All Forum Posts by: Steve C.

I know time is money flipping, but remember too, it gets cold in Ohio, also the holidays are coming up. There's probably a lot more people looking to buy & move in the last 3 months when, by the time of close it won't be snowing & the in laws won't want to come over, the kids won't need presents.. Etc. if you don't see a trend of market correction, would finding a 6 month lease tenant for the property be an option? I'm not familiar with your market there, but I am familiar the Midwest weather & buyer tendency around the holidays. People looking to buy around cold holidays are generally people looking for a killer deal bc they're trading those inconveniences for equity. Also, depending on when you purchased, extra holding time might help reduce taxes.. Just something to consider.

May bump up values for Air B&B rates? Just a thought

Look up the tax relief act of 1997, one of the cooler things Bill Clinton did for us, if you were living there as your primary residence for a full two years, I believe you're entitled to skip the capital gains tax up to $250,000/ person. Don't quote me on the specifics, but look up the act it's self & follow along. Good luck!

I remember trying to do something similar earlier this year. In speaking with lenders, FHA will only allow you one FHA loan in a given area, in order to get a second FHA something like a job relocation too far away from your current home could qualify you, but guidelines were strict. I decided to keep saving up for a down payment & use a Heloc as a reserve account for emergency cap ex or repairs only account. That way I have a safety net if I need it but I don't have to save it up first. Home Possible may be a next best bet for low down payment as mentioned above.

I used to do mortgages for a living. Someone told me about optoutprescreen.com I looked into it & basically you're opting out of being included in bundles of customer data for your fico score, location, and income that someone like capital one may buy for a marketing list from the bureaus. It costs you nothing to opt out, & I've seen this raise scores anywhere from 10-30 points in 30 days. It also reduces your liability for your identity being stolen. This won't get you all the way up, but every little bit helps to build a snowball. There is other information out there on ways to improve, but this one is rarely mentioned & I wanted to share as it's an easy, free bump up.

Michael Lee Gundersen I second to stop paying down your mortgage. Add this cash to your investment account where it will soon get you way more than 4% return when you have a good down payment. I'm paying extra on mine currently, but only because I have PMI (loan acquired in 2012) that will drop off in November and stay fixed at 3.5% where I will stop paying it down & dump more into my down payment account & get better COC returns. 3.5, even 4% is cheap money!

Is this a commercial or residential deal?

What @Ray Lai said sounds spot on. I'm currently reading 80/20 Sales & marketing by Perry Marshall & split testing to see exactly how to phrase your postcards 1st would be wise. Using Google Adwords as a cheap way to split test your phrasing may be a worth while investment before printing & mailing out a bunch of stuff that won't yield a good response. Mailing costs money make sure what you're paying for will result in real leads to follow up on.

One of the best places in a contract to negotiate may be terms, not the overall purchase price, but these terms can wind up saving you more than going down to a lower price.  A good realtor should be able to negotiate things like closing date (on maybe the 6th or 7th of the month), seller carry back if needed (or useful), personal property to be included in the price, closing costs, buyer credits back for items in need of repair, home warranty, the list goes on.  If she has a Realtor & an attorney working for her & they're good at their job you could be getting a lot less for said purchase price than you could if you're not aware of these items & how to negotiate for them.  Like @Michael Plante said, she's already paying maybe 6% to her listing agent, you not getting a Realtor only leaves more of that money in her agent's pocket for having an easier time negotiating with a non-professional.  The money's already included in the price, get your money's worth!

To what @Richard C & Joseph M are saying, your significant other does play a huge role. Not saying marry someone for money, but if you can both be on the same page, it is a huge help. You're both making money and you're both spending money, as well as investing. We live in a city where cost of living is very minimal compared to ability to earn. That being said, there are also a million ways to waste money in Las Vegas, from gambling to strip clubs, to dining and drinking out frequently & shopping for non-essential items. My wife & I got married & immediately focused on paying down debt, then saving for a down payment we collected in 6 months for an FHA purchase that has appreciated $170,000.00 in 5 years. A heloc on that (as an emergency fund for property expenses) means we can now save just enough for a down payment on MFH & required reserves and don't need to wait until we have another 20K for surprise cap-ex & repairs. Also paying down car & CC debt 1st means we're paying nothing in interest (except mortgage), and our credit score sets us up for great rates & more savings/cash flow on investment leverage. Paying yourself first (we both save $x.00 before depositing anything into checking from every night's tips is what's accumulated our savings chunk for down payments & gotten us a 50% extra reward on CC Purchases on groceries & gas every month that we then pay off. So I'm getting 1.5% back on every purchase, 3% on groceries/Costco purchases, & 4.5% back on gas just for saving to buy a cash flowing property. There's a lot to living frugal that snowballs & both working together compounds that snowball even more quickly.