All Forum Posts by: MATT WARDEN

I think the point is that you made it seem very different, and really it is not. Your job is not very different from someone who truly enjoys his work in the "rat race." I think it is a mistake to have an attitude that your employment is such a better situation than another's. Your employment seems much better for you, but that doesn't necessarily generalize.

I am not a lawyer. You should consult one. That said...

Your questions seem to indicate that you do not currently have a company. You need to create a C-Corp first, and then request S-Corp filing status.

I think we've missed one. One of the easiest ways to help your credit score out is to become an authorized user on a credit card of someone with good credit. This can be a parent, spouse, etc. You will inherit their on time payments and good credit history. It will also likely help your debt:credit-limit ratio, which is 30% of your FICO.

(Obviously, if someone trusts you enough to put you as an authorized user to help your credit, I strongly suggest never using this card to make a purchase unless he or she has specifically approved it.)

Hi Mike,

Can you explain what this means exactly, and why you recommend it?

Thanks.

Not sure why you giving MikeOH a few tablespoons of sarcasm, here. Perhaps simply because he didn't run the numbers for you?

197k@7%,30yr is over $1300/month. Even if you never had vacancies, repairs, taxes, etc. you are still losing money each month!

At $1700/month rent, you're still almost certainly going to have negative cash flows, unless you get really, really lucky. If you had no repairs, no vacancy, no evictions, no professional services costs, etc. and only needed to pay mortgage and tax, then you could perhaps pull off $100/month in positive cash flow.

I think you're in trouble. Please push for your sister to purchase the home from you when she can.

Do not cancel these cards. Call each of them and request a credit limit increase. Ask them before they do the increase whether this will result in a hard inquiry on your credit report. If they say no, definitely do it. If they say yes, you are probably better off "using" that inquiry to get a third credit card, one that you can be pretty confident will give you a high credit limit.

I'm 23. When I applied for the chase visa, I was probably around 21. Had no steady stream of income. Was still in college (so increasing my personal debt each semester). Etc. They still gave me a $18k credit limit. I did not have to request this limit; I just applied for the card and that's what they gave me. I don't know what my FICO was at the time, but I can guess that it was at least mid-range (no bad marks on it; just insufficient history). I put at most $400 on this card in a given month. I believe my current FICO is thanks in large part to this great help to my debt:credit-limit ratio.

Just be careful not to do things that will cause hard inquiries on your credit report. I would suggest you not do more than apply for this one card. Request credit limit increases on your other cards only if they will go off of your history with them and not do a hard inquiry on your report.

I still suggest you get added as an authorized user on your father's card, assuming he has good credit. That is the easiest step and probably would end up being the most beneficial (his debt:credit-limit ratio on his card would count for you as well).

Hope this helps.

If your father has good credit, have him add you to his credit cards as an authorized user. His on-time payments and credit history will then be "inherited" to you, just because you are listed on the account. He does not have to actually give you the cards.

If you co-sign the loan with your father, your poor credit score will average with your fathers credit score and you will likely get a worse interest rate than if your father signed the loan alone.

Did you simply have no credit cards while in college? Or did you make the mistake of canceling your cards? (Canceling a card removes the history from your report. Bad idea if you have good history.)

Only other thing I would suggest is to go out and apply for one (only one!) credit card where you expect to receive a high credit limit, like capital one visa. Do not use this card for anything significant and pay the balance off in full every month. In a few months when you apply for the loan, your credit score will be better because you have a better balance:credit-limit ratio. If you put nothing on the card, you might have something like 0:18,000 on there. This will help offset any pending loans you have on your report. Balance:credit-limit ratio is 30% of your FICO.

I am also a member of FlyerTalk forums. There are even more random acronyms there. They have an FAQ which defines all of these acronyms. I'm surprised that this site doesnt (seem to) have one.

As a newbie here, there are many acronyms I do not recognize.

I'm way ahead of you guys. I ordered the book from amazon 4-5 days ago. Taking a while to ship, unfortunately...

You may want to at least look at a 1 year hybrid loan. You'll get a reduction off of the fixed rate because after the 1 year the rate is adjustable. But if you are going to flip it in 6 months, that doesn't really matter.