All Forum Posts by: Matt Mayo

My aunt asked me to check out this company, Equity & Help http://www.equityandhelp.com/en/home/ Anyone ever heard of them, or better yet worked with them? Would love some feedback Thanks!

The appraisal shouldn’t be more than $600. Also, the lender doesn’t select the appraiser, just the Appraisal Management Company (AMC). If your current balance is in the low $380,000s, it sounds like you have far more than enough equity to get rid of your PMI. 80% of $540k is about $403k, so if you’re under that, you should be fine. Are they trying to talk you into doing a full refinance or just the appraisal? Depending on your current rate, it might be worth it to look into doing a full refinance, as you could save on the PMI, and potentially on the P&I as well.

Appraisal is the only thing that they should be paying upfront, other than your earnest money deposit. Rates have increased a good deal since back in December. Any reason you’re opting for an FHA loan even though you’re putting down 20%?

Hi @Dan Ruzicka , 

I know I'm a few days late for that 1/31 deadline, but I wanted to see if this property was still available. I'm also interested to hear about the others that you have available as well. 

Thanks!

Hi Lee,

Congrats on getting ready to make your first move into real estate! I think your first move would be to assess where you are financially, and determine how much you'll qualify for (down payment and your debt to income ratio are going to be the main factors on what kind of move you can make and where).

Once you have an idea of how much you can spend, then you can start looking at properties in your price range.

If you can swing it, getting a 3-4 unit property and living in one of the units is a great way to maximize your investment, while still being able to take advantage of the rates for a personal mortgage (owner-occupied, primary residence).

Feel free to reach out, and I can answer any questions you have in more detail if you'd like!

3.375%+.85% = 4.225%, so you’re actually paying a lower effective rate right now with the FHA loan. 3.375 is a great rate for an FHA loan. $250k in value is going to put right on the dot at 80% LTV, and in my experience, borrowers tend to over estimate the value of their house. Appraisers look at value at lot differently than real estate agents/buyers/homeowners. Also, you have to consider closing costs/fees. You probably aren’t going to get much lender credit at a 4.25% interest rate, so those costs/fees will either have to come out of pocket, or be tacked onto the loan (eating into that equity). Any monthly savings that you will get, will come from extending that term back out to 30 years, as well as the additional interest that you can write off on your taxes. Without seeing more specifics, I’m going to venture to say that the savings you’ll get from going to 4.25% probably won’t be worth the hassle or costs. Feel free to reach out if you’d like though, and I can go over the numbers with you in more detail or answer any questions you have.

You would have to use a loan specifically for that purpose. I recommend looking into a 203(k) loan. Depending on how much/what needs to be done, there is a standard 203(k) [serious renovation] and a limited or streamlined 203(k) [minor renovations up to $35k] Here is a link to more info on the HUD website https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/WB_FHA203K_09-24-14_REV.PDF

No right answer here, just depends on what you want out of it. I’m assuming you probably have pretty decent credit as well, which makes conventional an option. You’re just going to have to balance out monthly payment, fees, and how much cash you want to leave yourself to play with after the down payment/closing costs. You can go as low as 3% down, and you’re still going to be in a high balance loan, so the main difference there is going to be that the lender credit/interest rate will improve the more you put down. I wouldn’t go less than 5% though. In this increasing interest rate environment, it might be best to take as low of a rate as you can get now(more down), because it might not be there to refinance to in the next few years. Also, you might want to play with your DTI once you’ve included your new mortgage payment, to see if it’s even feasible to qualify for another payment on another property. Putting down the full 20% will save you on the mortgage insurance, but will leave you a little less liquid. If you do think you’ll qualify for another property, you can always look into a heloc on your primary, which would open up some cash for you to play with. A lot to think about, and a little difficult to cover all possibilities in a single post. Feel free to reach out if you have any more specific questions.

@Ron Biggs Have to echo what the other posters are saying...FHA is probably going to be your best bet. There are multiple state and local assistance programs as well, for down payment/closing cost assistance and affordability.

Virginia Homeownership Assistance

Hi Guys,

Only thing I can add is that FHA loan limits are higher for multifamily properties (2-4 units), so you're good there!

$636,150 is the limit for single units. 

Los Angeles County
Single	Duplex	Tri-plex	Four-plex
$636,150	$814,500	$984,525	$1,223,475