All Forum Posts by: Manny Vasquez

Your mortgage lender may require you to file both 2022 and 20203 before extending a mortgage to you.   If this was your first year getting a 1099, then there might be a small chance that you could get away with just this year's 1099.....HOWEVER, since you have been 1099'd for 2 years now, then the mortgage lender may request tax returns before extending a mortgage.  Maybe a work-around could be showing "bank statements" that go back 2 years that corroborate your 1099 earnings?  Ask your mortgage-lender if there are any "work arounds".

Brandon - Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Keep saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle. It could be any side-hustle you want just as long as you like it and your able to save some extra $$$.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack. This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

5. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?

6. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup. Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings. I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings. As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

7. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

8. Take Action! None of the above works unless you take action and put it into practice. Don't wait for the perfect deal to come up, the most important thing is to get started. Just like everything else in life, get started, keep honing those skills (i.e. keep reading, keep learning, keep attending the meetups) and watch yourself get better and better witch each property you buy.

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

Joseph - Welcome to the BP community! This is the best place for all things real estate related. This is what I recommend for you to get started in your real estate journey:

1. Keep saving as much as you can. Depending how much you earn you can step up those savings by getting a side-hustle. It could be any side-hustle you want just as long as you like it and your able to save some extra $$$.

2. Read as many RE books as you can get your hands on. Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner. This will give you a good starting point.

3. Buy a property as soon as you can. The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future. Almost everyone here on BP will tell you that they wish they had started earlier, myself included.

4. House-hack, house-hack, house-hack. This will give you several benefits. The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms. You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property. House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience. This will come in handy as you begin to scale.

5. Decide which game you want to play. Do you want to be a house flipper? BRRRR? General Contractor? Buy and Hold? Do you want to LTR, MTR, or STR? Or maybe you want to do a combination of the above?  There is no right or wrong answer.  What matters is what best meets your goals and lifestyle.

6. Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can. You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing. You might also meet someone that could be a potential business partner. Or you could buy a property from another person at the meetup. Keep an open mind and try to meet everyone at these meetings. I've developed some great relationships and also a business partner from these meetings. As they say, your network will be your net-worth.

7. Timing the market does not work. However, time in the market makes all the difference in the world!

8. Take Action! None of the above works unless you take action and put it into practice. Don't wait for the perfect deal to come up, the most important thing is to get started. Just like everything else in life, get started, keep honing those skills (i.e. keep reading, keep learning, keep attending the meetups) and watch yourself get better and better witch each property you buy.

I hope this helps and good luck on your real estate journey!

If you are sitting on the "fence" waiting to purchase a property because you don't know which candidate will get elected or which "political party" will be more favorable to your purchasing decision, consider the graphs provided below.  This should hopefully motivate you to get you off your seat and buy that property that you have coveted.  The only 2 times that Home Sales have gone down were waaaay back in the election years of 1980 and the election year of 1988

Furthermore, Home Prices (not to be confused with Home Sales) have also gone up 7 of the last 8 Presidential Elections.  The only time they went down was during/after the Great Recession of 2008.

Both of graphs above show that it doesn't matter which political party get elected.  Now if we take into consideration the recent cut in the Federal Funds rate and rhetoric that there is a possibility of 2 more rate cuts before the end of the year, what are you waiting for to buy your next (or first) property???????

@Tom T. - Absolutely!  I had forgotten about that!

@Dustin Tucker - I would say that half of that statement is true because it depends on the time period when you buy.  Hear me out: If you are a Seller, you definitely want to sell when everyone is buying.  Think of the years 2020-2022.  Buyers were buying at break-neck speed and overbidding on properties.  It was crazy.  I personally wrote up offers on behalf of my clients with $150K over-asking price in Orange County, Ca.  

However as a seller, Selling your home in the years 2008-2012 was not good due to the glut of homes on the market because of so many bank foreclosures.  However, many buyers got some very good deals during this time.

I would say that Buyers beware if its a "feeding frenzy" because they may be overpaying or giving up too much on the deal.

For those of you trying to “Time the Market” or trying to figure out the “Perfect Time to Buy”, either because you believe home prices will drop or because interest rates will drop (which they will in the very near future), I have a scenario for you.

Consider these two scenarios, in both cases you have the EXACT SAME Principal & Interest Payment

1. 1. You have a higher purchase price but lower interest rate.
2. 2. You have a lower purchase price but higher interest rate

Personally, I will ALWAYS take option #2 for several reasons:

1. 1. You can always refinance the rate, but you can’t refinance the price. This is in-line with the wise old real estate adage of “Marry the house, date the rate.”
2. 2. As we have witnessed in the past, specifically the years of 2020-2022, when rates dropped, everyone jumps in to buy a house, which drives up competition, which in turn makes housing prices go WAY UP to the point that people OVERBID on properties. (Hint-Hint: If you are waiting to buy, get off your seat!  Go buy now before rates drop and the buying frenzy jumps in!)
3. 3. Your insurance and property taxes will be set according to your purchase price. Having a lower purchase price will result in lower insurance rates and property taxes.

What do you think? Which option would you choose and why?

If you take your name off of the deed, it will not affect your credit score.  However, most everyone here will advise you to NOT take your name off the deed if you will still be on the mortgage. 

Regarding purchasing another house down the road....the "new" bank will want to know what is going on with a mortgage showing up on your credit report. It will definitely be a hit against your DTI numbers. One work around this problem would be to request your Ex to provide you with a payment history of the mortgage payments she has made (i.e. cancelled checks, bank statements showing the payments have been sent, etc.). This usually does the trick. However, it will ultimately be up to the bank (and the underwriter) to determine if they allow this. If they don't then try to find a bank that will allow this work around.

If by real estate industry you mean the new MLS laws that went into effect for all Realtors this past August 17th......my take is business as usual. There will be some more disclosures to sign and maybe an extra step in the negotiation process, but it will be business as usual. Commissions, concessions or compensation, however people want to call it will get paid to listing agents an buyer's agents.

I have been in the Real Estate game for over 20+ years as a licensed professional.  I have been involved with many, many transactions during this time and I can assure you that every single deal, whether I've represented a Seller or Buyer or myself, has been different than the pervious. 

The reason I come to the Bigger is to:

1. Spread the knowledge that I have gained in my 20+ years but most importantly....

2. Learn new strategies, new laws, creative ways of financing, and to gain new, different, and creative ways of buying / selling/ and owning. 

The more I learn and the more I know about Real Estate....the more I realize there is to learn!