All Forum Posts by: Arshiya Taami

One thing to keep in mind is "less is more" when it comes to telling anyone including the Loan officer what you plan to do in terms of living arrangements. Reason why I mention this is FHA has a guide line that requires the primary owner to live in the "Main" house or occupy the larger GLA. What you do after you buy the house and which room or area you occupy is your decision at that time.

If you mention to the Bank/lender that you plan on living in the basement for example or an ADU they can deny the loan. The best way to do it is if you can manage to live in the home for (6) months you can refinance it into an investment property if the LTV is at least 85%. That can happen if you buy a home that needs a little TLC or renovations and after the upgrade the new ARV might put you at that 85% LTV or lower, possibly even be able to take cash out.

As a first time home owner you can use FHA 3.5% down or Fannie Mae 3% down (single family). I would consider looking for a 2-4 unit so you can at least occupy (1) unit and collect rent on the other unit(s) and at the 6 month mark evaluate your LTV and situation. FHA 3.5% for 2-4 Unit and Fannie Mae 5% down.

 Your contractor may help if they have done flips themselves and are okay with being a PG on the loan and member in the entity. But you still need more cash if you are looking to get into flips, especially here in CA. 

Not very likely. 

I would recommend building up your cash up first as most hard money lenders will only allow 70-75% LTV for a first timer. Then I would partner up with a flipper, maybe even wholesale some deals to get started.

The risk is very high when you are brand spanking new and you will definitely need to go through some transactions to get an idea of what you are doing. 

@Arshiya Taami, this is best to research with the local building department.  In my market (Cincinnati, OH), technically any fixture replacement requires a permit, so if I just want to replace a bedroom ceiling light with a ceiling fan/light combo, I would technically need to pull a permit.

But in practice, if I am truly doing fairly cosmetic work the does not garner too much attention, I would go without a permit.  As soon as I need a dumpster, and if there are going to be multiple trucks/vans there on a daily basis, I pull permits.  Not only do I need to, but I am also making enough racket in the neighborhood that the chances of someone calling on me are much higher.

Also, for a period of time, Cincinnati started actively cracking down on non-permitted work.  I had a friend that was at the point of tiling his new shower and putting up kitchen backsplash when the inspector knocked on the door to snoop around.  He ended up having to pull down tile and reopen walls to get inspections on the work, since he didn't permit it.  

No, you won't need permits for cosmetic repairs. If you start going into electrical, plumbing, cutting in for new doors, roofing, HVAC, etc. then you would potentially need to pull permits. Also, pulling permits is up to you..