All Forum Posts by: Josh Engelhart

A big part of me is nervous as I also search daily putting my money and effort into the best deals I can find while we may be approaching the top of the market. 

The part that calms me down thinks that this could all be organic growth due to all of the positive market forces going on right now and that prices will continue to go higher naturally. I'm also laying the groundwork so that if there is a market downturn I'm ready to take advantage of it with my own funds and the network of people behind me that like what I'm doing right now.

I'd say go for it man! I just looked through other listings near Urbana (which are limited) and it looks good. There's only one other place for rent in town and it's a small 2 bed 1 bath for $585. I'd try to get $700 per month for it. It's a small town so you'll likely have longer vacancies, but they will probably stay a lot longer.

It starts from scratch. When you do a refinance for a house or a car the terms will be brand new. It will have a new interest rate. You can choose a longer or shorter term. You might be able to use equity and take cash out.  You will likely pay some kind of closing costs.

If you buy right and the new loan is a good loan it's worth the cost and starting the term over.

How much more or less would you pay for AC? I could see $50 or $100 less per month. Now is definitely the worst time to try and lease out a house with no AC. It might not even get noticed in December. It's definitely not a deal breaker for all tenants and fans/ window are an easy alternative. You could even offer a window unit as a lease signing bonus.

From research I've seen you cut your potential renter pool in half if you don't allow pets. I would definitely charge more if you do and think carefully about the condition of the house. Best case scenario your unit gets a lot dirtier and you make a little more in rent. Worst case scenario you get serious damage or a lawsuit from a bite.

I personally look at it on a case by case basis.

@Nicole Heasley Beitenman If you are looking to purchase a single family home as a primary residence you can get away with as little as 3% down. Multi unit properties are a different story. The low down payment multi unit primary residence options are either FHA with 3.5% or HomePossible/ HomeReady with 5% down. Based on the situation as you've described it, none of those options will currently work with the next purchase. The freddie mac home possible and fannie mae home ready programs require that you aren't on title to any other real estate. FHA will likely have an issue because you currently have an FHA loan unless you can prove additional extenuating circumstances and it sounds like that won't be the case.

Getting your dad to assume the FHA loan would have a lot of additional complexities. They will likely want to see him move into and take title to the house in order to make that work.

If you are only looking at multi units the best path I see/ know of based on your current position is a 15% down payment on a Fannie Mae conventional loan which will max out at 2 units. It is possible a local bank, credit union, or portfolio lender has another option.

It's never too early to start talking to lenders. Knowing your financing options ahead of time is probably the most important piece of structuring your next deal.

Just did a bit more digging. It looks like sale prices are not required to be disclosed in Idaho.

The only 2 I quickly found with prices recorded within a few blocks of you are 5275 W Madison which sold for $276,500 on 7/8/2016 and 32886 N 16th Ave which sold for $250,000 on 6/20/2016. Granted those both look smaller and sold 2 years ago, but would support a value closer to $266k than $390k. You need to show better comps.

It sounds like you got what you paid for with the free appraisal. They have to give you the appraisal report which would list the comparable sales the appraiser used and the math behind it. You could contest it by providing the $350k comps you are talking about.

You can pay for the full appraisal or you can also pick a different bank which will order it's own appraisal.

On the new home you can do 15% down on an owner occupied duplex. If you didn't own any property or have a current FHA loan you could do either a new 3.5% down FHA loan or a 5% down home possible loan on a 2 - 4 unit. Your current situation prevents that.

I'm with @Chris Svendsen. Drop that agent. If your agent won't do what you need go just another one. There are thousands of them.

Subjective and everyone has their own definition. For me:

A = Best places downtown and best suburban neighborhoods with the best schools.

B = Still places people want to live. Good schools, nice houses, just not quite as nice or expensive as A properties.

C = More working class areas. More renters in these neighborhoods. Likely not the best schools.

D = Lots of boarded up houses, drugs, crime. When walking down the street you stick out like a sore thumb and the first person that sees you walks up to you trying to hustle you for money, borrow your phone, etc.