1500 Kilowatt hours. How can this be! I spoke with the electric company and they sent out an inspector to look at the meter and he stated that there was nothing wrong and that they took accurate readings.

I just purchased this property, and this was my first month of electric bills (so no history).

There are only 720 hours last month, that would mean I would have had to run mutiple appliances everyday last month all day. I turned off the refrigerator and the lights were off.

Does anyone know how this could have happened? Is there a way or has anyone ever had experience with someone stealing electricity? If so, how was this theft discovered etc.

Has anyone disputed a bill with the electric company? How did this turn out?

Wow Ben, that is a bad situation that you are in. I am sure there are a lot of emotions flying around, and regardless of who's fault it is, in the end it all boils down to the following options:
1) Walk- away and get the house foreclosed on, ruin your credit, and your financial reputation.
2) Sell the house, and hopefully the bank would forgive the remainder of the debt or you would just have to eat it.
3) Wait it out, and hope for a turn in the market, but in the mean time you could live in it, or rent it out and probably take a loss but one that is not as large as if you lived there.

Can I ask, what changed since you moved in to the property that has made you hate it? I can see frustration at the neighborhood not being completed, and junky roads, etc (I think the city is to blame here) and sloppy neighbors. Could you form a neighborhood committee to help gentrify the area?

You thought it was worth 289k at the time of purchase, what has changed? So what if other prices have changed? Were you planning on selling it had the prices not changed? Who cares what the market rate of the home is if you are not planning on selling it?

I have never heard of a company allowing you to pull money out of the company plan to roll into an IRA. I am not sure if you can do this legally either, as 401k and personal IRA's have different contribution limitation amounts under the tax code.

It sounds like you are talking about two different things, the money supply and value. Going back to Matty M's comments with the fractional reserve bankins system, you can create value and destroy value by creating false money by making loans.

In terms of physical dollars the only way that this is created or destroyed is by the government printing money or taking money out of circulation via monetary policy. In my opinion the physical dollars are being hoarded by the banks by stricter loan requirements and out right suspension of lending. If business/individuals don't have access to loans then they cannot purchase goods/captial assets at current prices. Prices will decline as retailers do not want to sit on slow moving inventory and value declines.

I think the pumping of trillions into the economy will cause inflation as the banks start pouring out their reserves.

This is a very interesting thought jbrooks, I never really stopped to think about it this way. I think when people are talking about destruction of wealth they are not looking at it at the high level that your example provides.

In terms of individual people and business there is true destruction in wealth on their financials. Fair value determination, mark to market accounting and timid auditors and executives in applying these rules are the cause for this.