All Forum Posts by: Claudine Stering

Hello Claudine Sterling in Bradenton. It amazes me how a Newbie can even "think?" to do something Big with $25K and not know the IRS Rules for First Time Home Buyers. Do you have a J.O.B? Do you own a Home? Have you ever bought a property before? Do you know that properties in Florida are Selling at All Time Highs? I paid $175K Cash two years ago, for a 1500 sq. foot 3/3 Townhome with garage and pool in a 17 unit Community with low HOA fee. Its on a hill, without any big trees to maintain or blow down. Built in 2016, looks like new and we just paid a million dollars for new roofs paid for by our HOA fees. I spent a year looking at 3/2 houses in Brandon with pools and all the Condos and Townhomes, new and old in Brandon area before I finally decided on this Townhome which is now worth $310,000. I had Rentals in S. Tampa for 35 years and studied every day with books and online with youtube videos and seminars on weekends and was a member of a Stock Club in Tampa. I have researched Bradenton several times for another opportunity and I don't find one. I assume you know nothing about Sarasota and the value of anything down there? The safest thing for you to do is to try and find a fixer upper house or Townhome to be your first Home. You get all the easiest financing and discounts with that. You have to live in your Owner Occupied Residence and Homestead it for two out of five years, before you can Sell it Tax-free as your Residence. In the meantime IF you have the Cash you find another one and Rent it until you Sell your Residence and move into your Rental. That is the way you can make Tax-free Profits if you pay attention to the right time in the R.E. Business Cycle to Buy and Sell with this Method, for the rest of your life. This is the safest thing you can do. Or...you can take your 25K and Buy Nat Gas, NT Futures at $2.00 and sit back to wait for it to Double. Study up on everything you can until then and be an Educated Investor when you do pull the trigger on a discounted property in Bradenton. From this time in the Cycle you cannot expect Appreciation over the longterm to make you any Profits on Single Family Homes or Townhomes as a First Time Investment. But, you do need a place to call Home. Study with Dave Ramsey for a start. He is on 1160 AM radio every day.

Hey @Christian Penny

Congrats on taking action!!

You should try acquiring your first property with creative finance by buying properties seller finance with a low DP and low-interest rate or you could also assume a mortgage by doing a "Subject to"  

Best of luck, 

David

Hi @Claudine Stering...we're neighbors! From a lender's perspective, you have several choices depending upon where the money comes from. We'll usually request 2 months of bank statements to "source" the funds, meaning show where the money came from. This is a legal thing and not a lender choice. Lenders are required to do this as part of a legally required Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program. If the money is "seasoned", meaning it shows up on the beginning balance in the oldest of the bank statements, you're good to go. If it comes in later, then we'll have to show the "source" of the funds to satisfy AML requirements. If you sell a property or asset to get the funds, then we'll want to see the settlement statement and create a paper trail to show the flow of funds to your account. If it's a gift, lenders will want a letter from the donor (most lenders will require it to be a family member or someone very close to you...it varies from lender to lender) and many lenders might even want to "source" it by getting donor bank statements. The toughest is money that you have hidden under your mattress. It's pretty hard to create a paper trail for that (ethically). With that, you might just have to introduce it to the banking system by depositing it into your account and then waiting for it to show up in your bank account. One item to note about that - banks are required to file either a Large Currency Transaction Report (LCTR) or a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR - if it appears you are "structuring" your deposits to avoid an LCTR). Contrary to what people think, as long as you got the money legally, this isn't a big deal. Just let the bank fill out the report and don't worry about it. Once that money shows up in the beginning balance of the first of the two bank statements, you should be good to go. I hope that helps you. 

Guys, let's be honest, she said she has "CASH". AS IN, NOT DIGITAL FUNDS IN AN ACCOUNT... Sounds like she has green dollar bills. Someone told you correctly, you would want to get that money in a bank and let it season while you are figuring out where to deploy the future digital cash, unless you have a REALLY GOOD place to explain where that came from. I have literally had several instances where someone had massive amounts of cash under mattresses etc lol. If you are buying your first property, you could go 3.5 percent down FHA, or there are some really good 3 percent down Conventional programs with your score. Buy your first property as a primary residence, with the INTENT to live in it for a year, and then grow it from there! Over our way on the East Coast of FL has some really good options as well! Many builders of new homes right now are offering great interest rates / closing costs etc. Sounds like you are well on your way and came to a great resource!