All Forum Posts by: Giang Nguyen

Naive question, but can't the title company do something?? Shouldn't they not transfer the money if the conditions weren't met? I would understand if it's some other tenants (which the conditions of closing should still be a vacant property, unless you want to deal with the eviction yourself given a bigger discount on the property). But if it's the owner, shouldn't the title company have more pull in this situation? Or they can't cause it wasn't a written condition? Anyways, best of luck!! Please keep us updated on the process!

@joe white Hi Joe! Are you in Hapco? I don't know if you have talked to Stanley Daniel? His business model is renting by the room. Maybe he can help. I actually don't know if he's on BP. PM me if you need his email address.

@Jose Perez Thanks so much for posting that!! Sorry you didn't get the property. It seems like the fees appear at a more reasonable % when you're taking out a larger loan. I'll keep that in mind the next time I consider a 203k. Best of luck with the search!!

@Jose Perez Yep, I just recently learned to look at my APR instead of the interest rate as Michael suggested. FHA fee is expensive compared to conventional loan. For the cash-out refinance, a credit union couldn't qualify me for a conventional loan (not sure why exactly), so the loan mortgage sent over the FHA. The closing cost was >8k, as compared to 2-3k for a conventional one. FHA's interest rate was lower, but the APR was essentially the same. So the FHA didn't make sense to me cause you're just getting less cash up front with very little benefit.

How did your loan closing cost turn out?? Do the numbers still work?

@Jose Perez Sorry for the confusion. The fee of the 203k program is high. I checked in with Homebridge, Anniemac, and Allied Mortgage Group for a 203k loan. Didn't even get prequalified with Anniemac for 203k because they required a letter from me saying that I'd sell my primary residence. The program fee of 203k was comparable between both Homebridge and Allied Mortgage group (~13k for a 115k loan, and my monthly payment would be >$900 including tax/insurance because of the higher interest rate for a 203k loan and the private mortgage insurance that would never go away unless you refinance). I think for a 203k loan, the more important thing is the loan officer because it's just such a complicated process. Fee-wise, I think it's pretty standard across. Interest rates may vary but not significantly. 

After I decided to not go with a 203k, someone else from AnnieMac then contacted me about a cash-out refinance on my primary residence and I ended up going with them because they had one of the lower rate/closing costs and my loan officer was super responsive. So I'm using the cash out from my primary residence to buy/rehab the new property. 

You're looking around for a 203k or you're checking homebridge for some other loan?

@Jose Perez : I talked to Ray Heller from Homebridge and he was helpful but ultimately, I backed out of the 203k due to the high monthly payment and fees. Ended up doing a cash-out refinance with AnnieMac and will be using that for a purchase instead.

@Dave Van Horn Thanks for the referral Dave. I did my cash-out refinance before I met Joe and attended DIG events. But I'll have more cash-out refinances in the future and will reach out to Joe for guidance.

@Saran Mandhadapu Hi Saran. I don't think any management company would allow that since besides the 10%ish of rent monthly , the first month rent for placing a new tenant in is often the revenue. This is why it's often challenging to find a good maintenance company because their interest and the owner's interest don't often align. Owners want to keep long-term tenants while the property maintenance company makes the most when there's a tenant turnover. 

Showing is often the most time-consuming so if you're doing that already, why not just have them apply online using cozy.co as people suggested above? Check out tenantcloud.com as well for a free application, screening, rent payment, and maintenance request. 

The other option is to just delegate these tasks out without hiring a management company, but it depends on the scope of work. For example, hire an assistant or find a motivated college student to deal with the online application/screening for you. It should take about 2 hrs max of their time. While the price might be lower, you will have to explain your expectations and guide them a bit. 

@Michael James Thanks Michael. I'll check him out. 

Hi everyone! I'm gonna piggyback on this topic real quick. 

@Account Closed I'm not sure if you have checked there before, but I was told that if you check on http://www.phila.gov/zoningarchive/ and the documents are not there, it's best to assume they don't have it. I have seen use registration and variance applications on there before if the property has them. I think instead of structuring the offer to have the contingency for zoning, I would actually check the zoning as a part of your initial screen before making an offer. Once you see something that spark your interest, checking the documents on the zoning archive should take less than 5 mins. An investor I know had the same problem with zoning, hired a lawyer and was unsuccessful. However, she then just flipped it as a SFH and sold it as that. I don't know much about Airbnb rental requirement in Philadelphia but I wonder if that's an option to get around the duplex problem? Either rent both units on Airbnb, or I have read about people partnering up with their tenants to rent out the other unit.

A question I have on this topic is that a multi-unit I'm looking at in Philadelphia has RSA5. There's a document in the zoning archive back in 1947 for the property regarding use registration and permit as a duplex. The stamp said no registration was required for use as a 2 family housing and nothing has changed since then. I'm assuming that means the property is grandfathered in? Can someone confirm this please?

Thanks @Garrett M. I'll reach out to Ray.