All Forum Posts by: Yashira Zavala

Hi BP, here our scenario; husband is contractor and I'm a grad student almost finishing degree.We bough a foreclosure SFH on 2012 for 120K with an FHA loan and completely renovated (current value of the house is ~170K).

We want to buy a duplex that we found for ~200K but we only have about 15K saved (seller is not able to finance it but is willing to do a creative way if there are any that work for both). We are trying to get approved for a mortgage but it seems difficult with our numbers because of low asset money. Ideally we would like to keep our current home and thought that by moving into the duplex and renting our SFH everything would work out. Unfortunately lenders are asking for >15% down + 6 month reserve for both properties.

Any advice?

Thanks

I do not know... let me know what you find! Enjoy PR!!!

I am from PR and the answer is yes, you can do conventional loans and FHA. I have been thinking about investing in the west coast.

Hey welcome from BP, I'm from PR but have lived in Madison for ~5 years. I'm very interested in the topic, my husband and I are in the same situation. We bought our first house 3 years ago, a foreclosure that we have updated everything from ceiling to floors. We are interested in a duplex since my husband is a contractor but we don't have much liquid money. One of the options we are considering is buying a duplex as a owner occupant and move there for some time while renting our updated SFH.

There are very interesting properties in Aguadilla. Does any of you have experience getting financing to buy something in PR?  Should I look for banks in the US or local banks in PR? Does the property needs to be built in cement or could it be wood?

Thanks

@Ariel G. Thanks for suggesting the podcast

@Richelle T. Keep me posted on your journey! 

@Bryan Williamson I also use clasificadosonline.com (PR only) website.

@Victor Chico InQu 2009, I will let you know what I found.

@Brian G. Thanks for such a good information, very excited about this community.

@Catherine Williamson - Thanks for the reply. It's great that you guys are planning to move to the island, we need more young/bright people there.

@Samuel Muniz - is really nice that you have a mentor within your family!

Thanks for the reply. As a graduate from UPRM ( Colegio!), I'm a big fan of the west coast and is not as far from my parents (Coamo) as the east/north cost. 

I agree with you about the price, but I found something more expensive (~70K) that even though is not in front of the beach is close enough. I'm keeping an eye on clasificadosPR. We don't need anything fancy since we are a "fixer upper" couple and also don't want to invest much with the current economy. 

We have no clue or experience buying or renting in PR so thank you a lot for the information about the websites. 

Hi, My name is Yashira and I'm new in the community. I'm originally born and raised in the beautiful warm island of Puerto Rico but moved for graduate studies and stayed in the bitter cold (but beautiful) Wisconsin. 

I visit often PR since my entire family is still living there and have been interested in buying a cheap (~50K) property close to the coast that we can rent as a vacation property and have a nice place to stay in our visits. Not looking to make a lot of money but perhaps perhaps breaking even or have a small positive.

Will be very happy to get your opinion.

My father is a retired handyman very happy to help with the maintenance and my mother is really good at advertising.