All Forum Posts by: Denise B.

Hi Bill,
4.5% is good, assuming no points. I just closed (6/18) on a duplex (non-owner occupied) with 25% down and got 4.125% with 1 pt for 30 year fixed. I think anything under 5% is pretty cheap money in the long term!

Not sure if you've heard about the recall on Flushmate...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304765304577480450904272714.html

Thanks Bill and Steve.

Steve - this was my suggestion to the mortgage broker as well. He indicated that we were too late in the process to do that since the deposit was required within a certain time period from the signing of the P&S. Since it's apparent from the documentation that he has access to enough funds to cover the cash needed for closing including the deposit, it just doesn't make sense to me that this is an issue.

I'm wondering if I could just add my husband to the checking account to make it a joint account and thus joint funds. The timing might be a problem again but I'll run it by the mortgage broker.

Hi!
My husband put a duplex under contract for $225K. He wants to finance 75% and submitted the mortgage application with all requested documentation. He has strong W-2 income, excellent credit, a bank statement showing $108K in cash and only a $106K mortgage liability (held jointly with me on our primary residence).

The underwriters are holding up approval of the mortgage because the $10K EM deposit was a check written off a bank account in my name only. They are saying that it constitutes a gift which is not allowed for investors. They want my name added to the deed and mortgage note to get around this. This was a dumb mistake on my part but who knew it would cause such a problem. I'm not sure how they even got a copy of the check. I'd prefer to keep the property titled in only his name for liability reasons. Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any other suggestions?

Hi,
I'm in PA also - Lehigh Valley area (Bethlehem-Easton) and just raised rents on both sides of a duplex I own in Easton. Increase was about 2% ($25) and both units are townhouse style with 3BR/1.5BA ~1300 sq ft.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies. I have the appropriate letter for the first family stating they were rejected based on info from the credit report and telling them they can get a copy to review.

I am planning to talk to the other family to see how they react. I was just surprised that both had such credit problems. I guess nothing should surprise me in this business!

Hi,
I'm relatively new to the landlording business. Bought my 1st two units about 18 months ago and inherited tenants that are actually pretty good.

This is my first time screening tenants to fill a vacancy (3 br/1.5 bath $1250 rent) and I thought I had 2 promising applications. They both have income that exceeds the 3x rent requirement but their credit is horrible. The 1st family has multiple judgments from landlords so I crossed them off.

The 2nd family has no landlord judgments and current car payments but lots of accounts in collection (mostly student loans) even though they have a combined income of over $120K. Is this the kind of credit I can expect from most of the applicant pool?

What kind of accounts do you ignore from the credit reports?

Thanks for your responses and the additional links. You all are always so helpful!

I'm relatively new to landlording having just bought my first 2 rental units in July, 2010. I've been pretty fortunate in not to having a lot of maintenance issues but feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment. A landlord friend buys home warranty plans on her units and swears by them. It would be nice to have a single service to call to check things out when there is an issue. I haven't really built my maintenance team yet. My husband is pretty handy and has addressed all the issues so far but he's having some surgery and won't be available as my handyman for a while.

Have any of you used a home warranty plan to mitigate repair costs/hassles and would you recommend this approach?
Thanks,
Denise

I'm a new landlord...just settled on my duplex on 7/21. In one unit, I have 3 tenants in a roommate situation. All 3 names are on the lease which clearly states no subletting and the lease runs until 1/2011. One of the tenants needs to move out and has found a replacement. I'll run the credit check and standard application process for the potential replacement. How do I handle the lease? Should I ask the 2 remaining tenants and the new one to sign a new lease together, terminating the old one? Or do I just swap names on the original lease and have everyone initial it? Other ideas?
Thanks in advance - you all are a great source of info!