All Forum Posts by: Derek Johnson

I have been approved for a home loan without having to sell my current home. I am looking into renting out my current residence and moving into another one. When they gave me my credit report I had a 769, 750 & 687 score. The 687 score is really dropping my average and I called the agency and they said that's not the score they had.

It was a FICO score and they said thy aren't affiliated with FICO. Where does the bank get this score? And who do I contact to get it staightened out? The FICO score reported my student loans as unpaid but I paid them off over a year ago. The other two agencies had the correct info. I called the "agency" with the 687 and they said it showed my student loans were paid off on their end, so where is this 687 score coming from?

Troy Bevans - Would love to chat! We're going to look at a few houses Saturday with our realtor. We're looking for a primary residence with some more equity (<$120k range) and an investment property for under $50k. Got some "suspects" and hopefully find a "prospect" this weekend.

I have a company 401k plan that only allows mutual fund investments so I decided to open a Roth IRA to do some stock investing.

Does anyone actively invest in stocks?

Say I have $2500

I buy *** stock and get 150 shares at $16.67 and the price goes to $20 a share. I sell and now that $2500 is $3000.
If I were to continue to invest in this way ALL of my money it would compound significantly the more I did it. I could never get it wrong or I'd lose a significant amount, but I only started with $2500 anyways...

Thoughts? Even if it is small gains rather than then $3.33 the prinicipal is the same, it would just take longer / more transactions.

Hey Justin S. have you found the property management company to be effective? I'm also from Iowa and have a similar strategy in mind but have not taken the dive yet. I am close to Cedar Falls so I was thinking of targeting SF homes where student housing is popular.

Brian Burke - I am looking into doing my own LLC paperwork and have searched some businesses here and found that the address listed is easily discoverable that you register with you LLC. I was wondering if you can use a P.O. Box? I wouldn't want my home address readily avialable for anyone to find with a simple search.

Ok after looking into the threads about sherriff sales I'm thinking it probably is a secondary lien.

Wayne Brooks - The sherriff's website posts a list of houses going for auction here and the banks submit a bid number for the owed amount. The bid for the house was just under $50k. I did a search of the property on the MLS and it is assessed at $220k.

Steve Babiak - So sherriff sales even if you get the primary lien involve eviction usually?

I'm in Black Hawk county in Iowa and I often check the sherriffs sales and they do update what they sell for. Usually the amount sold is over the bid placed by the bank. But even at 70-80k this would have been a steal if it is the primary lien.

I am looking at a house in highly desired area coming up in a sherriff sale in April.

It's listed at under $50k and valued over $220k.

It says at the auction you have to have cash, cashiers check at the sale. I was wondering how you go about this? Do banks finance for a Sherriff sale? What are some pitfalls I'm not seeing here?

I looked at the MLS and the house is beautiful. Has an addition ($30k) from 2010. On a cul de sac.

Hello Troy!

I am from Waterloo, IA and glad to see someone close to home doing what I'd like to do! I work at John Deere and hope to start investing in single family homes or small multi-plexes. My wife is on board so now were just saving up some money!

I live in Iowa but have not yet invested. Someone I work with has 10 rentals here, is there a specific question you would like me to ask him?

Hello everyone

I am 24 years old and an aspiring real estate investor from Waterloo, Iowa. I work at a tractor manufacturing company here with great benefits, (100% covered health insurance), small pension, 401k w/ company match.

I have researched a lot and am interested mostly in buy and hold investing in single family or small multi-unit homes. I still have questions and reservations about the tenant part but love the prospect of cash flow, and small growth of equity over time as well as tax sheltering.

Here's where I am today:

I am married and we had our first child in July. I've talked to my wife and she is on board with the idea of RE investing but still has reservations.

We already bought our first family home. Had I done the research I've done now back then I could have gotten a better one. But everyone has to live somewhere I suppose. Our mortgage is $740/mo for a 2br. Has a 2 stall garage, large fenced back yard and a part finished basement. We have 2 dogs, a german shepherd named Dez and a golden retriever mix named Dallas. We're Cowboys fans! =)

We have paid off all our debt except our mortgage. No student loans, no car payments, no CC debt.

My wife and I decided she should stay home with Brooklyn (our daughter) so we only have one income right now.

I did an income/expense chart for us and found that:

I make $2400-$3200/mo (after uncle sam) depending on overtime and our bills are around $1850/mo.

Basically here to get more info and hopefully some support and encouragement from investors who have been there and done that!