All Forum Posts by: Jestin Sorenson

I'm thinking about partnering on a deal with someone. There a SF home for 137k. It's worth 160k+. The person that found the deal wants me to put 7200 into it.  5k down plus closing costs(taxes and insurance). I want to make this example as simple as possible. If we were to flip the property, would I get my down payment and be made whole before we split the profits? He found the deal. He wants to split the profits without making me whole first and splitting my down payment like it were profit. That doesn't seem right. I don't think it's a good deal when I'm splitting my down payment with my partner. 

To clarify for example, if the profit was 30k. He says we each get 15k. In my mind, I get my down payment of 5k back leaving 25k and if we split that, we each get 12.5k after I'm made whole. Is there a common way to approach this type of deal? If you've done a deal like this, how did you go about it? Any feedback would be appreciated! Hopefully this is the right forum for this question

Just an update for anyone reading this. I just need to get another job. I don't even have to make as much as I was making to qualify for the refi and I'll be good, although for myself I want to make as much or more but might have to settle for a job that pays decent right now. I originally wanted to reach out here to see what my best options might be, but I guess it was easier to reach out to the lender to see how to proceed next. As every company is different and some of you guys thought I was screwed or worse. Made me feel worse about the position I was in but in reality it wasn't that bad. It should only take a couple weeks to get another job and we will be good to go. Thanks for the advice bpers!

@JD Martin Well we will see. I wasn't there but only a month and they knew that. In fact, I just started the job when I purchased the property and started the rehab process. That's not the first 140k/year job I've had, it's the second. I'm currently getting offers for 150k/year but I have to go through the motions. It might be two weeks before I get another job. It was a couple hundred dollars in cash flow, but it was 50k in equity that I plan on 1031ing into a 4 plex or commercial property when I have a few more 50k houses under my belt. Jobs come and go. I'm not that concerned about the job. Just bad timing for the refi. I only plan on working the day job a couple more years and I'm out. I love doing this stuff. Don't like the job so much. The money is good.. I didn't do anything wrong at the day job. They let two people go the first or second week I started. I've never seen that happen before in this line of work.. Wasn't a surprise when I got let go, but I tried my best. I'd like to work long term at the next job if it's the right fit for me.

@Matt G. I am w-2 on a contract. I'm not officially corp to corp or self employed. They've seen my pay stubs and so on. I bought my first house this way and the loan officer knew that I was a contractor but was paid hourly. I don't think I did anything wrong there, but was wondering if taking the contractor approach would be a better angle and more beneficial.

@Diane G. I wonder if I can get another job in a week or two, if that would be enough to go through with the current refi? I've got two years work history in the same field with less than a month of being in between jobs. I was mostly going from job to job back to back with no time in between.

@Alexander Felice This is my first flip. I own my own home but financed via FHA and have virtually no equity and some credit card debt. I purchased my car recently. I have no assets either. I didn't lie to the lender about my income. I think I'm in a unique situation with how I get paid that I could go either way.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I will figure it out. I will have to find another way. Really bad timing though. At least the rent is barely covering the 1% interest payment for the hard money loan.

I lost my job before finishing a refinance and I would like to know what my options are? I haven't told the lending company yet, but they are asking for my employment verification. I had  a job when they asked for the employment verification and thought it was completed, but it wasn't. I wasn't trying to lose my job. I put a lot of time into the rehab of the house where I was working 90 hours a week between the day job and the house. I couldn't keep up on both. I bought the house for 145k from a hard money lender, actually the wholesaler. I put 15k into the property and it appraised at 213k. We have it rented with a lease for $1500 per month. I was making 140k/year as a contracted software developer. I didn't tell them I was contracted but w-2 since it's much more complicated when you contract or so I hear. Does anyone have any advice or options? I am not doing a cash out refinance. If I told the lender I am a contractor, would it matter if I had a job or not as long as my average income for the last two years was a certain amount? I could prob get another job in the next week or two. Do I wait till I get another job? What's the best way to approach this? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

Hey guys, I bought a turnkey property with new appliances and my tenant tells me that the fridge is not working. It's not keeping things cold. I have a couple questions.

Can the tenant be liable for charges if there is nothing wrong with the refrigerator? If someone comes out to service it and there is nothing wrong, how could I work it so that the tenant gets the bill? If it's broken, then the warranty should cover it.

The appliances are under warranty but I didn't buy them. There are a bunch of Fridgidaire products, but the refrigerator is the one that isn't working. I've registered the products under my name, but I don't have a receipt. Is there a process or procedure for getting a receipt? Maybe I don't need one. The place was flipped before I bought it, so no one has lived in the house since. I didn't ask for a receipt when I bought it. I was thinking that I inherited the warranty when I purchased the house. 

Any thoughts on these would be much appreciated!!

@Jeff B. I'm sorry about that. I have trouble deciphering people's intent with text and everyone has an opinion and thinks they are right. No worries. I'm not mad. Sometimes I can be defensive, especially when people under estimate me, not saying that you were. You're not bothering. Thanks for your feedback :)

@Jeff B. The laws might be different in California. If they move in and the check bounces, not only do you not receive any money, but you have to pay for an eviction. From what I hear, it's not easy to collect money from tenants after they've already moved out. You'd be lucky to get a judgement and if you used a collection agency, you'd prob get a small percentage of what you were owed. I would never take a check on move in, unless it was a cashier's check or similar/same as cash.

@John Woodrich I get what you're saying and thank you for the advice! I see you have good intentions.

@Amber Gonion Could you explain more. In terms of criteria, how would you determine this within your criteria? I have a catch all statement that says the tenant must exhibit a financially responsible lifestyle. My main criteria are you must have a minimum 600+ credit score. We do background checks and you must make 3x the rent. I've got a whole list of criteria that I give to them in text that I print out. I tell them to read it, but it's kind on a case by case basis in terms of credit and background bc there are so many different cases out there.  I may not deny you if you if you have a DUI, but I will deny you for domestic violence. I cannot narrow it down for every scenario out there. I analyze the report and determine on a case by case basis whether, in my mind they exhibit a pattern of financial responsibility and in this case they didn't.

If you have an example of how you would do things differently, it would be great if you could share.. should I be more specific with my criteria. I can't just say that the applicant must have a good debt to income ratio. The problem is they are not paying their student loans and are using credit cards to stabilize their income and lifestyle. 

It's all about the type of tenants you get in that will determine your life as a landlord. Do you want problematic tenants that make your life stressful or do you want decent tenants that pay their bills on time and don't bother you often?

I am new to being a landlord but there are a few people on here that agreed with my decision.

The numbers aren't exact. It wouldn't let me correct them. He makes $2200 every month after taxes. The rent, credit card bills, and student loans are $2600. That's -400 not including utilities, car insurance, food, etc. SmartMove doesn't include monthly payments for student loans that are N/A. So I wasn't able to add that to the total. All of the male applicants student loans were N/A and he works, so I doubt they will be forgiven, but maybe the female applicants student loans will be forgiven in 10 years.