Finally!! We own multiple properties

We finally did it! We just closed on our new house. It's been a much more difficult struggle than I expected it would be, but we're on the REI path. Along the path in the past couple of months, we've learned lots.

It started as a necessary re-fi on our primary res. to pay off a balloon payment, it turned into a lot more than that. When I started shopping for a loan, I was curious about getting a second mortgage for an investment property. Several of the first few brokers/companies said that I wouldn't qualify for two mortgages based solely on my income. Then, I found someone who said "yes". The focus then switched to "let's buy a new house and rent this one".

Soo, we searched REOs that were being snapped up as soon as they hit the market, and we worked on the re-fi. We'd put an offer on a house and hear back "there is multiple other offers", and/or "it's under contract already". At one point, I think we had offers on four different properties with a few different realtors. And we worked on the re-fi.

I'm still not clear why things worked like they did, but we were unable to get two mortgages from the bank. However we were able to re-fi with a private lender, and get approved for our new home. In the same week that we did the re-fi, one of our offers was finally accepted. It was one of our earlier offers that we had all but given up on.

Now it gets interesting. We did the re-fi on tues. (early Nov., after two months of working on it), our offer was accepted on the same day. Florida law says that if your home is homesteaded, that you have three days to change your mind about the re-fi. Which also means, you have to wait three days to get your money! (wed, thurs, fri, get $ Monday). The offer that was accepted on Tuesday, must be accepted and good faith deposit, of 5k, received by 10 a.m. Thurs., slight glitch.

So, we borrowed a couple Gs here, and a few there, and got it done. Now, one of the people that we borrowed from was impressed with what we've done w/ our house, what we've done with the loans, and the fact that we paid them back in a few days. After that, this person said to us, "let's flip houses, I have some money, you have the skills, let's do it". (!!!)

Now were up to date. Just got the new house. Still trying to decide if we are going to rent or sell this one, and DEFINATELY looking for more.

I'll let you all know more when I do. Thanks for reading. Happy Holidays, and Happy Investing!