All Forum Posts by: Ko Kashiwagi

Hi Kingston,

With a HELOC, you are essentially opening a line of credit in addition to your original mortgage. You will have your original mortgage payment, and you will also have a payment on the HELOC if you have drawn from it. The HELOC payment is separate and in addition to your existing mortgage payment.

With a cash-out refinance, you are replacing your original mortgage with a new one, so you will only have one mortgage payment. The new mortgage will be larger than your original mortgage since it includes the additional amount you have cashed out. The single payment will cover both the original loan amount and the additional cash-out amount.

HELOC might be better if you need intermittent access to funds, while a cash-out refinance could be more suitable for a one-time need with a clear purpose.

Hi Melissa,

Have you looked into why your credit is low? If the issue is credit utilization, you can fix this by paying down credit cards or increasing credit availability. There are other ways to increase the score like increasing the variety of credit (using utility and rent payments). Increasing your credit score will greatly expand your options.

Alternatively, refinancing the loan to get rid of the lien can give you access to cash that you can use for a down payment. Using conventional or DSCR is a viable option for refinancing.

Hi Renee,

What specific questions do your have about DSCR? Happy to help with any questions.

Hi Vickie,

It sounds like you have a solid foundation in real estate and a clear vision for your future investments. When it comes to financing your next property, both a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and cash-out refinance are viable options that use the equity in your property as leverage.

Your decision of the 4 options would depend heavily on risk tolerance. Option 4 seems risky since you have more experience in real estate than the businesses you mentioned, and option 3 (airbnb) is going to require more work (possibly more risk) than option 1 and 2. It seems like you have enough capital to fund a multi-family and have good amount of reserves, and the cash-flow you'll get from multi-family can serve you well for retirement.

Hi Aj,

Yes, shopping around for rate is very understandable especially if you actually have a property to close. It's best to be transparent and lenders will understand if you simply end up taking a better deal. However, do note that excessive credit pulls can negatively affect your credit score and rate can change.

Let me know if you have any other questions regarding financing.

Hi Wesley,

You can call your own lender and check this is okay. If the LLC is solely under your name, this shouldn't be an issue. If you don't tell your lender and quit claim, the due-on-sales clause may be an issue but I have rarely heard of any situation where the due-on-sales clause actually caused issues.

Hi Rajesh,

Yes, we work with foreign nationals and there are a couple financing options you would qualify for. I'm curious to see if you have US credit score?

Happy to help and take a look. Let me know if you have questions.

Hi Richard,

There are a couple ways to determine rental demand and I'd recommend cross referring couple of them:

1. Use an automatic software - softwares like Rentometer and BiggerPockets estimator can show average rent prices and comps

2. Look at rented properties online - websites like RentCafe, Zillow and Apartments.com show currently rented properties and you can get a sense of what is going for rent

3. Ask local investors/realtors - confirming qualitative data with professionals in the area is very important and you can ask them about the rental demands

4. Ask property management companies - you can reference a property you are trying to buy and get opinions from property managers, and sometimes they will even tell you how much rent can be collected

5. Check statistical data on the specific city/neighborhood - FRED and other city/government websites publish the number of people coming into the city, population density and local news can tell what businesses are coming in

Hope this helps.

Hi Conrad,

STR is really neighborhood dependent. For Miami, it really depends on the type of STR, whether it's a condo, waterfront home and suburban home. Keep in mind that Airbnb's are not allowed in certain places - for example a lot of condo HOAs don't allow STR.

Make sure to read the city regulations well and note that it may change drastically in a short period of time!

Hey Stephanie,

I'm actually in a similar position - I've had long-debated dilemmas whether to continue in tech (W-2) or Real Estate (self-employed). Unless you decide to work in a large corporate mortgage company, you would have to start from the bottom. I'm sure the soft skills you developed as a PM can be transferrable, but it will require a lot of learning at the start.

I recently started as a loan officer in a mortgage broker, and there's 2 things I love:

1. Ability to directly help people and create win-win scenarios - as a lender, you can really help those in need (people with ballooning payments, difficult transactions, unconventional backgrounds) and help both professional and first time buyers. 

2. Ability to see other people's deals - if you're an investor, seeing where, how and why someone is investing is a significant benefit. As a lender, you get to see the exact process they use to invest. Additionally, cultivating knowledge about different loan products will definitely help when you want to invest.

Lastly, an important point to keep in mind is the company you are working with. Surrounding yourself with people with similar goals that are willing to help you make a huge difference. Some brokers will answer every question and push you to the best, while other may take a different approach.