All Forum Posts by: Emily Shirk

Hi Jim,

Thanks for breaking that down for me.  Im not sure if it would be better or worse knowing what is happening behind the closed doors but based on the amount of mail we now receive I can only imagine... Thank you for taking the time explain the rules of the game to me.

Hi Everyone!

My husband are just entering the REO world and finally purchased our first home. About a month after moving in we received a JUST SOLD flier that exclusively advertised our home, the address, interior & exterior photos of the home and what we purchased it for. We never gave consent for this and we are both very upset that our home, address and selling price are being advertised like this. It feels extremely violating and I am very angry. My question is, did the selling agent even violate any laws? This is all information that could be found on the MLS & Zillow which also shows our selling price so its not necessarily confidential information... I am just upset that we have been used as advertising and had it flashed in our new neighbors faces like this. I also feel like it draws dangerous attention to our home since the agent boasts about how much it sold for and it being the most $/sq in the neighborhoods history. Do I have any ground to stand on? The damage has been done but I feel so violated and I am angry.

@Joe Homs 

Hi Joe, 

Thanks for taking the time to help me.  You've got points 1 & 2 correct except we plan on living in two places at once.  We will be in San Jose most of the time and down in Orange County every month or two for 4-5 days.  We want to claim the orange county home as our primary residence to fulfill the requirements of our loan but want to rent it out (airbnb or lease out the spare rooms) while we are away.  I spoke with a CPA who said that if you airbnb your home you have to file it as a rental property but I don't understand how renting it on the side would trump it being your primary residence on a tax form.  Im beginning to think I may need a second opinion on that... My concern is that if we rent it out while we are away (which would begin as soon as we purchase the property) that we could be accused of using it as a rental property when we agreed upon it being a primary residence.  Im not sure how the this would get back to the lender but if its officially stated as a "rental property" on the taxes I'm sure that won't help... What do you think?

@Rafael Floresta when you stage are you allowed to keep the furniture (on a rental basis) for your airbnb or is it strictly for the pictures? 

Hi,

My husband and I are currently renting a SFR in San Jose because of his new job but we are looking to buy our first home in Southern Orange County (where we were prior to this job and where we plan to return in the next year or two). We want to buy now because he is a W2 and once we move back to OC he will be a 1099 again. Our challenge is that we want to use a VA loan for the home (lender has approved it based on the agreement that we rent up here but I live down there enough to claim it as our primary residence). It seems like a poor financial move to buy a home and just let it sit empty so I want to either rent it out or airbnb it while we are away to cover the mortgage. The trouble is once we do that we need to claim the rental income on our taxes and the property is filed as a rental property. We fully intend on this property being our primary home for the next several years but just can't move into it straight away. What do you think? Is it flat out a bad idea (keep in mind that once this job ends we are 1099 again and won't be able to a loan for several more years, hence the urgency) or is the risk minimal that the lender would become aware of our filing status of rental property?

Added thought: I just did some research and learned what mortgage fraud was.  I do NOT want to get caught up in that kind of trouble and our intention is not to defraud anyone.  We fully intend to live in this property as our primary residence for years to come, we just want to cover part of the mortgage while we aren't there.  If fully renting the home or renting the whole house out on airbnb falls into the realm of "mortgage fraud" can we just rent our spare rooms out?  I know people who do that with their primary residences so maybe that would be an option?

Thanks for your advice! 

.

@Richard Ayvazyan thanks for your thoughts.  This is our first time buying so everything is still a bit shrouded in mystery for me.  I guess my main concern is that the markets drop in 2 years (when we are trying to get out of here) and we get stuck :/  I've heard a consensus that there will be another bubble soon but I am not sure how much of an affect that will have on the bay... I want to avoid making any emotional decisions but I also want to avoid getting stuck with an old junker here by all costs... Are you familiar with the bay area market? Do you think its worth the gamble?

@Xavier Williams thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in this!  Thats so frustrating to hear about your offer on the Oakland property.  Its so hard to compete against such aggressive offers everywhere! It will be interesting to see what this area looks like in 10-15 years.

My husband and I are looking for our first home to buy. I was recently talking to my mother and she warned me that her best friend (who is a real estate agent in Lodi Ca) was telling her that she thinks there will be another burst in the housing market as soon as 2018. I kind of shrugged it off because my mother can be a bit of a worrier and she had no facts for me but I was just reading this article in fortune and it mention a similar warning. My husband and I are looking to buy in the Bay Area and a burst is the last thing we need when it feels like we are already having to sell our first born just to get a crappy 1920's bungalow.... What are your thoughts PB? Keep on renting or take the plunge? Here's the article: http://fortune.com/2016/01/11/real-estate-bubble/?xid=simplereach_HighEngagement&sr_source=lift_facebook

Hi!

Thanks for taking a moment to help me sort this out. My husband and I just moved to San Jose about 6 months ago for his job. The area is nice but very expensive and our goal is to return to Dana Point, Ca in the next year or two. His prior work has been as a contractor so we have needed 3 years of income to qualify for a home loan (and one bad years tax return has had us stuck in limbo.) Now that he is a W2 we have had no trouble getting financing and we want to make a move on purchasing our first home... the thing is we plan on heading back to Dana Point in the next year or two (where he will return to contracting) and so we want to secure our housing now before we get stuck with the 3 years of income proof again. The dilemma is do we buy in San Jose or Dana Point? My thoughts on San Jose is we can probably get a fixer upper in the 700k range and hopefully sell for a profit between the remodeling & the market hopefully continuing to go up... but would our profits be enough to justify it after paying for our realtor, etc. to make it worth it in just 2 years? If so, I am hoping that we would be able to take the money from selling and put it down on a home in Dana Point... but that could lead us into the 3 years income proof issue.... but maybe with a nice down deposit it wouldn't be as big of an issue? (We are using VA Loan). OR do we stretch our necks out and buy something in Dana Point with the hopes of renting it while we live up here? There is a little bit of risk to this because 1) we aren't supposed to rent our a VA loan house (but I think we can get away with it temporarily since we do plan on using it as a primary residence) 2) We aren't putting much down so our monthly mortgage will be high ($3,300/mo (P&I, Taxes, etc included) on $500k or $4,461/mo on $789k to give you an idea) which means we might not be able to cover the whole mortgage with a renter so we would have some cost out of pocket. Not the end of the world but not ideal since we are already paying $3k/mo rent in the bay.... I am very excited to get a move on buying but I am loosing my mind trying to figure out where.... San Jose is more expensive but with a possible greater return... and Dana Point is where we want to end up but is it risking too much too soon? Any thoughts or advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Hi Dave,

Thank you for explaining the usual customs.  I will shop around and compare offers with some other lenders and see how my realtor reacts.  Is there any reason (other than her personal gain) that her recommended lender could give me an advantage in closing a deal in this competitive market?