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All Forum Posts by: Ulrich Faircloth

Ulrich Faircloth has started 5 posts and replied 26 times.

Post: Duplex w/ a CELLAR?

Ulrich FairclothPosted
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 26
  • Votes 0

@Sean Blomquist 

Sorry for the delayed response. Got tied up on other things and lost track of the discussion. 

We've decided that for now we'll just rent for a year until we can clear some things up. It's our best option. I honestly don't care too much for that area because its far away from me and my current job. But there may be some possibility there in the future.

Thanks for your thoughts!

@JJ Conway Thanks. It's alright though. We decided that our best choice right now would be to just rent together for a year, then go from there. That will give us enough time to work on some things. 

Appreciate all the help!!

Post: Duplex w/ a CELLAR?

Ulrich FairclothPosted
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 26
  • Votes 0

@Travis Sperr

Thanks!

@Sean Blomquist

Hi Sean. You can disregard. I think we're going to just rent for a year until we can get some things worked on (business partner's marriage situation, poor credit, etc). We were going to be working with US Bank, but our main contact is out of the office for a few days. We're strapped for time and 

We had a property that we really wanted to put an offer in on, but I can't qualify for $160K on my own. Business partner has the income, but his marriage (since lenders won't believe he's actually moving out unless he has verifiable proof, AKA a divorce or legal separation) and low credit situation doesn't help. I've heard good things about Pine Financial from others here on BiggerPockets, but I don't think a hard money loan would be in our best interest...

@Travis Sperr

Bummer. I guess this won't work then. Got another property we're considering, but it is much less attractive (but I can qualify on my own income). Might be best to just rent for now. 

Post: Duplex w/ a CELLAR?

Ulrich FairclothPosted
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Posts 26
  • Votes 0

Hey Everyone,

So...since our plans for qualifying for an amount needed to place an offer for a much better duplex has practically failed, my business partner and I are deciding on whether or not we want to go after this 3 bedroom (per unit) duplex or if we should just rent together for now. 

Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Low expenses; will cash flow well after both units rented
  • Newly renovated; clean
  • Cub Foods is 5 minutes away
  • Two blocks away from bus stop
  • Close to highway, Downtown and a university
  • Close to the River and parks

Cons:

  • Low-income area
  • No garage (but fresh black-top), but space for building one (3-door, potentially)
  • Has a CELLAR instead of a basement (how does that work?...)
  • Rooms are small
  • Poor phone signal (one or two 3G bars) and lack of internet service provider options (no US Internet; only CenturyLink)
  • Not many restaurants
  • Poorly rated schools
  • Far away from Minneapolis (where I currently live; 25 minutes away)
  • Would need to probably get a new mailing address for online business (due to potential theft)

For anyone who lives in the Twin Cities area, its in Dayton's Bluff. Is that a good area to invest in?? Seems like most properties are either there or in Payne-Phalen. Trying to decide if we should maybe go with this or just rent for now...and on limited time; quick decision needs to be made. 

Thanks!

-Ulrich

@Roy N. @JJ Conway @Chris Mason

So...spoke with my business partner. The whole therapy thing isn't going to work; not feasible. 

My buddy's god-son worked out with us at the gym today. I had an idea hit me. Would it be possible for the god-son to sign as a co-borrower with me and have my buddy sign as a guarantor? Tried to be creative with this, but not sure if its going to work; hence why I'm asking. The god-son has solid income but is fairly young, doesn't have established credit history and hasn't had his construction job for a two full years yet. My buddy has poor credit, but has a solid work history and income of 10 years at the same job. 

So my idea is this...the god-son could live in the 3rd unit upstairs, my buddy and I in the 2nd unit and rent the first level out once it gets fixed up. We would have three incomes to work off of. The main issue would be who's on the title, as my buddy wouldn't be. We'd have to figure out a way to handle that in conjunction with the god-son. 

With my solid work history and good credit, the god-son's limited work history and no credit, and my buddy's extensive work history and poor credit (as guarantor; if even possible due to poor credit)...do we have much of a shot or no? This property that we're eyeing is one of those rare finds. I want to try and work every angle I can to get us qualified to get pre-approved for it while we still can, before its snatched off the market.

Mortgage fraud isn't a choice, at all. Hmm...that's a good way to go about it. We'll see what we can do. Otherwise we'll just have to cancel our plans and rent together for now. Thanks for the tip!

@Chris 

@Chris Mason What can I say? I'm a Taurus. I stick to my heart (I've been right a few times and wrong a few times). Haha. But in all seriousness, I agree with much of what everyone is saying. I can validate that our partnership will work out fine. The only real obstacle is the OTHER partnership (his marriage). Credit can be worked on. 

So I'm assuming that didn't work out?

There's absolutely no way they're going to accept $130K. The property is far too good for that. 

I mentioned that to my buddy before...but the problem is that we'd just be paying money towards a house and not getting rent from anyone. Not sure that's the kind of house hacking we want to do. Though maybe it's a way to start? Plus I'm worried that we'd be stuck there for a while until we can qualify for another house elsewhere, a duplex. 

@JJ Conway VERY frustrating. Opportunity beckons, yet is foreshadowed by red tape.

Our biggest issue is that we're limited on time. My buddy needs to get away from his wife ASAP. Being around her leads to anxiety attacks and just overall deterioration of health; it's like living with a soul snatcher (lol). The only other option is to rent...

Yes, we both would be (same unit). I can't because I don't make enough. Only make $28K a year...but I have good credit. I can only realistically afford about an $80K property on my own, if the place wasn't rented. I would need his help to get a property like this. But it would be worth it because there's so much potential. I've already done financial projections on it and we'd be able to afford it if we split 50/50. 

The problem with me qualifying for only $130K is that there are no good properties in that price range around here. We found nice one, but it's 25 minutes away, is in a low-income area and has very poor cell tower reception (drives me nuts). All the good ones are at least $150K or more. We were looking at a house going for $70K, but it has too much structural damage. Wouldn't have the money to deal with it unless it was renovation financing. Don't even know how much it would cost...low-income area though, high-crime rate not too far away.