All Forum Posts by: Clark Kirkpatrick

I'm actually confused about this as well - the "amortized over how many years?" question gets me. It's 10% interest for 6 months or 12 months or whatever, and I'm not sure how to properly input this.

Hey Sam, I think it's awesome that you're thinking this way. House hacking is definitely one of the best ways to get started. You should be careful with your credit scores and debt amount, because either of those can make it so that you won't qualify for a mortgage loan. Get your credit score up first, and really try to hit that 700 mark if you can. Call some lenders and ask what their qualification requirements are - since you'll be living in the house, you can get in with a lower credit score, and that might be just what you need for now. 

When thinking about your debt payoff, you should consider a few things. First, what's your debt to income ratio? If you don't know what this is, look it up and try to get a good estimate for yourself. This number is really important for qualifying for a loan, and for your credit score. If you are paying rent now and you could be living for free in a multifamily home instead, then you might want to try getting one as soon as you can get the down payment, closing costs and loan qualification. If you're living for free now, then you might take some more time to get your foundation set right. It all depends on your risk tolerance, but remember: your rehab budget is twice as much as you think, and this is going to take a lot of work. Get ready.

An excel spreadsheet is definitely your friend here - keep a whole running history. Good documentation to keep.

Or hire a property manager to do it for you!

I don't think this needs to be complex though, you could just as easily keep a notebook where you have a page for each month and keep a list of who paid how much on what date, late fees assessed/collected, etc.

Try to find either a realtor or a management company that really knows a market you're interested in, and use their knowledge to help make an informed decision. If you go to the local RE meetup group, you'll probably be in the company of a whole lot of people with the knowledge you need - that'd be a great place to start.

I haven't, but I'm interested in a coach as well. Steve made a convincing case. Following this post to see responses.

That's a crappy situation. I bet you signed something for the inspector saying that he's not liable for giving you bad info, but you might check to make sure. 

One big problem would be that to pursue it in court or anything like that would likely not be worth the expense. You can always leave a bad review in some online location that'll hurt him - that might bring him to the bargaining table. Not sure if it's worth it though. There's also the BBB, where you could file a complaint. I don't see a high probability of you getting compensated in either of those scenarios though.

There are houses like this in my area, and yeah, a conventional loan will only buy you one at a time. You can get good owner-occupied loan terms on the one you live in, but since it's considered 2 addresses, the second one won't qualify for that. You could get a single loan for both of them, but that would be a commercial loan and you'd have to make a bigger down payment and have a higher interest rate. Unfortunately, there are definitely advantages to buying a duplex that is only considered a single address.

@Brianne Leichliter If that's what your lender is telling you, then you might try asking around to see if you can find one who will consider an increased NOI more quickly. I don't know of a cut and dry rule for this, so it seems worth the time to make a few calls and see if you can find a more "investor friendly" lender.

I understand where they're coming from, but a few years seems awfully steep to me. 

@Robert Hernandez OP is right... it'll probably be just fine. I use my smart move for screening, and that's worked well for me. A professional photographer (if they're good) will do wonders for making the unit look attractive, so that's definitely a good idea. I generally look for a 600 credit score or better, and I look at as many factors as I can find before approving someone - calling prior landlords, verifying employment and pay, making sure they make 3x the rent, looking them up online to see what comes up, etc. I like to advertise on HotPads because if a tenant finds me there, they can probably also communicate via email and pay rent online. These are characteristics I prefer in a tenant.

I wouldn't worry too much, there is always going to be some competition but you don't need a ton of customers. You just need one good tenant, and I bet there are more prospective tenants in your market than there are vacant apartments.

If you want to be able to pull equity out of the place then you might start with a 100% mortgage and then refi later, which would make it a BRRRR.

100% LTV mortgages are hard to come by, and leave you vulnerable to the slightest market dip. Approach with caution. Could land you a sweet deal, though!