All Forum Posts by: Prasanna K.

I am a SFH rental investor. I have a wonderful agent I have been working with in Austin. However in interest of using both of our times wisely, I prefer to due some due-diligent upfront by myself. I am specifically looking for a way for me to do 2 things by myself

1. Access all details of listings in MLS, specifically disclosures (MLS access)

2. Schedule and visit homes (lockbox access)

Once I have narrowed down the home, from writing offer onwards would like to engage my agent.  Is what i am asking even possible without getting a license myself? 

I understand the above services are not free and so willing to pay for it and also open to be fingerprinted.

I am an investor from Austin looking for SFH in San Antonio. Wondering about 2 options and any issues with those

1. Our long-time Austin agent (ABOR member not SABOR) presenting offer on our behalf in San Antonio

2. San Antonio listing agent of the house we narrow down, being a dual agent and represent us as well

The main reason we are looking at these is for the part of buyers agent commission being given back towards closing cost. We usually do a lot of homework and need a lot less service than a typical buyer. Our Austin agent is more than happy with the arrangement.

Given the current situation, to make offers attractive some folks are considering full cash offers. Any idea what would be the rough closing cost advantage between full cash versus 25% down on a $300K property. I am assuming about 1% loan origination cost can be saved.. anything else? lender title insurance savings?

Understand liquidity disadvantage with full cash offer.. but HELOC or cash-out-refinance could help there right?

@Ethan G. Thanks. Interesting.. My closing docs clearly call out the fees as “lender title insurance”. So in Texas they should be the same (for the same property value) irrespective of purchase or refinance?

Being a newer investor, the last thing I have dug into is title/escrow costs. I just checked closing costs for lender title insurance for a SFH during purchase and refinance. The property value is 600K in Austin. During purchase a year back it was $3188 and during refinance a couple of months back it was $1345. Is it normal for title insurance to be high during purchase than refinance.. or did I git ripped-off by the escrow company during purchase?

I am looking for REI meetups in Austin and San Antonio to learn from the gurus on these markets. Can anyone point to such meetup groups?

@Xingshu Sun .. I am curious on which tool you used to generate those graphs?

@Joseph Cacciapaglia thanks for the response.. what are your thoughts on Stone Oak area? Understand its pricier and not ideal for cash flow. Looking mostly for capital appreciation in 10 years.. Is it easy to to get a less than $250K SFH that will yield $1700 rent in that area?

I had a great mortgage broker in california who taught me all about loans. Unfortunately he is no more. He was also not licensed in Texas. He aggressively looked across lenders, was upfront on what his compensation was and also volunteered to show me the wholesale rate sheet for every loan he originated for me. He also looked into daily treasury rates and rate locked at his best guess optimum time. This gave me the peace of mind for each transaction and I did not shop around. I referred all my friends to him for their mortgage needs.. probably 20 loans from friends and 3 of my loans. 

I am looking to develop a similar relationship for my future deals here in Texas. I have done 3 loans/refinance here in Austin (Texas) and I am having a hard time finding such a person here. Is there any mortgage broker out there like that. So the criteria is the following

1. Upfront compensation disclosure

2. Access to many lenders

3. Willing to show the wholesale rate sheet, the date the loan is locked

4. Secure and easy to use document management system that avoids unnecessary work for both of us 

5. Investor friendly

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Ability to guesstimate mortgage rate trend an added bonus but not necessary. 

Thanks

--prasanna

I am a research intensive person and so I have a lot of friends who ask and trust my advice on finance, investments, real estate and recommendation on service providers. Most of them are in high income-tax states and are planning to follow my path of moving to Texas and/or acquire real estate investments in Texas. I am thinking on starting a consulting firm that gets revenue via referral services to the agents, mortgage brokers, property managers, insurance agents, cpas, lawyers and syndicators whom I have/will have vetted, used and trust. This will be a win-win-win situation. I have a pretty demanding full time job that i also love and so consulting/referring works well from time flexibility perspective.

I understand I need a TREC license to be a referral real estate agent in Texas. Are there any other licensing requirements for referring and getting compensated by other service providers in Texas? Any advice from others who have done this or have worked with such a consulting company appreciated.