All Forum Posts by: Paul Zofsak

Welcome aboard, like Todd P. mentioned the market is really hot right now many homes are going for more than their asking price. I am looking to buy a rent ready property so if you have anything in the NW section of Houston I would be interested in taking a look.

I'm in + 1. Sounds great, look forward to meeting others. Keep us posted.

Tom Goans, you are absolutely correct, 8 years ago I bought my first house because I could afford the monthly payment due to an ARM and an 80/20 loan; the price was important but only in how it compared to the market and what my monthly payment would be as a result. If the loans were structured then the way they are now I would have had to wait several years before making that first purchase.

I also agree that the government is going to do whatever they can do to keep interest rates low until we are "officially" out of the recession, which probably will be largely judged on unemployment numbers. The current administration began during the recession and I would think they would want to go out on an upswing.

The FED just announced that there would not be an increase in interest rates at the moment, lenders are feeling more comfortable lending, and, at least in my area, the inventory is turning over rapidly. The market here in NW Houston is on fire, most of the properties I have been looking into lately have multiple offers after just a couple of days on the market; nothing is sitting for long.

I can't say whether or not this is due to people thinking that interest rates are going to rise sharply, but it has been going on here for at least six months, and in my opinion, may have more to do with the fact that people just feel more comfortable about the direction of the economy. Buyers are more willing to buy and lenders are more willing to lend; thusly, sellers are recognizing that now is a good time to sell. Basic supply and demand, demand for properties is high, inventory is lower than previous years, and money to lend is in good supply.

In looking for my next property I am motivated more by the fact that prices are on the rise due to high demand and low supply, not so much the potential of interest rates rising.

Thanks to all that responded; it may be time for a new agent, information and communication are monumental when it comes to these relationships. Being a chef for the past ten years I have dealt with my fair share of sales people and vendors, those that are good communicators and take care of the client are the ones that I continue to do business with.

I have been working with this real estate agent for about a month now looking for my first rental property in the area; a year ago he sold me my primary residence. It seems like every time I send him a list of homes off the MLS that I want to check out he usually tells me that they have accepted offers and are not available. He then proceeds to send me a list of homes that he came across for us to go look at; ironically the homes on his list are about 15-20% higher in price than the ones I suggested. This week, same thing, I sent him a list of homes two days ago, he replied they were no longer available, even though the MLS listing still said they were in active status, and then sent me a list of home that were 20% over what I told him my target price was. Since we are set to go look at homes tomorrow I decided to do a little legwork my self and call the listing agents of the homes on my list. 5 out of 8 were still showing, had offers, but were still accepting offers as well. I then contacted my agent to reconfirm that he was telling me they were unavailable and we should go look at the list he sent. The market is really hot right now in my area and it seems he is always trying to push me on certain sales, the higher priced properties of the ones we look at.
So, my question here is, is there something shady going on, my gut says yes, or is he just trying to not waste my time or his with submitting offers on homes that might already have one? Or, am I overlooking some other reason; thoughts please?

Welcome Eliza, I am out in Cypress and just getting started in investing. The forums here have been a fountain of information and the members very helpful. If you have a question there is an answer on here somewhere.

I recently was turned down for a conventional loan due to my debt to loan ratio being out of proportion. I recently went to a leading online mortgage site and found a lender that was willing to look at my investment as an investment. I already have one property that reports positive cash flow. The lender is looking at my next purchase and using a rent schedule to determine if the property will have positive cash flow; not using my DTI to determine if I can "afford" the property. It was finally nice to find someone that was going to treat this as an investment and not a primary residence purchase, besides an HML. A to top things off the fees are very reasonable and no points.

Thanks for contributing all your experiences, it would appear that an HML is the way to go when financing a rehab plus repair costs since most banks won't. My question is really more geared towards whether or not the HML would be a good choice if I couldn't qualify for a conventional loan due to two mortgages already. Would refinancing down the road to a conventional mortgage be easier after already securing the property via an HML?

It was suggested to me that I could use hard money to secure a property and then refinance 3-4 months or so later to a conventional loan. The idea being that a refinance is easier to acquire than a standard conventional loan from the beginning; and possibly not require the standard 20%-25% down. Could someone please clarify this for me? I have looked into a conventional loan but have been told by one lender that my debt to income is too high since my first rental has not been on my taxes for two years. Would a hard money loan be easier to secure?

If that was the case then I should show $225 positive cashflow towrds my dti. I have only tried one place thus far that my agent recommended; he was also pretty shocked I didn't get approved. Can anyone recommend a lender to go through? What is better in your opinion, online lenders, traditional banks, or other?