All Forum Posts by: Eric Veronica

As @Account Closed state a standard land loan can be hard to come by. I suspect you will have a HELOC on on vacant land even more challenging.

@Jimmy Calvo  Unfortunately last summer Fannie/Freddie changed the guidelines.  The change no longer waived the income limit in low-mod income areas.  Regardless of the area, your qualifying income needs to be under 80% of the area median income.

I continue to be completely perplexed where the fear of a credit inquiry is coming from. I hear this from customers constantly. More now than ever before.  This conversation is so prevalent that I feel like there is some big time lobbying money or corporate initiative trying to convince the general public that a credit inquiry is financial suicide.  Some of y'all act like "Thou shall not inquire on credit" should be added as the 11th commandment.  

You mentioned that these multiple credit scores have had a substantial impact on your credit score.  If your score has dropped that much I would guess that there is something else going on on.  Maybe a collection you didn't know about?  Maybe a credit card balance has increased above 50% of the high limit? 

in 15 years as a loan officer I have NEVER told a client that they cant qualify for a loan because the amount of credit inquiries have tanked their score. Personally I have 12-15 inquiries per year and I have a score around 800.  

Bottom line... dont let fear of a credit inquiry stop you from shopping for a good deal.  The reality is a few credit scores here or there are not going to cause any long term issue with your credit score

One other thing.... If you are looking at your credit report and you see a negative note that says " Too many inquiries in the last 12 months" you should roll your eyes an move along.  This negative comment pops up on almost every credit report that I pull.  In fact, I will often see this comment on customers who have not had their credit pulled in over a year!  

That is a pretty odd policy however a lot of banks are tightening their belts so no sense in getting too hung up on it. There are a lot of lenders out there who are still lending.  If you are financing in Cali I would call @Chris Mason  

I have had a lot of conversations with him and the guy knows his stuff. Good Luck!

If the house is in bad shape then simply refinancing into a new loan may not be the easiest thing in the world. If that is the case they I would recommend asking the lender for an extension.  The one thing you  have going for you is that the lender may not want to take back a home that is in rough shape.  Due to the current market conditions they may be open to extending although often times these extensions can come with fees.  When presenting the request for the extension I would highly recommend presenting the lender with a strong exit plan.  Show them there is light at the end of the tunnel  and that you arent just kicking the can down the road.  
The lender may be more likely to extend if they feel like extending will make the ultimate repayment more likely. 

Best of luck! 

To answer the second part of your question, many banks will allow up to 10 financed properties.  

Have you considered taking a slightly higher rate on a cash out refinance and getting a lender credit to offset costs?  Instead of paying a lender points for a lower interest rate, you can take a higher rate and actually get a credit from the lender that you can use to offset closing costs.

Personally I am a big proponent of this approach for two reasons

1. You can avoid a big chunk of sunk costs

2.  In the event that rates fall again a year from now, you can initiate another refinance without the queasy feeling you get knowing you just spent thousands on closing costs 1 year earlier. 

I have used this approach for many customers over the years. This approach resonates with a lot of investors who want to stay as liquid as possible.  

Prime + 1.25 for a HELOC on an investment property seems incredibly competitive to me.

Probably pretty safe to assume 25% down.  Once this storm passes you may see some additional options re-open

Hi Michael, Cashing out a non-owner occupied property is a pretty common practice.  If you are using a conventional mortgage and the property in question is a single family residence you can cash out up to 75% of the appraised value.  2-4 unit you can cash out up to 70% of the appraised value. Interest rates tend to be slightly higher for investment properties than 

Best of luck!