All Forum Posts by: Ed O.

You know what your gut is telling you. Your gut feeling is correct.

I agree with changing the filters and inspecting the equipment and more importantly, the venting of the equipment as well. Often, the tin can rust and if it falls apart, someone could die.
On the water heaters, I've never done maintenance and think the cost of draining the tank to get sediment out outweighs the implied life extension it brings.
I agree tho, good play to peek around and take care of a small one before it turned into a big one.

Karen M.
I'm very intrigued by your idea of medical office space and am waiting patiently for your post/blog on this.
Joshua Dorkin
I got the pro membership simply to contribute financially to the operation. I can remember sending you a few messages, when I had 1 or 2 posts and gave nothing to the site, and you would respond to them within minutes, any day, at seemingly any time of day. You can't get that level of service on a pay site. I was really impressed by that and realize this operation isn't cheap or free. Making a small contribution is my way of thanking you for providing this top-notch service and hoping to ensure it's continued growth and existence.
I'll get around to reading the post about the benefits of pro membership someday.

Brian Hoyt
I would guess it might vary from state to state.
I have used several nonrealtor contracts and lenders have never had problems with them.
As an investor, you might try to bring and use your own, more favorable contract, instead of the less friendly realtor form. You might look to some local investors on this.

Ben, I'll pm you a contact.

Lynn M.
What I have seen on Harp 2.0, is that it was designed to help the lenders maybe even more than the homeowners. The way it's set up is that if you refinance your loan through your existing servicer, they (in my experience) generally minimize the rquirements needed to refinance.
For instance: I have 2 in the pipeline with BOA. Their fees were ok and rate seemed pretty good. They also require no appraisal, no income verification, no tax returns, probabyl no copy of the lease, etc.
If I were to go to anyone else, may lenders don't want to touch these, unless they're already servicing the loan, the qualification process is massively tougher.
For instance, many lenders can only go up to 105% of value and you have to get an appraisal, Also, you'd need all income documented, tax returns, debt ratios, just like a full blown refinance. Some lenders can go uo to 200%. The downside of leaving your existing lender is the documentation and underwriting strains that you don't get from your existing loan servicer (at least in my case).
The reason this sucks, is that it pretty much forces you to go back the the original servicer for the easiest terms.
In my last one to do, Wells Fargo rates keep rising with the number of calls I have made trying to get a better deal. I"m tlking about calls on the same day and also rates magically going up from Friday to Saturday (which never happens). Their fees are not consistent with the market as well. But, they can do whatever they want and be as big off donkeys as they chose, as they know they're the only shot for me to refinance.
We have closed with Chase and Citi and got great deals. I have 2 in line at BOA and am getting a pretty good deal. I have one left that is with wells and they're trying to get me to take an inferior deal with bloated fees and a higher rate.
I have read some bad remarks about some other servicer's terms. You're likely chasing your tal looking for an outside lender. It sounds BB&T isn't the best to work with on these things.
Hope this helps.

I'm presently trying to complete my 6th Harp 2.0 refinance and have saved the toughest for the last. Presently, Wells Fargo is telling me that, "fannie has not preloaded a value" for the subject property. As a result and in addition to their inferior fees and rates, I'll have to get slapped with an appraisal that costs around $570, which is almost 50% over the true market rate. The dumbest thing, is that the appraisal has literally no bearing on anything to do with the loan, other than to provide the lender with a number. If the property were to appraise for $1, I would still be able to refi, after buying this expensive appriasal.

So, does anyone have any idea as to how I can get fannie to submit a value so that I can save thgis fee? Any ideas on where to start?

thanks!

So much for selling Legal Shield (prepaid legal) and using the profits from that to promote my lending abilities as a member of Kingdom Builders. After setting everyone up with legal advice and loans up to $250,000,000, I was going to try and get them set up to work under me for Primerica. But, since everyone working for Primerica is starving (broke), maybe I should just go with Juice Plus or Vitamin Coffee.

I won't miss any of them, that's for sure. Thanks for continuing to root them out.

Can the web developer here maybe flood them with solicitations for colon cleanse to further discourage them?

Welcome to BP.

I agree with a lot of what John Mireles has to say about contractors. It's naive to think contractors will hit deadlines and will make you the priority and will hustle to get their last check.

There's a reason many contractors are self-employed.

As you complete some projects, I'd love to hear if your contractors perform as you expect. If they do, you'll need to share some of your tricks.

You'll get what you pay for. If you want a floor you might be able to get 5-20 years out of, go with allure and spend a few more dollars. If you want a floor that's toast after your tenant's kid spills a bunch of cool-aide, go with a laminate. After you work in the added time to install a laminate, you're barely saving any money, for an inferior floor. I have installed both of them, and allure is much faster and easier to do.
I'm not the biggest fan of its looks, but the people that have seen it have always told me they like it.
The most successful landlord I know has this product in many, many units.
Over time, with Allure, the savings are definately there.
On the short term, with laminate, pad and labor, the savings are, like I said, marginal.