Buy an investment property without paying higher interest rate?

Buy an investment property without paying higher interest rate?

Investor · Franklin, IN · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 14 votes

I wanted to post this because I don't think a very high percentage of investors are aware of an option they have to get a much lower interest rate when they buy or refinance investment properties. (We have been investing for 15 years and just recently found out about this).  We recently refinanced 5 investment properties using Freddie Mac's Loan-Level Price Adjustments.  Long story short, using Freddie Mac....or Fannie Mae....you can choose to pay a fee of 2.125% of the loan and receive the same interest rate as you would if you were buying the property owner occupied.  So we now have a 2.99% interest rate across the board on our rental properties.  This is NOT an option that should be used with all....or even most purchase/refinances of investment properties.  However, if you are going to keep the property longer than 3.5 years, then the math and the benefit of paying the 2.125% fee work heavily in your favor. (We pretty much just Buy and Hold).  We refinanced the 5 properties, pulled out $110,000 in equity to buy more property, and STILL increased our monthly cash flow by more than 75%.  We have since purchased 2 more properties at 2.99% with each property cash flowing more than $600/month.  Paying the 2.125% fee to get the lower interest rate was a no brainer for us because we will most likely keep all our properties forever and pass down to our children.  Another benefit of getting the 2.99% interest rate is that we no longer feel a big sense of urgency to pay the properties off, as the monthly principal and interest we pay is so low that it's not a huge benefit to have the properties paid off.  I just wanted to post this information because as I was shopping mortgage lenders to do our refinance, NOT ONE even knew about this Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae option.....so I figured if mortgage lenders don't know about it, then many investors probably don't either!!    Good luck!!

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  • Rental Property Investor · Loveland, CO · Member since 2014 · 77 posts · 15 votes
    6y

    Sounds like a great program. Were you able to get the loan in the name of an LLC, or was it your personal name? If your name, do you then quit claim the property into the LLC?

  • Investor · Franklin, IN · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 14 votes
    6y
  • Investor · Springfield, MA · Member since 2017 · 31 posts · 11 votes
    6y

    @Jason Flint Thank you for this very valuable information. I bet 99% of us did not know this until now! Since most banks /lenders may not be aware of this, how do we get this product? Is there a specific lender you could recommend? TIA

  • Investor · Franklin, IN · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 14 votes
    6y

    Mornimg.  Pretty much any bank or mortgage lender can use it since most of them use Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae financing.  We just printed off the Freddie Mac Loan-Level Price Adjustments chart and sent it to our lender.  He said “Yep, no problem.....We can get this done for you”.

  • Investor · Springfield, MA · Member since 2017 · 31 posts · 11 votes
    6y

    @Jason FlintThank you. Was it a 80% or 75% LTV refi?

  • Investor · Franklin, IN · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 14 votes
    6y
    75%.

    Originally posted by @Balaji A.:

    @Jason FlintThank you. Was it a 80% or 75% LTV refi?

  • Investor · USA · Member since 2015 · 168 posts · 243 votes
    6y

    Thanks for the info.

    Yes, the point for rate program is existing for some times. 

    If you are in expanding (or wealth accumulation ) phase, it is rarely a good idea to pay fees(or points) for lower rate.  I grasped this only after I have wasted almost $100k of my money on loan closing costs.  Thinking about this, supposed your properties will appreciate a lot next year and you want to expand but you do not have any cash on hand, the only option left is cash out refinance, all the fees you have paid before will be wasted. So trying to refinance with no closing cost will be a much better choice in this case.

    Of course, if you do not want to expand anymore, that's another story.  

  • I​nvestor & Agent · Tulsa, OK · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Jason Flint

    How do you feel about the trade off on properties not being in the LLC name anymore (or ever depending on if you changed that)

    I’m always nervous about that and find value in anonymity at scale.

    But perhaps you are saying for the first 10 until your scaling exceeds 10 doors you go toward the LLC route then?

  • Investor · Franklin, IN · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 14 votes
    6y
     @Jenning Y.:

    Thanks for the comments.  I definitely agree, and think it goes without saying, that if one can refinance without paying Closing costs, that would always be the route to take.  I am guessing most investors have had the same experience as me that a no closing costs refinance is rare and difficult to find.  I also agree that paying the Freddie Mac fee to lower the rate is not always, or even most of the time, the best route to take.  I do respectfully disagree that it's rarely a good idea to pay the fee if you are in accumulation mode.  I am definitely still in accumulation mode and took that into consideration before I refinanced our properties  My main 2 points in that line of thinking is #1. Property values have gone through the roof in the past 3 or 4 years.  Now, with our economy in turmoil and with so much uncertainty in our country's future, it seems highly unlikely our properties would appreciate enough in the next few years to consider refinancing again to take equity out.  #2.  Through the cash out refinances we just completed, our monthly cashflow more than tripled.....If a property popped up next year that we just couldn't pass up, our additional monthly cashflow would more than cover the 20 to 25% down payment.  Again, I certainly agree that paying the Freddie Mac fee should not be regular practice, but I definitely would not dismiss it just because I was in accumulation mode.  

  • Investor · Deerfield Beach · Member since 2019 · 19 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    Hey Jason,

    Thanks for this post, I am quite a newbie and just got a offer accepted on my 1st investment property. I am currently shopping for a Mortgage loan and getting only around 3.5% with a 25% down even though credit scores are in 770+ and we have cash reserves as well as low DTI. I have only reached out to 2 local lenders so far (no big banks or online lenders yet) how can or how should I present the option you mentioned to my lender to see if he can do the same for us? Thanks in advance for your help.

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