All Forum Posts by: Justin Pumpr

Hey all,

I've looked around a bit for this, but nothing quite answers my exact question. I'd like to do a cash out refinance on my primary residence for 2 reasons: 1) to free up equity to buy another property and 2) to remove PMI on my loan

I have $535,000 left on my balance and I'm hoping my house will appraise to at least $675,000 which would put me just below the required 80% LTV mark, so I can refinance without cashing out and also get rid of the PMI.

Questions:

1) Would I be able to cash out $100k of the equity? Or can I only cash out whatever the amount is that would take me to 85% LTV; I have an FHA loan, so 85% is the limit, but I'm not sure if that means you have to be below that limit before you can cash out, or not.

2) If I can cash out $100k which would put me above 80% LTV, would I have to keep PMI?

3) Do HELOC loans have similar restraints on LTV?

Thanks all!

I do have all of that yeah. But what if they DO all meet the requirements? Plus "only" 7 is still a lot of people for a small house with 1 bathroom. Also, I thought it was 2+1 for each bedroom?

They are all related yeah. It's siblings and cousins I think. I've tried looking at the HUD and Fair Housing Act sites, but they are miserable to navigate around. Any other sites that I've found online point to the 2+1 rule for California.

@Karen Davis It would be great if it was my choice, but is it really when the grounds for discrimination are so vague? I don't want 3 couples + children living in the property, but if all of their background checks out and I reject them because of the size of their family then surely that's discrimination??

Does anybody know what the max number of occupants per bedroom is in Alameda County, California?

I've read that the 2+1 rule is unwritten law, but it seems like that's not a hard law anywhere.

I have a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom property and had an applicant that wants to move in with 6 adults total and two children. To me, this seems like way to many people for a 1 bathroom place and even for a 3 bedroom. The total square footage is around 1100.

Anybody have any advice on this?

Also, can I confirm that the 3x the rent, is that before tax, or after tax? 3x my rent take home (after tax) is $6,600 a month which is about $132,000 a year which is a ridiculous amount of money to ask of somebody. Surely it's 3x the pre-tax amount?

@Nathan Miller My ad does state all of my requirements and the process, yet people still send the inquiry email and then don't respond to my screening email after. I guess people just don't read the whole ad....

Great input as always guys! Seems like my drop-off rate is pretty common and that's probably down to the rental requirements. I'll look into tweaking my wording a bit. Like most of you have mentioned, those that are willing to respond are probably the type of tenants I want anyway and vice-a-versa the ones that don't aren't.

@Michael Noto I'm sure the phone screens can have a better rate, I just haven't had time to deal with those. I had to turn off my number because it was getting so crazy. Plus, a lot of those that I have screened via phone have all failed the screen anyway, so I'm really looking for the more savvy tenant. I do at least personalise my screening email with their name, so it's not completely canned.

I've got a few more viewings this evening, so hopefully things will work out!

Also, at what point do I ask for proof of income? I use mysmartmove.com for the application, but I don't believe that asks for proof of income, it only ask for what their income is. 

Hi all,

I've recently posted my ad online to which I'm getting a lot of interest. However, when I send out my screening response I'm seeing a huge fall off.

The process is:

• Receive an inquiry via Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, or Hotpads
• Respond with my screening question
• If they meet the requirements then I setup a viewing

All communication is done via email at this point, as I  was receiving at least 10 calls a day and don't have time to answer every one.

This is my screening email:

Hi APPLICANT NAME and thanks for your interest!

I'd love to arrange a viewing for the property, but before can you answer these few questions first, so I can make sure you're a good fit:

1. Why are you looking to move to this property/neighbourhood?
2. When do you plan on moving in?
3. What is the combined income of all adults in your household? The minimum gross income requirement is $5,625/month.
4. Can I ask for references from your previous landlords? This will be done during the official application process
5. Are you ok with me performing a background and credit report check during the application? This will be done for each adult 18 and over ($35 fee per person)

Once I've received these details back and assuming everything is ok we can proceed with arranging a viewing.

Thanks!

Justin

Does anybody see any issues with any of this, or is the falloff I'm experience pretty common (i'd say for every 10 inquiries I get, I receive one response to my screening email)?

Thought I'd update. I ended up going with an Ikea laminate countertop. They have the butcher block look and only cost just over $200 for 2x9' pieces. They seem pretty durable and were much easier than granite to install. Hopefully they wear well!

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like laminate could be the way to go. I found a place that I can get some clearance granite for a reasonable price, but installing seems to be more expensive. I was also unsure about granite because we have terracotta tiles which I won't be changing and the butcher block seemed to compliment that well. I was also leaning towards butcher block because I thought I could install it myself whereas I don't feel as comfortable with granite. $600 to install a counter seems high and that's about what I've been quoted.

@Gerald Demers I will be refinishing the cabinets properly. White finish with some new hardware. Undecided on the backsplash at the minute, but if I can keep the costs down then I will.