All Forum Posts by: Jacob Barnhart

 I don't know what kind of mortgage you are getting, in-house, conventional, etc... but when I tried getting a conventional mortgage recently, the seller could only contribute 3% of the selling price toward closing costs (in addition to what they are already supposed to pay). For a $100,000 house, that's only $3,000. I don't know if this is different from state to state.

I just want to clear a few things up that may not have been clear based on the other comments I've read.

I do NOT intend cutting the realtors out of the deals and their commissions. I simply want to negotiate the terms with the seller directly.

The home has been on the market for a very long time because it was certainly listed above market value, but has recently been dropped (from 140k to 95k).

My financing only fell through less than a month ago. My contract was for a price under the dropped price of 95k.

@Ryan Murdock I don't have a contract with my agent. Buyer/agent contracts don't seem to be a standard in my area.

Though I wasn't necessarily thinking of cutting out the realtors completely so they don't get their commissions, I was more just wanting to talk to the seller about the terms and hope to agree on something to bring to the realtors.

@Samantha Magina Unfortunately, my county gives absolutely no information out about properties. They make it hard to find the address, by only allowing you to use parcel numbers to find it, and once you do, the only information it provides is inaccurate tax assessments and outdated owner names. No contact info, or any other standard information I see other people mention that I should have access to.

As far as employment, we both have so many deductions that it shows we make a fraction of what we actually do. So we have saved money over the years but screwed ourselves out of getting a mortgage for the time being it appears.

A few months ago I was given pre-approval to be a home "much more expensive than the one I was looking at" according to the lender.

So I made an offer on a house and did all the inspections and was close to closing when he let me know he didn't realize both me and the cosigner were self-employed (which we stated months prior). I was taken out of contract on the financing contingency. The home has now been on the market with a realtor for 535 days in addition to being on the market as FSBO since at least 2013, maybe longer.

I just noticed the home owner made a post on Facebook sharing the home listing in one of the "garage sale" groups I follow. So I now know who the owner is and have a way to contact them directly through facebook. Would this be disrespectful to my realtor or the listing agent? I would be contacting them to discuss the possibility of owner financing or any other options they would be willing to negotiate on. As I'm sure you know I could do this through realtors, but it's just much easier to talk to the sellers directly and get my point off more clearly.

I am going to start out by saying I know this is a bad idea. Unfortunately my girlfriend is not as logical.
I have just been denied on a loan after having pre-approval and making it close to closing on a home. The lender didn't understand that mine and my co-signers (my mother) income were both from self-employment and after he found out a couple months after giving him all this information and being approved, we were called and told he can no longer go through with it.

Needless to say, my girlfriend is very upset as this was going to be a primary residence for us to start a family (as well as a location for my personal training business). She is now trying to get a loan for herself with me cosigning for this property. Regardless of the fact that it likely won't be approved, it is just a bad idea if it was approved.

Here are my concerns and questions: No-one ever knows if their relationship will last 30 years. and I don't want to be in a 30 year contract with a significant other. She has little income, so I would essentially be paying the entire mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc... while she helps with utilities. I was fine with that when I was going to be the primary owner with my mom as the cosigner. But I am skeptical of paying off a house that isn't primarily mine. 
If things went south with the SO, would I have any extra rights to the ownership of the house if I am able to show proof that I have been the "breadwinner" and paying for the house mostly on my own? Or do I still have 50% or less interest in this house?

The only scenario where I would consider this is if, by paying most of the bills, I am entitled to most of the interest/equity. (Believe it or not, I'm not stupid enough to enter into a contract with a SO without a backup plan)
Thanks, guys and gals.

So I have just started my studies to become a licensed agent, and I'm trying to be proactive and find the right broker to work with.

I was just turned down by my number one choice of brokerage because "The brokers have too much on their plates" at the moment.
I like to believe I present myself well and am well spoken and professional, so I was honestly surprised to not even get an interview.

I live in a small town with only a handful of brokerages so I can't exactly get turned down by very many before I'm out of options. There's maybe 8-10 brokerages and even less that I feel I would be a good fit at. I don't want to mess anything up by going to talk to any more of them before I possibly get a game plan figured out.

Any advice is appreciated.

@Jon Holdman Have you noticed it effect your vacancy rates at all? Or is the slight increase in vacancy worth the flexibility it gives you?

Okay, you got my attention. You don't do more than month leases? @Jon Holdman

Do you give a special gift (or set of gifts) to your buyers?

Do you give them a special experience during the buying/selling process in some way?

Do you make it fun for them some how?

Etc...