All Forum Posts by: Sean McCluskey

@Haider Abdullah I was in the same boat as you, here's what I did.

Rent a single family 2b/2b house in Northwood in Irvine, for $2800-2900/mo, which is like $7200/year less than you've listed.

Save that cash and buy a house in a more affordable town (like Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo). Get a RE license to save like 20k on house purchase.

Then start investing in out of state single family rentals. Value add "BRRRR" strategy, not straight down payments.

Take out a HELOC on primary when you can find one with a nice LTV.

Enjoy both worlds.

@Chris John Its like the order of operations from elementary school.

(Troll × Troll) + Troll = Troll^2 + Troll.

Troll^2 + Troll = Hilarious BP Inside Joke

@Romeo Sison I work in Commercial real estate development. USC is very well known in California and the entire west coast for their MRED real estate masters degree. Can you take a bachelor's concentration with some of those professors? Highly recommended. Get your education and you can make 6 figures for a real estate company, learn a ton, and then get big yourself on the side.

@Anthony Vander Meer one thing no one is highlighting is: what type of units they have.

You have an apartment building in an area that is showing temporary outward migration.

If you have suburban single family homes, and your tenant is employed still, then you can definitely raise the rent right now. SFH are in high demand as people try to get out of being stuck in apartments.

I just leased a new gut rehab SFH out for $200/mo more than I originally thought I would get when I bought the property in January.

@Jason Avila

For sure, this is why I'd highlight again, talk to your lender and get them to run your DTI under that scenario before you go ahead and do it.

Selling the car and taking a short term loss now, in order to qualify for the refi and solve all of your debt problems at once, seems like it would be worth it!  Selling the car, taking the loss mentally, and then still not qualifying, would not be fun.

Also, another option iIf your DTI is close w/o the 17% credit card: you might be able to just refinance the car with a partial paydown (say you pay $5k out of pocket and refi the rest?), into a 7 year car loan, and qualify.

@Jason Avila

Another option is to pay off the 17% credit card, and sell the car to pay off that loan. The interest cost of the car loan is low, but car payments are a large impact on a DTI, because of the short term amortization.

Buy something used with low mileage with cash. Then you might qualify for the refi.

Also, a tip: Your lender should be able to tell you if that will work before you make any moves.

@Jose Pena are these rentals in CA? If so, PM me and I can refer you to a broker who has a better rate.

@Jose Pena are these rentals in CA? If so, PM me and I can refer you to a broker who has a better rate.

@Jesse Hinaman Hi Jesse, I sent you a PM.

@Noel Lopez Yes the properties are in personal name, the loan officer is Shawn Huss at Chemical Bank. He has a team of assistants so things are moving well and organized so far.

I think most of the comments in this thread are for primary residences / house hacks, which is why the rates are so low.