All Forum Posts by: Rachel Pivonka

@Neil Patel Check with other banks. We found a local bank that gave us a portfolio loan that did not have as many strict guidelines. We put down 20% and were able to borrow the downpayment. My husband and I used a HELOC from our primary residence to fund the down payment on our first rental. We are using the BRRR method though. We have plans with our lender to refi in a couple months to get most of what we put in it back to pay back our HELOC or do it again. We are trying to find more money to get more BRRR properties. Private lenders (family and friends) is what we are hoping for.

@Jake Thomas We borrowed the down payment from our HELOC because we are doing the BRRR method. Our loan officer is planning to refi the house in a few months for us to 75% of the after repair value and we will be getting the down payment back to payback on HELOC or use again on another project. If you do not have a way to pay the money back by profiting from the flip or refinancing for higher LTV on a rental then yes you should not borrow the downpayment.

I just found this post when searching for ideas about borrowing for a down payment. To answer your question about the bank... We used a local bank that does portfolio loans and we used money from our own HELOC and they did not care if it was borrow but they did want to see the terms of the loan. If you have strong credit and income that definitely helps. I have never thought about using my families HELOC, good idea!

Hello! We bought our first two rental properties this summer! One thing I have ran into so far was how to collect upfront cost from an approved applicant when signing the lease from a distance. We had the tenant use paypal to send us the money after they had emailed us the signed lease but we were charged a big fee from paypal. How do you suggest we collect these payments? Do you have them send a check in the mail in this situation?

And yes we did meet them in person when showing the property but they were not ready to decide that day and currently live a few hours away, 

@Account Closed No the other question is for our second property which is much bigger. We bought two this summer. The law student and her fiancé are both young and there no kids at all. Thanks for the input!

Update he actually filled out part of the application. He left the employer part blank and wrote in that He does not give permission to contact employer. He did not sign the last section which says we are not liable for any damages due to verification of information among other things. He wrote in that when he intends to move in he will complete a full application. 

Originally posted by @JR T.:

I don't understand how you ran a credit/background/etc check on him without getting his signature on the application. Please explain.

I gave both an application atthe condo and said email it to me if you decided to move forward. I could tell they were not ready to decide. She calls me says she wants to move forward so I say send me the application. I asked her about her boyfriend she said she is unsure of how long it will take him to get a job here so she is just going to be the only one on the lease for now. I said since it is likely he will be moving in with you we would like to have his information and do background checks. At this time I did not realize they were getting married in 3 months or I would have tried to get him on the lease. She emails me the app promptly and I go ahead and start and application on mysmartmove for her and him. Since they lives a few hours away they paid mysmartmove and I was sent the reports. 

They have been living together for a year. Her fiancé is not moving here until he gets a job. He doesn't want his work to find out yet that he is leaving. So he doesn't sound like a bumb if that is actually true. She has also recieved a full scholarship from the university and was the highest gpa in her class so hopefully the wedding won't cause her to flunk out. So does this change things about your opinion Sue? I did think it was weird that they are getting married in law school. 

@John Casmon we do have criteria we follow:  3x rent monthly income, credit of 600 or higher, no conviction or evictions on file, landlord or personal reference. This lady has a smart move score of 750 but has the BK so we were a little concerned. Plus she was negotiating down the security deposit before we found out about the BK. Would you require any extra deposit with the BK in the past?

Can anyone else share their two cents? This lady says she will stay in Knoxville four years and likely rent the same place the whole time. No pets. We didn't have to advertise to get the lead. Word of mouth. We are not even done with the remodel yet and she walked through it with me today. Of course she didn't mention the bankruptcy but we saw it on mysmartmove. I want to rent to her because of how easy it would be. No showing it to more people, getting it rented sooner, seems like she would be a good renter. We will not finish work for another week and a half and then start to show it.