All Forum Posts by: Evelyn Roper

I am not sure on VA but we had to have six months worth of payments in reserve when we purchased. I think that is a pretty standard requirement for financing, at least in my experience.

I live in Oklahoma also.  We reinsulated the attic last fall with blown in insulation from Lowe's.  Our house is so much easier to keep cool this summer and our utility bills have decreased.  Our house is about 1500 sf built in 1974.  The insulation we had before was very thin.  We bought 10 bags, got a free machine rental from Lowe's and blew it all in within a couple of hours.  I would gladly do it again!. If you decide to do it warn the tenants that it may get dusty while you are blowing it.  For us, it was very much worth the $200 we spent.  I think we have saved that much on electric bills in the last 9 months!

If you don't have "boots on the ground" that you are sure you can trust, I would recommend checking Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com to see what comparable homes in the area are selling for.   You can pull up maps to determine how far the comp is from your focused property.  If you haven't already found a realtor, you can also call around to get realtors opinions on the neighborhood you are considering investing in.  Google earth may give you an idea of what the area looks like.  Check out the school districts and crime rates for the area.  Good luck!  If it appraised well and you own it free and clear, you should be able to get a loan against the equity.  I don't know if out of country investors are eligible but I have heard many on BP mention lima one for funding?

I would think about adding an interest rate to the amount financed.  Will you be carrying taxes and insurance on the property until the note is paid in full?  Or will the buyer?  I would make sure to be listed as additional insured and ensure you still get a copy of all tax bills until final payoff is complete.  I am a newbie and have no experience with owner financing but those are things I would also keep up with.  Your best bet would be to talk to a lawyer

When you purchase a property the property taxes change based on the purchase price.  That may be part of what you are experiencing.  My escrow also increased after the first year with each home purchase.. My mortgage company required me to pay a few months up front in case there was any shortfall so it seems strange that you are now having to "pay back" so much.  Did you increase your insurance coverage?

Just a regular phone number look up, not a reverse?  If you have the name and state, you can access the white pages through yellowpages.com to find phone numbers free of charge.

They want to close quickly and the property won't qualify for conventional financing.  The houses are usually below market value for the same reasons.

I have used First American Title in Shawnee.  I was the end buyer...for now anyways.  I assume the seller was a wholesaler since she was not licensed but employed with a real estate company.  She bought the property just two months before selling to me.  I thought (maybe) she just didn't find her cash buyer before the closing so the deed was in her name.  You might try them.  I know First American has locations in other cities and I have used them several times.

Each person does things differently.  I prefer to pay down because I am a little more "risk averse" than many others on BP.  Some days, I wish I could be a little more daring but overall, for my family, for our situation, paying down makes us more comfortable...and we save ALOT on interest by adding the extra principle payments.

I bought an investment property in April and online records from the assessor indicate it is still owned by previous owner.  I am pretty sure it was recorded because I got the deed sometime in May.  I would suggest calling the county (assessors?) office to get an estimated turn around time. My refinance took about 45 days. I think I would change the deed, call to make sure it was recorded and then start the refinance.  It may cause more headache than it's worth to try to start refi and the deed comes back to the wrong name/entity when the refi company does their verification.  Others may have a better answer but I would definitely would start with a phone call to the county offices.  The title company may also be able to give you the info but they just do their side, the county may be running slower than predicted.