All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@J. Martin - sorry just saw your message now. We're kinda so late in the game now. The 2 co-owners already signed their papers at the Escrow and they're just waiting for mine which is still stuck at the CitiMorgage underwriter. The case was escalated today after I emailed their CEO. I'm hoping to get this sorted out tomorrow. But boy, I'm so drained from dealing with them for months now. Word of advice to anyone, don't use CitiMortgage.

Thanks much for the feedback, guys!

Since I am in the middle of setting up my vera, I'll answer this quickly without tagging :)

The question is for our 3 unit building, where we occupy one unit and rent out short term for the other 2. Looks like SF is going to give lots of restrictions in terms of short term, so we will go monthly instead. However, in between monthly, we probably have quie a few days vacant, so we're contemplating renting this long term, but don't want to get trapped with the rent controlled tenants.

The building was built in 1911 in Potrero Hill, but completely remodeled in 2012. I don't know it that changes he rent control law then.

@Johnson H. : Actually for my newly converted condo, it will still be rent controlled as long as it is owned by me, as the original owner. Once I sell it (and not to my husband), then it eliminates the rent control.

@Amit M. I'm glad somebody could relate to the pain I'm going thru!

Do you guys have a single group loan on the bldg or individual tics loans? If it's group loan, all three of you must close escrow in tandem, to repay the group loan. That's tricky to do! -

Group Loan, sadly. My 2 co-owners couldn't come up with more downpayment so we couldn't get fractional loans which would have made the entire refi much easier.

Also, first time you refi as condos, get ready for some serious brain farts from the bank. It's hard for them to understand that it's not a 3 unit bldg anymore, and 3 separate condos. I went through this with Wells Fargo, and it took over 2 months to actually get the loan! Also, necessary condo insurance can be tricky, especially if it's an older bldg.

Two of us used Union Bank last year and things went smoothly, were ready to close in December. And the third co-owner apparently dropped her credit score to very low that she wasn't able to get financing! This was just before my husband quit his job. Good thing he didn't stay just because of that hiccup. I was able to qualify on my own thru Citibank and we were supposed to close last Friday. This is when citi started asking all kinds of papers, different one everyday, even more this morning. So we decided to just pay cash for my part. But apparently even this is not as simple as it sounds. I will have to pay my part thru one of the co-owners' loan and I won't be getting a closing statement. And per this morning, that third coowner who fell thru with her financing, went awol. Looks like she's stumbling again with her mortgage.

Bottom line: brace for a major pain in the ***! You just gotta stick with it, and also work with other banks in tandem. Try Wells and maybe US Bank. Good luck...:

At this point, I think it is easier if I can just pay cash. I just want to be separated from those two co-owners. We will probably sell, the latest by next year. Location is in Inner Mission so it would be very easy to sell at high value.

Amit, I'd really love to hear your thoughts getting around rent control in SF. We currently have a 3 unit building that we've been renting short term. But as you know, the city will now only allow 25% in a year (the current law says there is no restrictions of building wiht less than 4 units, that's why we bought this last year). We were bracing ourselves in case we need to sell since we don't want to deal with long term (rent controlled) tenants. But I know you've been doing this for years now. How do you do that?

@Amit M.

Looks like you guys invest on 2-4 in SF Bay Area. How do you get around the rent control?

Would be very interested to hear.

Btw, @Johnson H. that co-owner has tenants in her unit. I won't go with rent controlled tenants in SF, at anytime.

Just realized how much I still have to learn. Never knew about portfolio loan before. Can't wait to meet with you and hear even more!

@Johnson H. We only have 2 loans, 3 with this one, but I'm the only currently having a paycheck, and not enough passive income from previous years, so a bit of a challenge to get a loan. That co-owner is stalled again with her loan. The beauty of TIC..

One co-owner already signed the papers in the escrow office, so we're only waiting for that one other co-owner. Cash is not ideal, but what to do. Citi sucks - they kept assuring me that we were ok to go since 2 months ago, at the last minute they started losing my papers and every single day now they asked for something.

The condo conversion part is all done (yes, we used andy sirkin). This is the refi part so we can be independent of each other. One co-owner's credit score plummeted and her refi fell thru at the very last minute (Dec) and we've been waiting for her since. Almost there again now and looks like she's stiill struggling to get her part done. I am too, but we're at this point just have to pay cash.

Oh my, I'm a self-appointed expert in condo conversion - LOL. So many laws and regulations to jump thru since TIC to Condo and now the last leg (hopefully) of refi. And of course rent control in between. SF is so crazy with all the politics and I can't wait to hear from you guys how you grow thick skin to maneuver all those. I feel tempted to sell every other day.