All Forum Posts by: Michael B.

My bathroom fan in my new house was vented to attic, caused mold on the attic ceiling during the first winter.  You may not have that issue in Florida though.  I got a roof vent kit from home depot that included hose and roof cap for less than $30, and it took all of 30 minutes to install.  Well worth my time to do it right.

I purchased a property this summer which we are going to live in for about a year. After I finish school this spring, we plan on moving again and renting out the current property. We purchased the property with a conventional loan and 5% down, 30 year, and a PMI obviously.

We are doing some significant updates and upgrades that will increase property value. I would like to refinance around the 6 month mark and get the PMI dropped and a better rate, while switching to a 15 year.

My question is.. are appraisals lower in the winter due to the obvious drop in demand because it is the winter?  Would it be better if I waited till next summer before I move out when the market is hopping again?  Obviously id like to catch the rates when they are low, rather than risking them going back up by next summer.

Great info, thanks guys.  Looks like I'll wait till the 6 month mark and shop for refinance lenders at that time.  I'm in no hurry to refinance other than trying to get it done before rates climb again.

Thank you Benjamin.  I thought that might be true as well but I did a Google Search and read that you can refinance immediately. I was hoping to get some unbiased opinions for my situation from professionals here rather than calling my mortgage company.

Questions about refinancing.

I moved into a property at the end of may this year.  The house was purchased for 130k, it appraised at 135k.  I got a conventional loan with 5% down, 30yr and took a 4.25% vs a 3.75% to receive about 2500 back in lender credits on my down payment.  I'm very green as far as mortgage tips and tricks as this is only my 2nd mortgage.

I'm currently updating parts of the house such as a full bathroom gut on the main floor, new water heater, softener, fuse panel, radon mitigation system, windows, paint, flooring etc.  When I got the house it was just overall tired and In need of someone to come in an do some maintenance. 

Goals

-Refinance soon-  I planned on going 15yr with the lowest interest rates I can get with a credit rating about 740- Yes I feel more comfortable getting stuff paid off quickly rather then having lots of 30yr loans

-Build 20% equity with improvements prior to refinance

-No more PMI !

-Turn the house into a short-term rental when I move out next spring/summer and finally have my first Investment property!

Questions- Mind you I'm very new

-Any problems refinancing this quickly? 

-80% equity enough for a refinance?- still owner occupied at the time of the refinance

-Does it have to be owner occupied for any length of time after the refinance?

Anything else you want to add I'm all ears.

In our area, walmart has a coin machine near the service counter, I believe it takes some kind of cut, but im not sure how much since Ive never used it.

Highly reccomend going with something laserjet.   I currently have a $150 samsung laserjet and love it.  Ive printed multiple reams of paper and im still on the starter toner.  Ill never go back to an ink printer.

I've been reading this site for some time now, preparing for the day I buy a property and I I've read some posts that I had questions about.

Some people say the charge the tenant "x" amount per service call for repairs such as broken appliances.

I also read a post where a landlord states in the lease that they provide working appliances at the time the tenant moves in and then the tenant is responsible for any repairs while the are in the unit.

I guess I'm surprised this is even possible, especially having the tenant responsible for repairs altogether.  I get the service fee, being a deterrent to tenants that call all the time about little things. 

 Can any of you walk me through this and explain how you can justify these fees and the legality of the fees.  And do you charge a service fee for any calls even if its just a natural breakdown of an item (ex: a dishwasher)  or only charge a service fee if its obvious misuse.

Depending on how long you need to pay this credit card off... another option people have discussed is the credit cards that offer you to deposit the balance transfer offer directly into their checking account. Currently I have a 10k limit on a citi card that allows me to do this with 0% for 18 months.

Thank you so much Jon exactly what I was looking for.