All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Pflueger

BP, 

A friend of mine is looking to sell his house in Lithia Springs, GA. He is torn between remodeling it and trying to get a higher selling price and selling it as is. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good realtor in area that might be able to give advice on something like this? 

I do not want him to drop dollars into the house if he doesn't need to. 

Thanks for any recommendations. 

Jonathan

Interesting concept, something I am definitely interested in. 

Survey completed!

@Heidi Hughes

You might want to check out Pacific Sun Property Management in Santa Cruz. I have not used them before in a Property Management capacity but I have rented from them twice for a period of 5 years and they were overall excellent. Just a thought. 

Best of luck. 

@Chris Mason @Andrew Postell

Thanks for the encouragement, I have already been networking with a bunch of local banks and Credit Unions to avoid any issues. 

Thanks Again!

@William S.

I would recommend some sort of online bill pay system. Most of theses systems allow a certain degree of separation that should allow your personal information to stay out of any transaction. 

Check out this BP link for a detailed explanation of multiple auto-pay sites: https://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/pay-rent-online-...

I have been using eRentPayment for a while but I do not recommend them. They have been having a lot of issues lately due to switching banks and their customer service is horrible. I am looking to switch to something else soon. 

Best of luck. 

@Amad Osman

I have Vinyl Plank Flooring (Allure Waterproof version) and it works great. One of my tenants has a cat and we have not had any problems - knock on wood. If you do go with the Vinyl Flooring make sure it is waterproof. 

The best sort of flooring for pets in my opinion, assuming it is conducive to your area and market, is tile flooring. Tile can take a huge beating and you can pressure wash it with the right tools. I have tile in my primary residence and it cleans up great year to year (we have a dog). 

Bottom line stay away from carpet or anything that will require any sort of constant MX. And get a large pet deposit or charge a monthly pet fee... 

Best of luck. 

@Andrew Postell this is very helpful and really helps clear up some confusion for me. I have never heard of overlays before but I do understand why a bank might use them. Thank you so much for your knowledge. 

It seems that an overlay would be sort of counter productive to what I am looking to do. I would like to get a HELOC and then use it to help finance deals, whether thats for financing costs or flip costs.

Thanks again. 

BP's, 

I am looking into getting a HELOC on my primary residence and I was wondering if it will effect my DTI ratio when I go and apply for a conventional or commercial loan in the near future?

For instance: If I get a HELOC and keep the balance at zero while I am applying for a new conventional loan will it count against me or my DTI? I had a lender tell me that if I get a HELOC the entire amount of the HELOC will count against my DTI whether or not I have a balance on it.

I has always thought of HELOC's as credit cards. No matter the limit on your credit card and as long as you have a zero balance your DTI is not affected.

Any insights are greatly appreciated. 

Jonathan

@Miguel Castillo you can always ask if the seller is willing to offer seller financing. This would require the seller to own little to nothing on the property in terms of a mortgage... but it is a very viable option depending on the situation. Also, with seller financing you negotiate without all the hoopla the banks will want you to jump through - aka DTI (debt to income), job history, and down payments.

Best of luck. 

This was a business deal. Where and how a buyer or seller gets their money is their business and the banks. There was nothing shady here just both parties doing what is in their best interest.