All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@David Marshall

Thank you for your advice on Sebonic Financial in another thread a few days ago.  They seem to always appear near the top of any list of lenders Zillow and Trulia populate and, on your advice, they will be one of the online lenders I pursue, if my situation dictates such.

Hello BP.

Does anyone know of any reputable mortgage brokers in the Baltimore area that I could pursue financing options with for my first property?  This will be my first time purchasing a home/property as well as my first investment property.

On a more general note, has anyone had any experience with using an online lender as an investor?  From what my research tells me, most online lenders seem to be a few points lower in interest rate (and seemingly lower in the # of fees as well) but admittedly, I have only done basic searches for online lenders on sites like zillow and trulia and have NOT actually gone completely through the qualification process and/or received any GFEs yet.

Since my credit score is "good" but still hanging on my pre-home purchase credit score criteria, I don't want to move on requesting actual quotes / qualification matters until I have a list of lenders/brokers I want to pursue first.  Once I know exactly who I am going to pursue, I will do them all at once so that the "hard" credit inquiries they all run show up w/in 14 days of each other to minimize the credit hit I will take.

Any advice on lending, both local and general, would be much appreciated!

Thank you David for the info about NHF's loan DP assistance.  I have seen them in my research but I am not sure I am BELOW the maximum income requirement.  I may be ALONE without my wife's income but I am not sure that would apply because her name would be on the property's title but I have heard of this sort of thing happening for buyers Pre-Housing bubble ~10 years ago (one income earner seeking a mortgage WITHOUT the other spouse's income).  

I will definitely look for a mortgage broker that can give me further guidance on NHF's program.

We will probably be seeking an FHA loan to put down below the 20% = probably 10% is all we'll be able to afford (assuming 200-300K price range for the property) in order to keep some form of maintenance / repair slush funds available to get started with so we shall see I suppose. Once I know our financing options (ie. monthly debt servicing overhead), I can really double down on my prospecting efforts.

@Joseph Norman, I am mainly interested in buying and holding of rental properties.  I think house flipping is something I could be interested in later down the road but, for right now and for the foreseeable future, I would like to make rental properties my niche.  

I think I have decided a 2/3/4-plex multi-family property would be best for our first property (both as investors and as home owners).  This way, we can get some property management and home ownership experience in our first property and once we feel we have a handle on the one property, we can add another and another.  Also, we could use the extra cash flow to save for our next down payment for our next property.

With respect to finding financing options for our first property, does anybody suggest a specific route to go?  I have seen many online ads for mortgage lenders with seemingly better interest rates than I have found while inquiring around at local banks and credit unions.  Do any other investors use online mortgage lenders or do you find a local broker and use them for all your conventional financing pursuits?  I don't have a RE agent of choice yet in the Baltimore area either ..... but one step at a time I suppose.

@ Ned Carey, Regarding neighborhoods, I have been spending more and more time in the neighborhoods surrounding Johns Hopkins main campus (Hampden, Waverly, etc.) and I am probably going to start concentrating on one of these neighborhoods soon.

@Charles Parrish, thank you for the pointers about Baltimore and investing in general. I know I still have quite a bit of knowledge to learn before I make any deals so every little bit of insight helps. Ive been finding properties on various internet sites and analyzing their cash flow possibilites (along with finding my "deal making offer / numbers") as often as I can while working my day job and I have noticed that Baltimore is a strange market, from what little I have learned so far. Very much a"block to block" city, with respect to "niceness." Since my wife works in the city near Hampden, we will probably concentrate our research efforts on the north side of the city.

I am still in the air with whether I want to pursue the city or some area in Baltimore County for my first property. Since it will be our first property, it will have to take some formI have found some great threads on BP about Baltimore and Im also planning on attending one of the local REI group meetings whenever I can fit it into my work travel schedule. BP's webinars and podcasts have been fantastic so far and I have 3 more already saved on my laptop to listen to while traveling.

Hello everyone

My name is Matthew and I am an aspiring real estate investor looking to purchase my first investment property in the Baltimore metro area.  I have lived in the Baltimore area for a year and 1/2 and after finally "dropping some roots" in the Baltimore area, I am eager take the plunge into real estate investing in my adopted new home.

After saving up some investment capital, I am finally in a position to start prospecting and seeking lending opportunities.  From there, I am not 100% clear as to the next step to take in this journey however, while figuring that out, I am reading books and blog after blog written by successful investors to gain as much knowledge as I can.

At the advice of Gary Keller's "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" and numerous other real estate blogs, I know I will eventually just have cast my fears aside and take the dive and close my first deal but, as a new member on BiggerPockets, I am here to learn as much as I can about investing and about my market along the way.

I look forward to engaging with and learning from the community here and developing my professional network along my journey into real estate investing.