All Forum Posts by: Michael Bowser

Oh, sorry for the misinformation.

Hello J Beard,

There is a ton of information on the web about DTI but here is a quick rundown that should help you out.

Mortgage DTI: If you make $40K a year, if your lender maxes out at 43% then you will do 40K*.43/12= $1,433 is the max amount your DTI can be.

Note: That is including Car Payments, CC Payments, Extra.

When DTI is calculated it includes all the Mandatory expenses that you are obligated to pay.

99% of those will show up on your credit report.

So with that being said if you have a $300 car payment and $100 a month in CC your new Max mortgage payment would be 1,433-400=$1,033. Which would be around a est. (200K house).

Hope this help.

Good to know, I signed up for it but I currently cant utilize the website because I am not looking for someone to rent and my current renter is an older lady who loves to give me her check every month (Always on time).

Anyone have any experience in regards to the lease feature of finding someone to rent?

Thank you!

Welcome to BP!

Hello I am looking for a Maine lease agreements. I was looking on BP and Maine lease agreements can not be found. So if you don't mind sharing your template that would be great. Not just for myself but new Maine BP Members.

Anything will be great, Thank you  

If you use Cozy, what are your thoughts on it? How do you like it? Have you found any setbacks? OR if you use something else other than Cozy what do you like and not like about that platform. I am a new Landlord that is "house hacking"  and I am trying to figure out what will work best way to manage everything is.

Thank you

I am unsure of who thought Wallpaper in the bathroom was ok.
Click floors are durable depending on what you get (goes from high to low like everything). I got Bamboo and I have hit them on things a few times and they did well. In terms of water damage I am not to concerned personally. If they applied enough water to destroy the floors then nothing would have stopped water damage. They are floating floors so if they absorb water they will move to compensate for the expansion. But to buy the materials for the whole unit (900sqft) cost me $2500. If you have a security deposit half of that then if the destroy 1 room its paid for, 2 rooms and it still should be paid for, 3 now your pushing it.

Note: I did all the work myself

I was once in your exact shoes! Same exact scinario. Now I will tell you my 4 year venture shortened of course. Same income. 

20 years old. Was ready to buy a single family home. Made a few offers and a few were lost due to just to many problems and people out bid me. (60k to 100k homes)

21. A choice between a full summer in Europe or buying a single family home, that I would have to work on all summer. Well I choose europe.

22-24 I began to resave and bought my first multi at 24. 

Keep in mind I would have loved to own a home at 21 like I had planned but it was nice to remove responsibilitys from my life a fee more years. Note: I had the whole basment of my parents house to myself, so living with them was like roommates I never saw. 

Long story short. You can do it but you will be tight on money and won't have any social life unless it's on credit cards (bad choice). If you are truly ambitious and want to go ahead all power to you. It's a smart move at 20 finacially. Do keep in mind all the responsibility that goes behind being a landlord and making repairs if boiler breaks or roof leaks. 

There is no bad choice, it is what suits you best. For me I waited till 24. 

Hope this helped, in some way. 

Edit: Please feel free to message me and ask me anything about my journey or if you want tips and advice more specific on something. I worked in banking for 7 years and m y family does construction. I have seen a few things. 

When looking at the type of loan you should do, there are many factors. To break it down to its simplest form/ my opinions are. First if you can afford the 15 year and still have positive cash flow (with rent only) then that might be a consideration. From working in banking for 7 years looking at people trying to apply for loans and just doing one myself. A 30 year loan is a safe bet for few reasons. One, if you have the extra cash flow put it right to principle and you can make it that 15 year very quickly. Two if you are shy on cash flow then you can skip a month or two. If your goal is for a 15 year, try not to skip months or budget the principle payments into your monthly mortgage. Three you can possibly get special financing with a 30 year loan (FHA).

Long story short if you bring in 6K a month in rent and your 15yr mrt is 5K i would avoid the 15yr, 
If you are bring in 6K rent and your 15yr mrt is 2K it might just be worth going 15yr. 

Note: Make sure you take into consideration loss of rent/ expenses/ maintenance and repairs/ Extra

Hope this helps!