All Forum Posts by: Michael Bacile

@Eric Veronica I appreciate it, I should stop listening to the Nay sayers and keep my REI goals where they belong lol. I've learned a lot here. How much does the lender care when you go from above 740 to below with mortgage loan inquiries? I own everything else so I have no reason to go for any other loans.

@Stephanie Medellin good to hear, I’ve got room on my score.

My first try was a foreclosure that was “inhabitable” based on 1 thing, the roof. I work in construction so I crawled all over that roof inside and out without seeing any major issues making it unlivable. The seller said it was built out of code but structurally it was fine. It kinda made me laugh. I won’t be chasing foreclosures again until I have cash 

Hey BP, I’ve took the step to get pre-qualified and start looking for my first live-in rental remodeled to use as my first investment. My current rental lease is up in October so I have a 8 month window. The lender I was working with at my local bank was great at responding and giving info up front but now seems impossible to contact. I have 3 days to shop around before I’m out of time on the hard pulls on my credit. I was hoping to do a fha 30/yr that way I’d have money left for a cushion and some to start the remodel. I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that I have almost no options on the market with that strategy in my area. 

My question is should I take the 3 days to shop a new lender and keep scanning the mls for a fixer or continue to save so I can have a better down payment and open up more options that way. I’ve been looking into the brrrr strategy but don’t think I’ll be competent enough to pull that off with my first investment. 

Hello again BP, I just recently found that the foreclosure I’ve been watching dropped into my price range. I contacted my “stand by” realtor to take my first steps. Through my local bank I sat down with the lender and asked a lot of stupid questions along with playing with numbers. I found that I didn’t have near enough money.

The lender stated that the foreclosure I was looking st required a 3.5% down payment plus around 6% closing! I knew the down payment was a firm 3.5 but completely forgot that I was chasing a foreclosure meaning I had to pay all closing costs too. Any advice or chasing the foreclosure? Being my first investment would it be wise to just stick with the MLS and find a seller to maybe take some of the burden away from the closing costs?

@Ned Carey I didn’t think about comparing the price per sqft. Thanks for the advice!

I’ve got a question about a local “abandoned” property in my home town. BACKSTORY: I’m 26 years old and I have fond memories of riding my bike around this home and looking in the windows thinking about camping out in there when I was young. It’s been uninhabited since I can remember. Easily 15+ years. 

HOME INFO: The home is 1935 built and smaller than 75% of the homes around it. It’s a 2/1 670 +\- sqft and for the most part the other homes are around 1000-1300sqft. Its got twice the lot size than most around it. It’s a wood framed home, on a nice road in a desirable neighborhood, the foundation looks okay and the roof has one sagging corner that isn’t the worse I’ve seen. Someone boarded up the windows a couple years ago and it’s finally being mowed as of a couple weeks ago. I looked on sites like Zillow and there is nothing really listed about the home. I also did a basic public search on the web with hardly any info. If i can find the owner to see if they are willing to let it go for cheap I’d love to have it. Im fully aware that it could be a can of worms. 

QUESTIONS: how can I get a ARV number when there aren't many homes like it around?

If you were interested in a home like this how would you go about finding the owner and some purchase steps with it being a buy owner situation? 

Im not necessarily looking to flip this home or anything. I’d like to just purchase it and fix it over time if the price is right, I’ve got a niece that is 13 with a hard life moving around with her mom at a whim. It would be a deep gratification to fix it up and Have a stable place for her to rent and start her adult life.

@Derek Diamond Okay great! Thanks for the reply.

@David Baier Oh okay, Good to know! I will be contacting you 

Hey guys, I’m back with another burning question.

I’m over a year out from having the funds for my first investment. That’s not stopping me from running numbers though. I know I could contact realtors about this but I’m not sure if it’s worth their time. 

If I’m looking to buy locally or out of state could I just use a site like realtor to get market rates? I look at multis in the buying page then flip over to the rent page and look at going rates, Reno’s, location and sqft of similar properties. That’s how I’ve been getting my numbers to plug in. Or should I start contacting realtors for the next year to get the real numbers?

I’m in the same boat man. I’ve been saving to get out of the rental rut. I’d much rather spend money on my own mortgage. That being said I’ve been running numbers and doing my own financial budgeting, it would take me 4 years to save enough for a 20% deposit and have enough for rehab with a cushion after it’s all said and done in my market.(I hope your opportunity is better where you are!) I’m paying 980/mo for a 2/1. At this point I’m fully accepting that there’s a high chance I’ll have to be in a small multi family and have to take a loss on my first investment up front. My goal is to be paying <500/mo out of pocket worse case. I’ll still be building equity with the help of a tenant, I’ll have my foot in the door and I’ll be saving 480/mo compared to my current circumstance. Shoot for gaining cash flow on the property after you move out and move onto your next investment. Best of luck!