All Forum Posts by: Erick Caffarello

I recently did it with ENG and did not have a positive experience.  I will use them as a last resort.

All the smaller banks in this area require minimum $50,000 mortgage...

Guys, can anyone recommend a lender willing to write mortgages on investment properties less than $50,000?

Thanks,

Erick

Valparaiso, Indiana

I was told an individual can only have 1 FHA mortgage at a time...

Greetings...

I've been searching for creative ways to finance rentals/investment properties, as I'm fairly new to the game, and work a typical 9-5 job.

I'm just starting out, but lack the 20% down payment required by the banks. I have an FHA loan on my current house which is my primary residence. I'm wondering if I can refinance it to a conventional, and then get an FHA loan on a duplex where I'd live there for a period of time while renting out the other side. On the Bigger Pockets email that went out this weekend, there was a topic on duplexes where you could get an FHA loan as long as it was your primary residence for 1 year. If that's the case, then I think I'm starting to make some progress.

My thought is after living there for a while, to refinance the duplex to a conventional and repeat the process.  Would doing so get me around the 20% down payment?

Or, is there another way to get around the 20% down payment that anyone is aware of?

Thanks for your help guys.  

Erick

Firmly, fairly, and with respect...I thought by being "friends" with them, it would make things easier, and they would renew the lease. In the end, I was wrong. To them, it was just temporary housing...and I was just the owner...nothing more...

I even bought them a gift for Christmas (only $20, but still...)

I am so, so glad I found this site...so much insight and knowledge gained over the last several months....

Definitely changing the lease!!!

Erick

Like I said, after these tenants move out that just moved in, I don't think I will allow dogs, but she already signed the lease so I'm kinda screwed. Thanks for your reply.

Thanks for your reply. I think after this new tenant moves out, I'm not going to allow pets, OR charge double the deposit. Right now, apartments in the area charge $300 non refundable pet fee, so that's what I thought I should charge.

Any thoughts?

Hello everyone:

This is my first time doing this, and the tenants "seemed" like nice people. When I went over to collect rent, house was always clean, they always paid on time, so I had no clue of what was really going on until they moved out and I did the move out inspection.

The house was somewhat clean, but there were damages.

Their application stated they only had 2 dogs. However, they ended up having 3 dogs and 1 cat. I noticed that around October/November. I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to keep a good rapport with them, and get them to renew (I offered a $200 incentive at renewal when they signed the lease in order to entice them into renewing), but that obviously didn't work.

The back yard all along the fence line and by the porch was destroyed from the dogs.

I've been told that I cannot deduct the repairs to re-seed the yard along the fence line because I had dogs when I lived there, and I did not take "before" pictures...

They also had the utilities turned off, and I had to have the utilities turned back on for the fridge. I also used the A/C when I was there doing work, but also told that I cannot charge them for the utilities.

I spent $293 on the back yard alone, and I cannot deduct for that?

Then...collecting June rent was torture! At first, they didn't think they had to pay the rent because they weren't there, but then checked their lease. They gave me a money order, but my bank flagged it as fraud; eventually processing the money order 2 weeks later. They paid me with a check or money order on time every month, but this time around, the bank flagged it as potential fraud. They were less than willing to work with me, but I think they got sick of me constantly calling them...because of their attitude, I did charge them the $50 late fee as prescribed for in the lease, which will come out of their security deposit...

All in all, a pain in the ***, but the monthly profit far outweighs the negatives...

What do you guys think?