All Forum Posts by: Marshall Easlick

@Bill S., that's exactly what I was trying to do yesterday. I found that the county tracks and reports on residential building permits but their summary combines all residential permits (new construction, remodels, and additions) and I will have to inspect each permit separately to see the price tag on each one and determine if it is for a whole house or for addition/remodel. Also, I encountered the distinction between SFRs and apartments/condos and I am glad you mentioned that they impact the markets differently. I figured as much but it is good to have validation to know I am on the right path.

I think the fact of the matter is that I can't be so picky with my data because the agencies that are tracking/reporting it do a good job but their reporting methods don't fit my model. I also found a lot of good data reported from Zillow, NAR, and two others but, again, they don't fit my model exactly.

@Bill S., thanks for your insight because those are a couple of things that I hadn't thought about. I am not one of the folks who like to dig into data like that, I just have a formula that requires certain types of data and I was trying to find the exact pieces of the puzzle to plug into it. I guess it was important to find that data because another piece of datum for the formula is new home construction permits.

Based on how much new construction I see, I would never have guessed that new construction sales are a small percentage of the overall real estate sales in our area. I've sent an email to my real estate agent's office but I doubt I will hear back from them on this.

Thanks again, Bill. It's always appreciated.

Thanks, @James Orr. I am not afraid of a little footwork but I would rather utilize an established organization's resources and get a broader scope of data than what I could do on my own. 

@Brian Armstrong, I am looking for existing-home sales statistics. I guess that might be ambiguous, so I am specifically looking for a monthly total of how many homes were sold that existed before the sale of those homes. ie NOT new construction. I am looking for this specific statistic, month-to-month, dating back as many years as I can find.

@Jorge Pereira Why is that, Jorge?

I have been trying to find existing home sales statistics for Larimer County, Colorado for hours with no success. Has anyone been able to locate these statistics online? I have no problem finding total home sales but I am specifically looking for existing sales information, not including new construction sales.

@Gabriel Smith, regarding your statement "We honestly had no business even buying a house at that time...". I think you made a smart move by buying a house, even if it made life hard for a while. Yeah, it may have been a bad time to buy and maybe you borrowed too much and were house poor for a while, but you're still here, right? And you still have the house, right? And all of those monthly mortgage payments were put toward something that was yours and, eventually, put you in a position to get into owning a rental property, right?

Never get down on yourself for making mistakes as long as you learn from them. There was one month in my first primary residence when I didn't have enough cash in the bank to pay the mortgage and I had to make up the difference in change from my piggy bank. If home ownership were easy, everyone would do it.

@Russell Gronsky, what do you mean by, "The 10/1 sounds pretty good since HELOCS usually are good for 10 years of use and carry another 10 or 15-year repayment period where you can't tap the HELOC anymore but you still have time to pay what you owe."?

So, you have the HELOC funds available to you for ten years? After that ten year period, no matter how much you've used, the funds are locked up until you pay back up to the original credit line amount?

I think the general rule of thumb is that if you can't recover your closing costs from the difference in payment reduction within 3 years, you shouldn't refi. Dis you pay closing costs each time, Gabriel?

@Gabriel Smith, you used an FHA loan, right? How much did you put down? If it was 5%, then you can get rid of PMI when you have 20% - 22% equity in the house. I am not sure of the process and you will need to talk to your lenders but this is what I have read. If you put 3% down, then you can't get rid of it without a refi.

Also, Bill definitely has some wise words, I wouldn't reaplace them either (especially with it being the end of winter). If you really want to get spendy with something that will rent the house faster: stainless steel appliances. One more thing: if you decide to use property management, Henderson is good. They have a good marketing machine and Jessica Brunk is an amazing property manager.