All Forum Posts by: Vanessa Johns

I've been talking to a rep from CMG First/CMG Lending (not CMG Financial) about a line of credit they offer for investors. I asked details about the product and how it works and was told all that info would be sent when they sent the agreement paperwork over. Based on my credit and properties owned they said I would qualify for a good amount. I received a single document to sign which appears to be a mortgage broker agreement of some kind which references a "first mortgage" but no details on it. Asks for a $500 application fee. With this little info I definitely won't be giving them $500 until I can vet them. I wondered if anyone else has worked with them that could weigh in. Thanks!

I have a newbie question, and maybe I'm just not searching the forums well enough to find this and it's already been answered. If so, I apologize. 

I have done 2 or 3 deals now on the MLS, so I'm familiar with how a property purchase closes when you are working with a realtor. But I'm about to do my first off market deal from a wholesaler, and I realized I don't really know any of the details about how that process is supposed to go. Is there a title search? Do I hire a title company? Do I sign a purchase agreement or assignment, and then I'm on the hook to handle all of that? The wholesalers all want a non refundable deposit, so I would like to at least know the title is clear first. At what point is it time to wire the money?

When it gets down to actually making an offer and giving earnest money, can anyone tell me what the precise order of these details should be? Thank you so much!

@John Teachout it is just a large concrete holding tank in the ground that fills from the sewer lines as they leave the houses and then feeds into the city sewer drain lines. I'm not really sure why it's needed.

@Chris Seveney thank you for the excellent advice! I did not think to check with the county but in the future I will keep that in mind. We ended up selling the home instead of renting it due to the fact that it was in a terrible location to attract renters. We disclosed it to the buyers, of course, so now they'll have to pursue it themselves.

@Nathan Gesner the reason it was of so much concern it that it was about 15 feet from the house and on a downhill slope, so if it had overflowed it would have very quickly been at the foundation. It was not a septic, rather just a concrete storage tank for sewage that should be draining into the city sewer lines but was not due to a very old, undersized line. I agree wholeheartedly that the title search should have found this, however I was required to use my lender's title company rather than the good one my realtor normally used, and this is not the only thing they missed that caused huge problems for me. It is a great lesson in just how important a good title company is. They really cost me a LOT of time and money on other issues.

@Nick Peraino I'm having the same issue - once given the list of qualification standards 99% of them vanish. In fact of quite a lot of initial contacts I've only gotten one as far as submitting an application. The husband's credit is terrible and the wife's is good so I'm still reviewing.

As far as fees, I'm using Cozy so the applicants pay their fee direct to them and they send me the resulting reports. I prefer not handling the money since Colorado just made new laws about that.

@Kenny Dahill thank you for the very detailed assessment! There are several things there I'm going to change accordingly. It is a very rural area, positioned between the only two towns in the county and those towns are where the only other rentals are.

@Michael Noto thank you for the input! I'm trying to shift the end of the lease term so it is in an easier time for me to find a tenant next time, but perhaps you are right. It's not a slab but a crawlspace. The comps seem to vary on storage. Some have garages and some do not. Perhaps I should install a shed? Paved driveways in this area are a luxury rarely seen.

My partner and I each owned a home when we moved in together - mine was just getting finished being built. Since we've decided to go the real estate investing route we're live-in flipping his and we were going to rent mine out. I priced the rental according to multiple factors - other recent and current rental listings in the county as well as rent assessments from Rentometer and Zillow. It would cover my mortgage and expenses plus a couple hundred a month. Deposit and utilities are in line with everyone else. I'm allowing pets. If anything it is a bit low given that it is a brand new build on a nice lot. I've had it listed about 30 days now and received plenty of inquiries online (it's listed on Zillow, hotpads, realtor.com, and a paid ad on Facebook with tons of photos). I've shown it probably four times. No applications at all. I'm using Cozy, so no paper apps involved. It seems as soon as I advise folks of the qualification standards (using Brandon's from the Managing Rentals book) they disappear, usually before even seeing it. Has it just not been long enough? The flip isn't ready to sell and there's a limit to how long we can pay the two full mortgages with no cash flow. There's a bunch of construction bills still needing to be paid on my house (due to a contractor going way over budget without permission...another story) so time is of the essence, but I don't want to compromise and get a bad tenant.

I have a newly built manufactured home on 0.6 acres in a rural area. The subdivision, however, has "city" sewer through a sanitation district. When I purchased the land I was told of an easement on the front edge of my lot for a sewer vault, which I incorrectly believed to be for the sanitation district to access it. This vault actually feeds from two lots adjacent to me and has nothing to do with the sewer lines from my house. Due to one of these two homes being listed for sale recently, I learned from the sewer inspector they hired that the vault was near full and could start leaking sewage, which would go directly into my lot and downhill towards the house. Upon contacting the sanitation district to file a complaint I was told they have no ownership of the vault and that it's the responsibility of the homes who feed into it.

While I know they are going to clean it out for the upcoming sale, I am anticipating an ongoing issue and a possible future health hazard for tenants if so. Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any good ideas for how to prevent an issue for tenants and protect myself liability-wise going forward? We did reach out to the state and were told to contact the county environmental health department, who just seemed confused and fairly worthless.

Thanks in advance!