All Forum Posts by: Jared Bouzek

@Holly Scott I'm guessing because you're doing BRRRR you are looking for a lender with no seasoning requirement for a cash-out refinance.

If you want to do this Conventional, you have two options:

1. Rate/Term Refinance at 75% LTV (No cash-out) with no seasoning requirement

2. Cash-Out Refinance at 75% LTV (SFH) after 6 months of seasoning

What LTV are you looking for on the HELOC? The higher LTVs for investment properties can be hard to come by.

@Robert Uceda One of the non-negotiable qualities of a good mentor is the ability to tell the mentee what they need to hear even though they may not want to hear it. Bigger Pockets recently announced that they had surpassed 800,000 members, but the reality is, only a small handful of those members will do a measurable amount of REI. Part of why REI is so profitable for those who have "made it" is because the difficulty weeds out those who aren't going to stick with it.

@Bill S. has earned a substantial amount of respect on these forums because he's a straight-shooter and knows what he is talking about. That comes from having a wealth of experience because he has "been there - done that". Not many people have had the level of success that allows you to quit your full-time job and live on REI. He has contributed 3,400 posts on these forums, and the 2,000 votes he has received in the process are a tribute to the value he brings.

Nobody is devaluing how you choose to go about this, but the majority of people who come on these forums burn out quickly and we never see them again because their expectations are out of line with the reality of our market and they underestimate the amount of work it takes to be successful. Beginning with proper expectations is a basic fundamental of REI. If you want the investment of people who freely give their time to contribute here, it will help to recognize that we ultimately don't care about your lifestyle - we want to give you the best opportunity to succeed if you choose to pursue REI.

@Sean Larson Yes the occupancy requirement applies from your refinance. By your wording I'm guessing you refinanced with FHA again. If so, that means you executed a new occupancy affidavit stating that it would be your primary residence for at least a year.

@Brian Heimerdinger As stated above, it is perfectly acceptable for you to convert your primary residence to an investment property if you have fulfilled the occupancy timeline specified in your mortgage. If you want to count rental income into your qualification for your next property, your lender will want you to provide a signed lease and cleared security deposit from your new tenant.

@Angela Miller More than likely your lender will be familiar with Fannie's delayed financing exception. In order to use the DFE, you must have paid cash for the property you are refinancing. In other words, it cannot have a lien on it. The way to get around this is to use a HELOC attached to another property you own, or you could potentially do it if you had a HML willing to cross-collateralize and attach their lien to another property. One way or the other, you can't use the DFE if there is a mortgage attached to the property.

@Erik Martin In full disclosure, I'm biased: I'm a broker and don't like big banks.

Here are the circumstances under which I would recommend you use a big bank for a mortgage:

1. Both you and the seller have lots of time on your hands. Potentially 45-60 days or more to close the deal.

2. You have a large amount of assets held at that bank and a good long-standing relationship with them.

3. You make lots of W-2 money and they couldn't possibly screw up your self-employed or rental DTI calculations badly enough to disqualify you.

There are a number of mortgage lending formats out there that can be beneficial, but a big bank isn't one of them for 90+% of the cases. You can get better rates, costs, service, and all-around experience sticking to brokers, correspondents, etc. especially if they specialize with investors. As some of the other loan officers on this forum can attest, we clean up the messes that big banks leave behind.

@Robert Shelton This really depends on your overall goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. For instance, I am young and my goal at this stage in life is to accumulate wealth over a 30-35 year time frame, and I have a relatively high risk tolerance. I have a solid job that provides the income I need to support my family so I am not concerned with cash flow. So if I were in your shoes, I would leverage the maximum LTV for the lowest rate and longest time frame available to me as long as I don't have to "feed" a negative cash flow property. This maximizes my return on investment and gives me funds to accumulate more properties. Like I said in my prior post, if you're uncomfortable with the cash flow at the max LTV, have your loan officer help you optimize the loan amount to get you to a certain mortgage payment where you're comfortable on the cash flow side.

If you don't already have a solid LO, @Upen Patel would be a good connection for you to do financing in Maryland.

Erik Martin Those institutions you listed are on somewhat different ends of the lending spectrum. About the only reason you would use a portfolio lender is if you need a very unique mortgage product or you can't qualify for conventional financing. A good broker can get you access to either conventional or portfolio products. What are you trying to accomplish with financing?

@Abram Howard HARP is a refinance program specifically designed to help people who were negatively impacted by the Great Recession. It is rate & term only - so no cash out allowed. The loan must be owned by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, and it must have been sold to one of those two entities prior to May 31, 2009 by the originating lender. The benefit is that it has some easier qualifying guidelines for those who got in a little over their heads back during that time period.

@James Carlson Just try communicating with their zoning/planning division. :) I've been trying for a week and a half to get an answer from city of Colorado Springs on a house and cottage on the same lot with commercial (C5) zoning. Then they finally sent us a form to fill out that says it will take us a minimum of 7 days to get a response on rebuild/non-conforming zoning compliance.