All Forum Posts by: Dave Skow

Joselyn - thanks for the post ......prices in the area  you mention aren't  likely to flatten out anytime soon ..... as the other  reply to your post  suggests ...you might consider  north king / south king and  Snohomish county  for  less expensive options  ....not sure  about your commute needs ....due to consistent bad traffic and travel times - this could become a large  factor  in where you end up

Jason - thanks for the post and welcome to BP ..>Dave Skow

:)  thanks ...feel free to bounce any loan related questions off me anytime

1/7/2016 Wesley - thanks for the post and creating some good thinking ..... if you are desiring to purchase a primary home ....its likely to not get any less expensive in the future ....so if you are waiting for prices to come down - this might be a long wait .....if you buy a condo and want to use a FHA loan to minimize the down payment - be aware that the condo complex will need to be FHA approved ( not many are any longer ) ...that being said there are some conventional loan programs that allow as little as 3% down . make sure that you have your pre approval and financing all lined up in case a property becomes available .

Regarding buying an investment property before buying a home -  decent idea  except that this might eat up  most of the capital you have to work with

I like the idea of  possibly increasing your  budget a bit and looking for a multi family home that  you can both live in and rent ...in the area you describe these  will be  higher priced than condos  though ....

I am located in the area you describe  wanting to buy so if you have any loan / mortgage  questions - feel free to  call or email

all the best

Nghi - would using a regular FHA loan be possible ....they would be the borrowers and you could be the " non occupant " co borrower .....?? there are even some conventional loans that might allow this ......if they don't want to be on the loan at all , you will likely need to use options that classify the purchase as an investment property purchase with you being the borrower ( assuming you already own a home ) ..thanks

Reuben - thanks for the post ...there are several common techniques/ strategies   that you can consider using  to  avoid the need to payfor  mortgage insurance

Serena - thanks for the message .. good idea ...glad that you have received at least some preliminary  feedback .....if you are confident that you will be buying , I would recommend  getting a  full " pre approval "  (  not a  pre  qualification ) in place ...thanks

David - this may have been covered but asking to clarify - do you plan to live in this  property  or is this  to be a rental property ?

Dave

Serana - both ideas  have merit ...not sure if the timing aspect has been touched on with the replies ...so here is additional  feedback .....if you refinance the loan and pull out some cash to use for the  new property down payment , you can  control  when you can make an offer on the new property .....if on the other hand you find a new property and then  need to  sell the  current home for the larger  amount of cash - you will be  weakening any offer you might  make  if you ask for a longer  closing period to accomplish this ......summary - you will likely be in a stronger  negotiating position  if you have a large  cash position and don't need to worry about the present home selling

many lenders will use the " make sense " test ...... will you have income/ employment to qualify when you move ? will the move from CA to WA affect any income sources ? when do you expect the comm property to be sold ? Is the income derived from the comm property the income you plan to use for qualifying ? is you present lease month to month or a long term lease ? Most lenders on a FHA / VA / Conv premise want to have the occupancy occur with 30 days ..that being said - they are not sending anyone to confirm that this happens ....hope this helps