All Forum Posts by: Nicole Parnell

@Michael Giaquinto, in addition to what everyone else said, you can use FHA multiple times as long as it's owner occupied.

@Breelon Bryant

I said the same thing. It just doesn't make sense unless you have a lot of your personal money to begin with. I don't care how many times it is explained to me. Just seems like a mountain of debt.

@Pete Storseth

Maybe it's just me, but I can't wrap my mind around the brrrr method. It just all seems like a trap or meant for someone with a lot of income. If you have one property that has a mortgage, then you refinance and rent it out to purchase another property, lenders will only use a percentage of your rental property as income. Your dti increases tremendously. The left over cash from refinance will be just enough to rehap or put as a down payment on a property, not to buy AND rehab. I don't like debt in general. People on here seem to do it well, but their income from employment must be high. This is just me being realistic until I get enough disposable income.

I used 203k to purchase my first home. My year is coming up, and I plan to list home for sale in 2 months. I want to get the house exterior painted. I got one quote from a contractor. Two said they need to come view it first but will call back. That was 4 days ago and no call back. Have anyone ever used day laborers from a store like Lowe's or Home Depot? I know the risk are that they aren't insured.

@Pete Storseth

No I didn't. I have 3 kids and didn't want strangers in my home. It's a 4 bedroom, 2 full baths, garage, 2k sq ft. I think it would have been the ideal home to househack in. I wish I was able to. My mortgage is $988 monthly. I could have easily got that back plus more in house hacking. Everyone loves Nola.

@Pete Storseth

I had put $3200 down on a $130k house. It requires 3.5%. If you do the math, you'll see that's a lot less than 3.5%. Your problem is in your research. I have Chase and Capital One and no, they don't do 203k loans. I digged and found the FHA 203k website (hud.gov). Google something along the lines of "FHA 203k lenders in my area." Along with a bunch of advertisements, that website should pull up in the punch. Type in your specifics to get a list of lenders. Everything I do is online. I didnt meet my lender until it was the day of the closing. Gone are the days you meet with people face to face before a deal.

I don't know too much about house hacking. You need to find a way to get in the door. It's not going to happen with you meeting with bankers. Also everyone says that hard money lenders want about 25% down. I did research that some will take as little as 10% down.

You don't necessarily have to do the 203k loan, as I know it will be a headache. You can get a regular FHA loan. It's only 3.5 % down. I have heard of the down payment assistance programs. I tried to get that, but didn't qualify at the time the program had funds available in my area. I live in New Orleans, and they only get funding like every 4 years or so. Once it becomes available, the funds are gone within 3 months from so many qualified applicants. I didn't qualify because my debt to income was over 33% at the time.

@Pete Storseth

I love your ambition. I'm a single mom of 3, and I don't make that much more than you. I got into real estate investing by using 203k. Sure it was stressful but well worth it. You must be an owner occupied for a full year. Within the next 2 months, I'm putting my house on the market. I'm looking at a $40k profit. I'm taking that money to use as a down payment to buy a house as an investor and really get into flipping. Basically all I'm saying is that you don't have to make 6 figures like everyone on here. Get creative. Everyone tells me to get a better paying job like it's that darn easy (insert eyeroll).

@Stephan Kraus 🤯. I get it. I really do. You're very smart and obviously have already made your mind up by knowing all the figures and scenarios. Follow your gut on this one. There has been ideas that I tried to get other people to understand, yet they couldn't see it from my perspective. Just sleep on it, ponder on it, then make your own decision. People tend to only see the now. No one really calculates the interest. The interest alone should make you walk away from a deal.

 Thanks for your reply; it puts me at ease. I am definitely NOT a high earner, so your right. I should focus on my exit strategy and starting my business on flipping properties. I'll eventually get a CPA and let them sort it all out. I'm a single mom of 3, so after carrying dependants, I'm sure there wouldn't be much of a tax bill. 

 You know what? You are definitely right. I am worried about the wrong thing. I didn't realize that it's not a clear cut answer. I also didn't realize that it's possible I won't have any taxable gain. So thank you for response! I'm going to get professional help.