All Forum Posts by: Jake Recz

I'm looking to invest some cash for a passive income (don't get me started. I got rentals already ;) Joking!).

$200k available. I don't care if the value of the asset fluctuates as long as the area is poised to remain a B/C+.

Single family not preferred. An apartment would probably be better.

Eventually, pull out equity somewhere down the road.

What would be your Houston area recommendations?

We closed. It all worked out. It all came down to the underwriter trying to do things his own way and not the way that his company does things. As you can imagine the way his company does things was how it was done at the end, and the issue was resolved. Russell... Please review the Bigger-Waters Flood Insurance Act. The issue was not the property not meeting the requirements, but the underwriter trying to do things his own way. 

Hello everybody. I haven't been active here in quite a while. I guess I got too concentrated on rehabbing a few properties I had :) Either way, I'm selling the house I currently live in and I ran into an issue that shouldn't even be an issue in the first place.

We literally flew through the whole selling process. Now we're stuck on the underwriter and obtaining a clear to close from the buyers bank. The property being sold is located in a flood zone. Insurance through FEMA was not a good deal at all so we went with a private company. The private flood insurance policy we have (transferrable to the new owner) meets ALL the same guidelines as a FEMA policy -> "This policy meets the definition of private flood insurance contained in 42 USC 4012a(b)(7) and the corresponding regulation" The issue is that the underwriter reviewing the file does not agree that this policy is the same as a FEMA policy, and refuses to issue a clear to close... Wrongfully. Per what I read in the Bigger-Waters Flood Insurance Act the underwriter has no obligation or right to turn down such a policy yet he is doing just that, while also delaying the closing. The loan in question is a conventional loan, not FHA, or VA.

I had my insurance agent attempt to contact the underwriter, but so far we had no luck. The underwriter is clearly in the wrong here. Out of desperation I told my agent that we can pay for the new buyers flood insurance through FEMA for the first year. That would push the closing through. Yet I'm not giving up just yet since, like I said, the underwriter is clearly mistaken when it comes to the denial of the current policy.

Do you guys have any other ideas on how to resolve this? Reach over the underwriters head up to higher management who may be more informed? Pay for the FEMA policy and take the loss on it? Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance. 

What goes up, must come down. The real estate market included. Don't be fooled, it will come back up before it comes crashing down again. 

Great post! 

So technically speaking, if you use your own LLC to be your lender you can get your money back much quicker to rinse and repeat the whole process.

Now let's assume I purchase a property cash. 

The purchase price is $100k.

The property appraises for $100k. 

The bank is willing to give me 75% LTV (conventional loan).

The bank issues a mortgage for $75k. 

At this point I still have $25k tied up in the property. Basically a 25% "down payment". 

Is there any way to get my entire investment of $100k out of this property? 

I'm asking because after the first property I would have $25k tied up, on the second one I would have $50k (total) tied up, on the third it's $75k tied up..... and so on. There quickly comes a point where I'm out of capital to keep investing. Can anybody please clarify this for me? 

Please PM me

This is exactly one of the many issues that make me quite worried about investing out of state. I know my area pretty well, I live here. I can't say that about a town 700 miles away, no matter how much research I do. 

Very informative post. Thank you guys. I learn something new here every day!

Just... wow. Some people have no values. Straight up ripoffs looking for another landlord to screw over. Like the previous poster mentioned, screening tenants is a number one priority. One red flag, walk away. Just hope she doesn't damage the unit too much. Seems like she got friendly with that heater. Those things really don't break THAT often... 

Putting in the listing that you will check their criminal history and credit is good enough. No need to tell them about ALL your criteria. They don't have to know what that criteria is. I'm renting out a unit right now. When one of the applicants asks me what the requirements are I just tell them that I will check their credit and their criminal history. That's it. It always works. If they keep pushing I tell them that I input all the info into my "software" and that "software" spits out the most qualified applicants. If they ask what the software is, I tell them that I don't remember the name of it. Obviously, there is no software. 

When I was looking for an apartment way back I wouldn't even call the people who had a list of 50 different requirements. I didn't want to bother even if I qualified. I had a strong belief that if they are that strict I wouldn't want to deal with them because they might just be a little crazy.