All Forum Posts by: Lynn McGeein

Our first and only flip: we bought a foreclosure, closed on a Tuesday, on Friday a lady knocked on the door while we were painting (we put a FSBO sign in the yard day of closing), said her moving van is on the way from out of state, her house purchase fell through, she'll pay all cash and could we have it finished and closed by the next Friday? We did. Didn't make a mint, only cleared about $10,000 on a $70,000 investment after all was said and done as we took less than we were planning to due to the cash offer. It taught us a lot about potential holding costs, surprise repairs (luckily, minor ones), and other things all without learning the hard way. We decided to stick with rentals after that.

Renae, I tried the real estate agent route a while ago, like 15 years past, so not sure this is still the way it's done, but have you spoken regularly with your broker? Being new, I joined a large firm just so I could get help as generating new business is hard with no experience. My broker had access to potential listings and buyers, referrals from out-of-state, listings from agents who left the business or transferred and couldn't take the listing with them, etc. While the good ones always seemed to go to the experienced agents, my first 2 or 3 sales were off the bottom of the barrel of her referral pile.

Are there ethical real estate agents? Yes. I have worked with several. But in my experience they are very few and very hard to find. The dishonest, or more accurately termed "ethically-challenged," ones are much more common. I go into any transaction assuming both the buyer agent and the selling agent are in it for themselves and their commission, even if they are supposed to be representing me, and research like crazy to make sure I'm making the best deal I can make, not counting on their opinion or advice, especially about purchase price, multiple bids, or the phrase "... standard in a contract". I refuse to sign any buyer broker contract unless it is at time of contract and property specific only with no added fees, and the really good agents I've worked with are happy to do that.

Sounds like that's what you've come up with on your own, but wanted you to know there are many of us out there dealing with that problem.

Thanks! Learning financing is more of an art than a science. Who knew?

Nice! Good luck and hope it goes smoothly.

Anyone here know Homepath loan rules regarding owner-occupied when you already have income properties & 4 mortgages?

We recently moved for work, and want to purchase a Homepath Property to have the low 3% Owner Occupied downpayment so we can keep our savings to buy a waterfront home in the future. Just read that if you have more than 4 mortgages already, which we do, that you can't get the owner-occupied downpayment loan. It also said if you have more than 4 mortgages that you will be required to pay 25% downpayment even for a Homepath loan, even if owner-occupying it. This appeared to be an old document still online, so not sure if accurate.

We are actually wanting to owner-occupy, we are renting here and would love to move into our own place, especially as it's cheaper and I'd rather pay myself than another apartment complex, so does anyone know if we are okay with the owner-occupied 3% down Homepath financing or do we need to look for an alternative? And even if the owner-occupied downpayment doesn't work, do we need a full 25% down as we already have 4 mortgages, or will they accept the investor 10% downpayment on an owner-occupied situation?

Our lender is great at helping us, but told us to expect hoops to jump through and I don't want to get too far into this just to find out it's not 3% down, it's really 25% and it all falls apart.

If anyone out there knows current Homepath financing issues regarding this or a link where I can read the full guidelines myself, I'd really appreciate a reply.

Allstate just informed me last year that my 3 landlord policies with them will not be renewed as I do not have car insurance through them. Luckily, USAA changed their policies and can take all 5 of my rentals, but this is a great topic as I need to know what to do now that I've reached my USAA limit.

And I actually have earthquake insurance on my east coast properties, believe it or not. It's only like $20 more. The recent earthquake in Virginia didn't do any damage to mine, but I felt better knowing I had it then.

My insurance guys just told me that having $300,000 minimum liability on all policies (landlord, homeowners, auto, etc.), then having the umbrella in place should work fine.

Just wanted to pass on that Navy Federal has a Homebuyers Choice option, 0% downpayment, really 0%, no PMI, but higher interest rate and 1.75% funding fee (and sellers can contribute up to 6%!), but only if you have less than 4 mortgages and will owner-occupy it.

Just thought for those of you starting out and thinking of buying one to live in for a year or two then turn into a rental or sell later, this is a wonderful option. I have an account with them and ran into it on their website. Called and spoke to them as I thought WOW, but turns out they don't lend to anyone who already has 4 mortgages, even if it was for a house I was looking to buy and owner-occupy.

If this is seen as advertising or not allowed, sorry in advance, but I haven't seen a real life 0% down payment in quite a while, and Navy Federal is reputable, so thought those of you starting out would benefit from knowing there is actually one out there. I don't work there and don't know anyone who does, not pushing the company, just amazed at finding a 0% down option in this market and thought someone should benefit from it.