All Forum Posts by: Patrick Crehan

I’m a first time property buyer and about to close on a prop. I am trying to negotiate a deal where we come up with price that is fair with me and the seller while getting the seller to pay for closing costs. But I’m confused on how we would know exactly what the closing costs would be if we came up with a number. Let’s say the seller wanted to net 102k. How would the seller know what to pay in closing costs down to a tee based on the net? Should I just assume about 3-4% of the prop worth in addition as the closing costs? Thanks

I’m a college student part time and I’m working full time. Currently I’m renting at $715 a month on my own (have been renting $715 a month for the past 4 years). I’m in school 9 credit hours, about to go to 12 (full time) next semester and working 40 hours a week. I get paid 11 dollars an hour. I do have student loans (but are deferred until I graduate) I have a great house offer at 100k that my girlfriends aunt wants to pass down to us and take over. At 100k I can’t pass that up (the house is in great shape and I want to use it as a rental property down the road) and I can’t keep spending $715 a month on this crap apartment that I live in. I am looking to do a joint mortgage for this property with my girlfriend.

extra tidbits: our credit is fine (around 700). Our combined monthly earnings is around $4K. We pay about $1000 combined bills a month. So combined 25% dti.

Question: for a $100k house, what should we have saved (fha loan)? What are lenders going to mostly look at in a situation like this?

By January of 2020, I should have around 14k saved up in the bank to invest in my first property. I am still doing research on what I want to do (Bx4, mulitfamily, etc.) but I am not sure if my DTI will check out by the time I want to strike a deal. So, now I might be leaning toward networking to find someone that will do a land contract. Or is it possible by the time I have my money saved, could a lender be generous enough to lend a hand? My DTI is some where in the ballpark of 49% but will be lowered to something like 44-46% by January of 2020. Also, I am currently in college (that's the big thing that is worrying me). I am not paying any student loans right now, but honestly I have no clue how that is implemented in with DTI when lenders check on that. Really, what I am asking, when the time comes and I have that 14k cashed saved... what should I do? Network to strike land contract deal, bombard lenders with applications, etc.? Any strategy ideas would help! Thanks!

How risky is it to sign a land contract as a first time buyer? What are some things I should be beware of? Im a college student and I’m afraid my dti will boot me out of any opportunity for a loan so I’m trying to go private here. Any suggestions would help!

@marian smith She lives in Georgia and currently (what I believe from what I’ve seen) is milking the property with current renters. We live in Cincinnati so she would not be popping in frequently. She apperently wants the prop off her hands in the near future. Good reply Marian 

@Marian Smithundefined

Thank you all for the responses. Although some are discouraging 😅 I really appreciate it. Exactly what I was looking for 

So this summer my girlfriend and I are planning on moving in with each other. Her aunt owns the house that we are looking at and planning on renting. My question to you all is how should we go about it? What are some good strategies, advantages/disadvantages of living in a rental property owned by a family member. Pros? Cons? The people renting it now are paying around $800; could we maybe negotiate a similar rent with agreement upon self maintenance once the current renters vacate? Also what are your guys thoughts on rent to own/lease options or mortgaging in the future? The house is very affordable. Any tips, tricks or ideas would be awesome. Thanks

I need to know if I can implement my closing costs in with a loan. Is this even practical? Im new to real estate, getting closer to my savings goal for a property, and I want to know if I actually need a completely separate stack of cash for closing costs. It would be an FHA loan, orbiting a figure of 160k with 30 year payment. I would be looking around a 5.6k down payment. Is that all I have to worry about, or do I need to be cautious of a completely separate payment for closing costs? I need practical numbers here! I do not want to reach my goal and realize I need another 5k for closing costs.

I am currently looking to invest in a property here soon. I wanted to know some creative strategies of being able to work with a seller that is willing to help the buyer out (me). I had told him that I have done plenty of extensive research, ( I have even interviewed 3 real estate investors) and I am finally ready to move on to down deposit mode. He is cool, and open to ideas. The property is going to be sold for around an orbiting number of 155k. So with an FHA loan I am looking at around a 6k deposit. But really I want to keep a couple thousand on the side for possible emergency maintenance. I have a couple thousand saved up, but this is about 1/4 of what I need to pull the trigger on a loan. Any strategies that you guys can come up with would be awesome! I have read in a book that an important factor in real estate investing is being creative. Maybe I can sign a contract with my landlord/seller saying that he pays for down deposit, and I pay him back over a fixed period of time? It would instantly sell his property at the price he's asking, all while getting me started in real estate. Just an idea, let me know what you guys have in mind.

I want to purchase and live in a multifamily (it would be my first property purchase). It is currently being rented out as 5 units, with one unit in the basement. The seller (which is my landlord currently) says that different appraisers have argued that it could be a 5 unit, while other have argued that it is strictly 4 units, with the 5th basement unit being a hack. Now, in order for me to get an FHA loan, it must be residential, and that would work if the building had 4 units. Im not in dyer need of purchasing this specific building, but my landlord is prepared to work with pricing, plus the cash flow looks pretty good. So, Im asking you guys what I do in order to be able to live in this property with an FHA loan. I feel like it is an obstacle, but maybe there is a simple solution to the 4 unit residential-5 unit commercial cut off line that I am not figuring out. How do I make this into a 4 unit residential?

By the way, the auditor site says it is logged as a 4-19 unit building. Hope that info helps.