All Forum Posts by: Joe Kessler

Thanks Chris!

Hi all,

I'm trying to wrap my head around what to do with my current primary mortgage.  My wife and I have decided to pay down some debt while real estate prices around us continue to skyrocket and good deals remain so few and far between in our area.  I would think that, by the end of this year, we will owe around $75k on our home currently valued at around $350k.  Our current mortgage payment is around $1275.   If we refinance, I think I can get our payment down to around $400 per month, at which point the average monthly cashflow from our existing rental can take care of our primary mortgage and we'll have virtually no house payment (except for taxes and insurance).  

My question is, assuming we are not willing to fork over an additional 75k to close the mortgage out, do lenders offer refinanced mortgage packages for such a small amount of loan to value?   Also, is there cheaper money out there since the amount we'd be seeking (75k) is within the realm of some consumer loans? 

Thanks in advance for any insights. 

Thanks Greg!  I have an actual contract to back our handshake, so we're all set on that front, and I don't think the seller would object to us signing a tenant.  The only concern is we get a rental contract in place with a tenant and for some unforeseen circumstance the deal falls apart at the last second and we don't close.  In that scenario, could I just refund the deposit and walk away from the rental contract, or could there be penalties for breeching the rental contract before it starts?

Hi there,

We just did our first deal to buy a townhome in our area at well below market value from a family friend.  Basically, they had bought the property for cash about three years ago as a place for their daughter to stay as she got her career off the ground.  Now that we are under contract, they have generously allowed us access to the property for about a month before closing - even giving us a key - in order to show to prospective tenants and do cleaning, small improvements, etc...  The wisdom of such an arrangement aside, my question concerns establishing a rental contract for a property you don't legally own yet:

If we close on the property on December 1st but have access to the property all through the month of November, can we have a signed rental contract to start on that date (or just thereafter) - even if the rental contract is signed before we actually own the property?  This seems like a dumb question, I know, I'm just looking for any way to leverage this situation to our advantage, other than just getting an opportunity to do marketing / open house for renters prior to being responsible for the holding costs, etc?