All Forum Posts by: Sean Forest

I have a rental property whose loan I just saw is down to 79.7% LTV. Should I request that the mortgage insurance (MI) be removed? What is the typical process for removing MI from a loan? Will the mortgage company have to do an appraisal to assess the current value, or will they just remove it based off what they have listed as the current LTV?

A property I am purchasing had all the copper taken from it (wiring and supply & drain pipes). I was aware of this going into the deal, and I'm totally fine with that. I'm a contractor so it's easy for me to replace that sort of stuff. The crazy part, though, is who stole the copper. The neighbors just told me it was the guys who came in for the bank to make sure the old owners were out and to winterize the property. Well they didn't winterize the property; they stole all the copper. Again, it's not the fact that the copper got stolen that I'm surprised about; it's who did it that makes me say whaaaat.

Has anyone experienced this where the guys who were supposed to secure the property ended up stealing the copper from it? An investor friend of mine said that it's not all that uncommon.

I'm in the position where I will soon either buy another rental property, resulting in $500/month cash flow, or pay off the balance of a second mortgage which would also result in $500/month additional cash flow. Both result in the same cash flow increase for me. If I get another rental though, I have to deal with having another tenant and all that goes with it. However, I'd also get them to build equity in that new investment property for me in addition to the $500/month cash flow. On the other hand, just paying off that second mortgage is an easy, simple way to increase my cash flow. It has around $9,800 left. So I can pay $9,800 to pay that off and increase my cash flow by $500/month, or I could get a new rental property putting $30k down, $10k closing costs, deal with tenant issues, building issues, etc., for that same $500/month increase in cash flow.

It seems like the better choice would be to just pay off that second mortgage. Or am I missing something? Which would you do and why?