All Forum Posts by: Isamar Ochoa

Hello!

A friend of mine is looking into purchasing a vacation home in Mexico for his employees to work remotely for fun (maybe one day also Airbnb). If anyone has resources, connections, suggestions please send them my way!

He does not have an attorney, agent, or anything so all referrals are welcomed and appreciated!

Thank you, 

Isamar

Any recommendations? tips? books? 

Thank you @mike , I will check them out!

Hi BP Community,

Can someone recommend a system they use to report their tenant's payments to help them build their credit?

I've looked some up but most only report to 2 out of the 3 credit bureaus.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

thanks!

Hello!

So as I'm browsing for my next purchase I'd appreciate some tips on how you analyze the property comps. What are your go-to ways? I don't want to bug my agent with EVERY SINGLE home I'm curious about.  

Thanks!

@Cindy Gonzalez

When I was looking into my first home I compared how much I would save per month if I did 0% DP, 3.5% DP OR 5% DP... I would only be saving a few hundred dollars a month. YES, it adds up BUT as a starter with low income I preferred to have the piece of mind knowing I had a solid savings for an emergency. One big emergency/home repair can put you out of businesses! Especially if you’re house hacking and counting on the rent money to pay your mortgage. Repairs need to be done ASAP for the tenant.

Then what I did was refinance and got rid of the PMI. Looking back I would have done an 80/20 loan to avoid paying PMI. Then HELOC for an emergency fund... now I get to use my savings for my next investment.

A lot of this is psychological! Now that I’ve gone through it I have a better sense of my risk tolerance. I personally don’t regret it and trust that in the long run those couple hundred $$ will comeback to me! It would take me a long time to rebuild my savings just to get a little bit of cash flow.

I wouldn’t want you to run into an emergency, things not go well and have the one single event stop you from building your empire!

Goodluck!

HELP!

I am a newbie and was offered an owner finance option!

I know very little on this topic but have heard this can be a great option. I am hopeful you all can share your experiences, warning, and tips.

I am planning to live in the home and househack… The numbers look promising even if rents drop a bit in the Bay Area. This home is 30 years old, fully renovated, a good part of town, one block away from a university, pretty much an A-list home.

I spoke with the representative of the owner and she shared the following…

Price is $1.5M and the seller wants 20% down payment which I DO NOT have. The seller is not set on an interest rate, but they are thinking (4.65-4.77). I think this is high since I just did a refinance and was offered 3.65% but on a much smaller loan. But I understand the terms are different on an owner finance deal. When we began discussing owner financing, I was hoping to negotiate a lower down payment, but the owner is pretty set on 20%.

Should I ask my loan officer (who is currently doing my refinance) about getting me a loan for this down payment? Has anyone had to get creative for a DP this large?

What should I be looking out for? Warnings? Negotiating tips etc…

Does this flat-out sound like a terrible deal?

The seller knows the mortgage can be covered with the rents so they are confident who over purchases the home can make the payment. So, I am hopeful I can make this work since my income isn’t high enough to easily qualify for a loan this big on my own (I’d need a co-signer which is not impossible but would rather do this on my own).

I am also going to have my agent check comps to see if we should offer less.

Thanks in advance!

@Whitney Bowling

I'd have a HELOC on each of my properties.

@Sat Ram I will keep you posted! You’re right, $1.5M won’t get you much down there!

@Nicholas L.

Doing the two house plan gives me a bit more peace of mind in case of an emergency where one house has to be vacant (for whatever reason) at least I’m only paying out of pocket for a smaller mortgage and the other house would be good. VS doing this expensive single-family home (that’s already split into multiple units). If something would happen, I’d have to pay more out of pocket.

I know in the worst-case scenario, if spend money to make the repairs I can pull a HELOC/ private loan and in the long run the benefits outweigh the negatives and all the expenses (as this is an investment). BUT I just want to make sure I have a strong defense for emergencies.