All Forum Posts by: Sean Cassidy

@Edmund Ricker

 Thanks for the tip. I'll certainly take a look. It's a lot tough to get financing if you aren't Augusta or south I've noticed. However, there seem to be some portfolio lenders up this way. The local credit unions and banks are pretty lenient, but slow for investing.

Have any of you guys worked with Business Lending Solutions? They're part of CUSO and work out of the same building in Hampden. 

@Carl Hebert @Dave Holman @Diane Blahusch @Steven St.Pierre @Bernie Huckestein

@Richard Huizar Can you explain what you mean by different?

Honestly just curious if there are any lenders here from Maine, and if so what areas do you guys lend in? 

I'm currently up in the Milo area but have been looking at Lewiston and Augusta. Frankly, Lewiston has worried me a little as a friend owns property down there and ended up with goats in his closets and chickens in the kitchen cabinets. Not even kidding, took the doors off the cabinets and hung chicken wire, put in some egg layers and, I assume, had fresh eggs every morning with a warm glass of goat milk. 

Just stop updating her. Don't send more pictures, don't accept requests, you're getting married and you're done renovating.

@Eric Matson, it sounds to me like the lender thinks you plan ol' can't afford the mortgage. Some quick questions to tell you if you should shop for a new lender.

 Do you have a down payment sufficient to cover this? Is the lender using the income from the property towards your income. Generally they'll count 75% of the properties income towards your income, giving you a boost.

If they are and you still can't afford it, it's a bad deal anyway. If they aren't, find someone that will.

I'd echo Russell and George here. In order to get a higher appraisal you'll need to give the lender a better reason than you under paid. The value of a property is based on what the market will reasonably yield. You're the high bidder, so that's the value of the property.

 In order to get more out of it you have to do something to increase the value. Look at comps in the area and see what they have that you don't. Curb appeal can work wonders and can be done cheaply. So can carpet/flooring and paint. Just a thought, but if you don't have the money or any solid plan to increase the value and the place isn't turning a decent profit I'd have to walk away. 

This is why I don't hold turnkey SFH personally. I can't make it work and not lose sleep worrying that one little thing will wipe out a whole years profit.

Depends on what you're doing with the loan and what collateral you have to offer up I think. I'd echo some of the advice above and suggest paying down debt. But for good options we'd need to know a little more.

For example, if you're trying to get equity out of something you already own use some of it to bring your DTI in line with the lenders guidelines. Or, increase the downpayment, assuming you have cash. Pick up a 2nd job, this will bring up the income and you can use the added money towards the debt, assuming you don't need the loan RIGHT NOW.

There's always hard money, but it would have to be a smokin' hot deal.

I lost a deal on a very nice fix and flip once because the lender was just plan slow. If something seems off, get in touch with someone and find out directly what the hold up is. They could be waiting on something from you, or someone may have dropped the ball.