All Forum Posts by: Drew Castleberry

Obviously you want to get the best deal as possible, but if you analyze the property enough and as long as the numbers work, there's nothing wrong with paying asking or above asking price to land a deal. A profitable deal is better than no deal (now granted, don't just take any deal, make sure it works in the short and long term).

Personally my first house hack was an REO and I had to pay $10k over asking to get it because the market was so competitive. As much as I hated to have to spend that extra $10k, it was worth it, because 1. I knew the market and 2. knew how much it was going to cost to rehab.

If you're needing to pull cash out of the house, look into doing a cash out refi, but in most cases you'll only get 70-75% of what the house appraisers for.

Personally I like the lease option. You get a decent up front payment, cash flow on the property while paying down the mortgage (if you have one) and then at the end of the lease, if they can get qualified for a loan then you sell your house. If not, they forfeit the option payment as it's non-refundable. Check all your state laws and talk to an attorney.

But a lease option would be a good scenario if you expect the neighborhood properties to increase in value over the next year or two so you can sell it for the $100k or so.

You can also challenge the appraisal, if you think the comps used aren't relative to your house, and talk to the bank about doing a 2nd one with a different appraiser.

Pretty much the only way to get 100% LTV is through a private lender. HML will typically only do 65-70% LTV, but if you find somebody that will give you 100% LTV, let me know!

I don't know of any lenders that don't require the 6 month seasoning, but there are certainly lenders out there that will go up to 75% LTV

I'm in the 810 range and a couple things I do (other than paying everything on time)

1. Increased my available credit, but always pay off every month (obtained a secured LOC on my own savings which keeps it at a much lower rate and much higher limit than a credit card)

2. I always get a loan when I buy a vehicle (and always buy used!). I make payments for 8-12 months and then pay it off. Always pay if off within a year. I've done this for 4 vehicles over the past 12 years.

3. I had several credit cards I opened when I was younger to establish credit and have never closed them. It helps with the length of account time.

Something with some color. Trim the bushes down smaller with clean straight lines.

 That's a nice looking floor. What did you use for the underlayment?

Also, remember all parts of the owner financing is negotiable.

Try to have 3 different options to present to her. For example, 1. Full purchase price with a market interest rate, 2. lower purchase price with a higher interest rate and 3. above asking price with a below market interest rate. 

You can also include an option for a cash purchase. Typically this would be 75% LTV since that should be easy to get financed for and lead with that. In most cases that cash offer will be too low and then you roll right into the sales pitch for owner financing.

 Also check with Lumber Liquidators. They have a wide selection and typically have some options for decent prices, especially ones that are on clearance. The clearance ones you can get real nice hardwoods or engineered hardwood for cheap.

 What thickness did you use? I'm looking at using vinyl plank that looks like hardwood in my next house, found some that I love the look. I've been told that 5mm on up wears pretty well especially if you have kids or pets. Anything under shows more wear, but if you don't have pets or kids beating it up, it'll obviously last longer.