All Forum Posts by: Carrianne Mucho

If you complete the project spending less than anticipated, the remaining figure is applied toward a principal reduction which lowers your loan amount. 

Christopher - I'm from San Diego too!  Curious if you ever used a Homestyle loan?

There are some conventional programs that may allow as little as 15% down on investment, however, the PMI and rate make it much less appealing. Best if you can at least come up with 20% or 25%.

You would have a 6 month deadline with HomeStyle, but at least you wouldn't have to use cash out of pocket!  Plus, it is all one loan which is more simple and probably less expensive than having a separate construction loan. 

Maybe this was true a while back, but to clarify for anyone reading this post more recently, I'm not seeing increased appraisal fees or abnormal delays for these appraisals.  The last one I submitted was picked up by the first appraiser it was offered to. 

Just thought I would jump in to clarify regarding down payments - a Homestyle loan has different downpayment requirements for primary residence vs investment and also differs in LTV requirements for purchase vs. refi for investment properties.

Here's a quick reference:

Investment property: must be 1 unit, 80% LTV for purchase, 75% LTV for refi. Keep in mind the Value is the After Improved Value.

Primary Residence: can be up to 4 units. 1 unit - up to 95% LTV, 2 units - up to 85% LTV, 3-4 units - up to 75% LTV. (no differentiation for purchase vs refi). And if you need less down, you can use a 203K instead.

As @Chris Mason mentioned, you should be prepared to pay the whole thing.  It is something that should have been disclosed to you in your purchase documents. 

Some mortgage servicers pay it for you and then increase their collection for impounds/escrow to cover the expense. 

@Brandon Crumpton If you are paying the supplemental bill yourself, I am not aware of any "programs" however, if you call your tax collector (their phone number is on your bill), they usually will make arrangements for you to make payments.  This is preferable to paying it late which would incur penalties. 

That is correct.  It may take 3-6 months for the assessor to re-evaluate and reassess the property, but it will be adjusted and you would get a supplemental bill going back to the date of purchase.  You should use the number that you will pay as this will be your actual expense, not what the prior owner is paying. 

 Thank you Stephen!  I enjoyed working with you. 

@Trevor Jones - If you send me an address, I'd be happy to look it up for you (see my email below or you can PM me). 

Generally, in California, property taxes will be 1% of the market value/purchase price, plus any special assessments.  As a rule of thumb, 1.25% seems to work well for estimating, but some areas are much less and there are a few neighborhoods (usually built in the last 10 years or so) that can be close to 2%. 

On an owner occupied property, you can apply for a $7,000 reduction on the assessed value saving you about $70 annually. 

@Meredith L. - For an owner occupied multi, with the amount you have down, you should have quite a few options in the Sacramento area.  Of course, some will be in areas you don't want to live in (C & D neighborhoods) but there are some nice pockets downtown (very close to the airport).  I'd consider East Sacramento, Land Park, Curtis Park... If you like the outdoors, you might enjoy the foothills north of Sacramento.  I live in Placer County, less than an hour from the airport.  Availability of 3-4 units will be less plentiful, but in areas like Colfax, parts of Auburn and Grass Valley, it's not uncommon to see 2 on 1's or even 3 on 1's.  My point is, there are alot of different types of areas to choose from here, especially if your price point is >400K; just depends what type of area you see yourself living in.