All Forum Posts by: Colleen Murphy

Eddie - the costs would be rolled into the loan but when asked about this, she didn't offer that solution (paying out of pocket). Just said that it didn't pass compliance and there was nothing she could do. 

Great - We have high credit scores (husband is 760 and I'm at 810) so that shouldn't be the problem. Owned the property since last December so no seasoning issue and we own the property outright. This company may not be investor friendly. We started working with them because we currently have two other loans with this company but, in reality, probably did not do our homework enough. This is just so confusing because she made it sound like we would run into this same problem no matter what mortgage company we work with. 

We are working with a lender to get a cash-out financing loan on an investment property that own. But, we were just denied for the loan with the loan officer saying she was, "unable to get the refinance approved through compliance. Because of the high rates and the high cost of the rate, I am unable to pass compliance…I tried to restructure, but because of the loan amount, I have no wiggle room."

She explained that the closing costs combined with the discount rate would exceed Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae caps. We are hoping for a loan of around $150k but were told that the closing/rates total could not exceed $3,445 (but were quoted a total cost of $8,194). Anyone else running into this with rates so high? It seems like we will not be able to get a loan for this property at all given this information. We've never run into this previously but, of course, rates have never been this high during the time that we've been investing. 

Thank you for your response. That's a good perspective - sort of taking the patient route, which is challenging in the short term. BUT, would avoid losing a significant amount of money. And hopefully the market in this area will improve so we can refi sooner rather than later!

Would appreciate advice. We own an investment property in Ohio. It's a duplex purchased for $45k last December. Rehab took way longer than expected and went WAY above budget. We're now all-in for $160k. Had it appraised a few weeks ago and it came back at $133k. The comps pulled were truly not fair (over a year old for two, several miles away in a very different part of the city, etc.). We asked another appraiser that we know to take a look and he said the comps were incorrectly chosen, in his opinion, and he found comps that were more recent and closer. In his opinion, it should have been appraised at least around $150k. At this point, even if it appraises at $150k (if we try again with another bank), we'll be leaving a good chunk of money in the deal. Our other option is to try to sell off-market for around $150k - $160k. This will be a cash-flowing property for sure. We own several other duplexes in same area and are getting $1800+ in rent each month. And this will be a fully renovated property, just one block from a major hospital. The thought of having to leave so much money stuck in this deal is what is keeping me up at night... but the thought of losing up to $20k if we sell isn't exciting either. This experience has been so stressful that I'm ready to hang it up with real estate investing altogether! Just curious what any of you would do if you were in my shoes. 

Thank you Rob and Brandon. All of this information will help us as we work with HVAC professionals and consider options that we hadn't considered previously. We hadn't thought about the possibility of using electric baseboard heat but that actually may be the most economical option. The water heater (only one) is gas so I really like your suggestion to make one unit fully electric. Thanks again!

Thank you so much for your response (and sorry for the delayed message!). This was VERY helpful and detailed and much appreciated. 

Yes, this duplex was once just one house. The house is actually in Ohio and is at least 140 years old. We definitely need to get in there to see what options we have but I am grateful for the information you provided above so that we have a starting place with our HVAC person. 

Thanks again!

I'm a newbie at real estate investing and am about to purchase an up and down duplex that currently has one HVAC system in place (but does have two electric meters already). Currently, the owner pays all utilities.

Clearly, it's not ideal to only allow one tenant to control the temperature (which is what the current set up is). So, we know that we want to at least add some zoning control so that both tenants have some level of control over the thermostat. But it would, of course, be far better to have everything completely split and provide a separate furnace and hot water heater, etc. for both apartments. 

Has anyone dealt with this? We have no idea what to expect in terms of cost and the HVAC person we contacted cannot give an estimate until he gets into the property, which won't happen until we close. Just want to get a sense of how big of a project this may be. I know it's impossible to accurately estimate because every project/house is different but, again, just hoping for a general sense of what kind of headache/expense this may be.

Awesome! Thank you for that suggestion. 

Hello! I'm new to real estate investing and considering investing in the Dayton, OH region. My husband is originally from Dayton so has a good amount of knowledge of area though we live in southern CA now. We are also considering Pittsburgh and may end up investing in both areas. But, I need a realtor that is investor-friendly and is willing to work with a newbie in Dayton. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance!