All Forum Posts by: Michael Cohen

@Shelly Wyatt - until you rate is locked - which isn't done until after you have a ratified contract - there isn't much point in rate shopping as you won't be comparing apples-to-apples. Rates change every day; often twice a day or more.

Take your preapproval, work with your realtor to find a property you like and submit an offer. Once that offer is accepted, THEN you can see what your rate will be once Navy Federal locks your rate. Or ask your realtor for a recommendation for who she/he prefers. 

@Stephanie P. - you CAN do HomeStyle with multi-units, but the LTV changes:

• 1 Unit 95%LTV
• 2 Unit 85%LTV
• 3-4 Unit 75%LTV

she didn't answer bc she didn't want you to go to a different lender.  Lenders look at the past two months bank statements (60 days) and question any large cash deposits on those statements. If the funds are properly seasoned (i.e. in your account prior to those two statements) then it's usable funds.

Wayne Stevens sorry to hear about your challenges! Lenders will do a verification of employment, and will know about your job loss, canceling your preapproval. Your debt to income will be based off of your salary of your new job. You must prove that with either an offer letter, or 30 days of pay stubs. If you are in auto sales, isn't it commission based? Why is there any salary?

Joseph Duenas there are far too many variables/ factors involved in determining your interest rate for anyone to hazard a guess: 1. Loan to value 2. Debt to income 3. Credit score 4. Type of property 5. Location (city/state) Etc... Rates change every day, often twice a day. Until you have a ratified contract in hand and you're ready to lock the rate nobody is going to be able to give you an idea of what rate you would get.

@Tiffanie Mayo - You can purchase using an FHA loan while you already own another property, but there are some big caveats. FHA was intended as primary residence loans, not investment vehicles, so there will need to be a reason why you're purchasing a new home using FHA. For example, for employment-related moves, purchasing a larger place due to growing family, etc.

In addition, you cannot use the rental income on the outgoing duplex as qualifying income if the new place you purchase is 100 miles away or less, so your work income would have to be enough to carry both notes.

For those two reasons, they're not often able to take advantage of FHA loans for a new home.

I still don't see value in taking out an HELOC in order to reduce your payments a little bit for 10 years when it can be completely paid off in 2.5 years. Seems backward - you're actually slowing down your payoff date. Plus all of this ignores the fees required to take out an HELOC and while I'm not a banker, I assume it's a couple of thousand dollars. There doesn't seem to be any financial gain to be had, nor help you reduce your overhead quicker.

I was just going for humor, but hey... very diplomatic (and true) of you, Chris!

and typically "well meaning" is code for "God bless his heart, he's trying to help but he's wrong" - what you mean to say is "my friend who's a professional in the industry and well respected on these forums, but I don't like his answer and I'm hoping like Hell he's wrong, so I'm going to keep asking the general public until I find the one person who says what I want them to say, in order to confirm my hopes..."

:)

Tayo Dare - would really have to dig into the specifics as to WHY you're looking to purchase a second property. If it appears it's only to be used as an investment strategy, it will be denied by the underwriter. If the move is prompted by outside forces, such as forced employment move, family growth, etc. then perhaps you can prove to an underwriter that you're not just trying to game the system.