All Forum Posts by: Dakotah P.

You're conflating two different things: a web domain and a website. Often one service provides the other, which is fine, but they're two individual things. Start with the domain and avoid GoDaddy. They have the biggest marketing budget but the owner is a tool and they provide a bad service. Hover.com has fantastic support, even over the phone and has typical prices. As for a website provider, some provide domain registration which can be an easy bonus but makes it harder to switch. Others have good suggestions, start with something cheap or free to just get in the search engines. Then consider quality when you're ready to go pro. In my opinion (I'm a pro web developer), Squarespace is hands down the best and once you can afford it will present you the best. A custom site doesn't sound necessary.

As a professional web developer, I would rank Wix and Wordpress at the bottom and Squarespace at the top in terms of professional presentation. Anything is fine if you want to reduce costs temporarily but Wix websites look like crap and may not be properly responsive (mobile-friendly), if at all. 

Wordpress websites can range from poor to decent based on the quality of the template but the problem is twofold: Wordpress needs to be updated constantly to address bugs and security fixes (which is a pain to do), and Wordpress is primarily a blog engine and doesn't look great for bonafide websites.

From my critical eye, I can tell when a website is made on Wix or Wordpress and not in a good way. Squarespace sites, however, always make you look as professional as possible. Hope that helps anyone decide on where to host their site.

This sounds great. I won't be around to attend but I will try and see if my brother/partner can go. 👍🏻

Mint isn't a budgeting service (at least when I last used it), it's a retrospective of what you've spent. You Need A Budget is a true budget application where ideally you track every dollar. I've really locked down my budget using YNAB and it's saved me so much money.

@Marissa Mallamo I would be seeking lending for an investment property only, not for a personal residence, so of course my personal rent will be considered with the mortgage payment in my personal expense ratios.

@Albert Bui I live near West Hollywood city limits but my rent hasn't been raised much in years so I'm paying below market rate so bad landlords FTW! I should mention I'm seeking properties out of state where my family lives in the Inland Northwest so I'm looking to qualify for relatively small loans. Thanks for your insight.

@Chris Mason I was a self-employed contractor but am now an employee which should help going forward. I need to take Brandon Turner's tips for presenting my own worthiness to a lender so they give solutions back like you do rather than a binary yes or no response like they did last time around.

It sounds like I won't exactly be persona non grata if I take on a little debt within a few months as long as I can afford it so that's good. One additional consideration is I started a new job (but same profession) less than two months ago and I will be speaking with lenders around my 6mo mark and I think between that and potentially an auto loan it might give them reason to say I need to be at my job longer.

@Zach Mitchell I considered speaking with a lender earlier about this but I tend to not trust anything that a front-end mortgage banker says since they tend to tell you whatever you want to hear. A year ago I went through the whole process because of one's enthusiasm only to find out I was denied because I had less than two years of self-employment tax returns. That moron could have just told me that rule without wasting hours of my time and the underwriters.

Thanks all for your insights, this is helpful.

I have a dilemma:  

• I have a 15 year old BMW that now costs more in upcoming maintenance than the car is worth so it's time to get rid of it. I plan on getting a modest, 3+ year old used vehicle from around $12,000 or less but in an ideal world I would finance it only to have cash on hand for a rental property.
• I want to qualify for my first investment property starting this summer ideally.

With that in mind, will taking on a new auto loan within a few months of seeking a home loan automatically scare off the underwriter regardless of the fact that the auto loan is about 10% of my annual salary, I have no other debts and my credit score is ~790?

The payment shouldn't increase my debt-to-income ratio much because of my high salary and I am quite frugal in that I save 50%+ of my income and have little other expenses other than rent so from my perspective I'm still safe.

Of course, underwriters have different opinions so I don't want to screw my future self by financing an auto to stay liquid only to find out in a few months they would want me to pay it off before getting a mortgage. I am torn as to whether pay cash for a cheaper, older car or finance for a slightly less worn car.

I was perusing Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU) and to me it sounded like they do portfolio loans. It didn't use the term but I got the impression they do them so I intend to talk to them about it at some point. You might want to stop by and check. They are open to everyone in the area despite the name, as far as I know.