All Forum Posts by: Jason Boulter

@Robert Ellis Any clue how long Arlington Bank takes to close? I have seen them mentioned a couple of times. I actually tried calling them today but it was late in the day. A big concern of mine is that we also plan to finance some minor renovations with a loan from my father, and if we close any later than our current December 2nd closing day, then we may have trouble having the work completed in time. I will try to call several banks tomorrow. Thank you again for your help!

@Patrick Liska Yeah sorry I did not clarify. We started the LLC, but then we realized that we would have to put 25 percent down, and most of the lenders we looked into were only offering 20 year loans. Eventually we would like to secure property in the LLC, but considering we do not have any assets to protect other than the property itself, we decided it wasn't as critical of a detail. This is both of our first properties, so we are learning as we go. The conventional loan we are applying for will not lend to an LLC. When I said we wanted to sell part of the LLC I meant to include him as a member, but for some reason, our lender told us that we are not allowed to have him buy ownership in the company and then distribute the funds from the LLC account into our personal account.

@Robert Ellis ^^ that should answer some of the questions that you brought up. I agree that lending on the wedding ring is quite risky. We only really looked into it since it was going to be my father who was providing the loan, and we knew if worse comes to worse, he would not request the ring. It was just one strategy we pursued in order to disguise his money as something other than a gift. This is a single family, 3 bedroom, university rental property that we are attempting to buy. So unfortunately, the only way that we could qualify for an owner occupied loan would be for one of us to break our current lease and occupy the property for at least 90 days. And the problem with that is that we want to start a lease on January first to allow for students to rent it before the spring semester begins. If we do not start the lease then, then we run the risk of the property going unoccupied until the fall. Thank you for your help, and let me know if you have any other ideas. 

Hello everyone, I have a long and complicated problem. Here is the basics: I'm in the process of closing on an investment property with a friend of mine in Columbus, OH, and we attempted to use conventional lending. My friend has the lower credit score of the two of us (645-650), but he also has the only income that can be counted for loan purposes since I'm a part time intern with less than two years of history. His income is significant enough, and our Debt to income ratio is low enough that we shouldn't have any problem there. We had planned to use a gift from my father for about 1/3 of the downpayment of 20 percent and closing costs, but our lender only discovered that this was an issue for investment properties after we entered the closing process. We do not have any assets to take a secured loan against for the downpayment except for a wedding ring appraised at $14k. We have an LLC formed, but we were planning to purchase the property in our own names. We tried to see whether we could sell part of the LLC to my father so that his money was not considered a gift, but they shot that idea down. We may be open to short term financing and then refinancing out later, but we wouldn't want to pay some ridiculous interest rate, or have the loan be for too short of a time frame in order to do so. We currently have 30 days left to close, so whatever we do needs to be quick. I'm looking for recommendations for a lender, or just strategic ideas of how we could continue to use the conventional lender that we have. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello all, My business partner and I have been planning to buy our first buy and hold real estate property together in Columbus OH. We currently have the funds for a 20 percent downpayment on a property within our price range. Now our big issue is securing financing. We are in need of a lender that not only lends to investors, but will evaluate our credentials jointly. My partner has a relatively high income and an average credit score. I have a high credit score, but I am still in college, and my W2 income is quite low. I am not sure whether it is considered improper for me to count automatic biweekly deposits from my father for living expenses in my income figure when pursing financing. I would hope it does, because that means that my income is all discretionary cash. But I have a feeling it does not. Please let me know if anyone in the Columbus area knows of any lenders that may be interested in helping us out, without the interest rate of a hard money lender.

@Justin Taber thank you! What part of Columbus do you generally focus on when looking for properties? Do you have any suggestions, other than the short north, of areas that are growing quickly?

@Marcus Hendren thanks Marcus! what areas of campus do you own property in? I have been thinking it would be a great place to look, since rental rates are higher the closer you are to campus. Have you had any problems with the students renting? 

@Chris Washington thanks for the advice Chris! Why do ou recommend a 4plex as opposed to any other number? Is 5 the maximum for house hacking with an FHA loan?

@Paul Timmins thank you for all the advice, Paul! I will be sure to continue my education with the recourses you suggested. My brother lives in Boston, MA as well. I actually manage a property for him here in Columbus. Regarding your statement about "not needing to own a property to control it," I assume you are talking about leasing/rent to own arrangements? I am certainly considering HUD homes. I have thought that student housing may also be a good option for me since I have been a renter within that market for the last 4 years.

Hello,

I am a mechanical engineering student at Ohio State University, planning on entering a Masters in accounting program after I graduate next spring. I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and have decided that I want real estate to be my first step in that direction. I hope to one day be financially independent, so that working a normal job is only an option, not a necessity. I plan to begin my process using capital accumulated through my engineering internship. Although this is not a huge amount, it is enough to begin investing with low money down. I will probably begin the process by looking for duplex's in Columbus Ohio for investment. Any leads with respect to this goal would be greatly appreciated!