All Forum Posts by: Patrick Roberts
Patrick Roberts has started 4 posts and replied 1095 times.
Post: HELOC or Home Loan to get my first investment property

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Quote from @Luke Edward:
Quote from @Patrick Roberts:
Cashout refi over heloc. You'll get much better terms than with a heloc and you wont have the risk of the line being converted.
Thanks for the reply Patrick I appreciate it. Generally speaking what would the interest be on a cash out refi? I know the interest will vary depending on multiple factors, but generally what should I expect?
With good credit and low LTV (less than 70%), you should be in the 6s on a primary cashout refi 30yr FRM.
Post: HELOC or Home Loan to get my first investment property

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Cashout refi over heloc. You'll get much better terms than with a heloc and you wont have the risk of the line being converted.
Post: Noob to real estate

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Are you attending Red Stick REI? That's by far the best place to start. That should be paired with self-education. There are tons of books, podcasts, and youtube videos that can provide you with knowledge and context/information for free or for very low cost.
Have you given any thought to strategy or focus?
Post: New to investing, need advice on funding and paying down current DTI

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Get a home equity loan/heloc and use it to pay off the credit card balances, then pay it down as quickly as possible. The interest rate on the loan should be much lower than what youre paying on your cards. Also, determine how you got into credit card debt in the first place and make sure a plan is in place to prevent this from happening again. Otherwise, in a year or two you'll find yourself with both heloc debt and credit card debt.
Your first priority for investing should be getting the credit scores over 720. For any kind of investment property loans (Conv, DSCR, whatever), scores below 700 are going to make things expensive for you.
At the same time, start attending local REI meetups and networking groups. You'll learn a ton from other, more experienced investors, as well as make some solid connections to help land deals.
I'd be cautious about drawing on the heloc for investing, other than using it to fund to incidental investment expenses or small EMD amounts. Given that yall have credit card debt, it doesnt sound like there is a ton of capacity to recover from a major loss. Save up some cash and use private lending for any flips/rehabs. Keep the undrawn heloc for emergency liquidity. If yall have large 401k/retirement account balances, private lending could be an option for you as well.
Post: 1099 Income Messed Up My Mortgage Plans—What Now?

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
DSCR loans for investment properties. For a new primary home purchase, youre probably stuck until you have at least 12 months of self employment unless you go back to a salaried W2 job. Once you have 12 months of SE and good income, bank statement/1099 loans may be an option.
Post: Issue with HOA being hostile to out of state investor and challenges with them.

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
I would seriously rethink this purchase. If youre already having problems now, just wait until youre six months in and the HOA is trying to lien your unit for every little infraction they can in an attempt to force you out. It sounds like this HOA is very mismanaged and run by karens who are treating the project as their own private kingdom (this is very common). There is 0 reason for them not have a budget and a system of financial accountability when they are managing other people's money. Your comments about the disrepair of the common areas that are the duty of the HOA point to mismanagement as well.
I deal with HOA purchases frequently, and in my experience, when you get pushback on required items like insurance, reserves, budget, etc, it's because these items dont exist/are not in order. What I also see frequently is this mismanagement leads to major issues down the road with insolvency of the project and/or massive increases in HOA fees and special assessments to cover years of neglect and deferred maintenance. All of these eventually lead to devaluation of the property.
Post: Refinancing rehab that we're moving into, is conventional best?

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Check with local credit unions about any portfolio programs they may have right now. Normally, I wouldnt recommend a credit union because they typically have horrific lending infrastructure and take 6-8 weeks to close a loan, but it sounds like you have the luxury of time since you already own the property. If youre under the gun and need to close quickly, work with a specialist lender or mortgage broker to refi into a Conventiona loan.
I probably wouldnt look at FHA unless you have very high DTI or bad credit. FHA loans are govt subprime and are very expensive for prime borrowers.
Post: Question about exit strategies

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
If you just want to exit the heloc, then a refinance will convert it into an amortizing loan to pay it down over the term of the new loan. A cashout refi would only help if you were getting the cash from another property's equity. Any refinance loan involving the property the heloc is currently on will roll the heloc balance into the new loan.
What happened to the funds that were drawn from the heloc?
Also, there's another thread on here about a bill that was just passed in California that is likely to impact helocs and other junior liens. I would immediately get a plan in place in case your Heloc gets called in the next few weeks.
Post: California AB 130 & SB 681. The Crazies Are at it Again.

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
Quote from @Alan F.:
Quote from @Jeff S.:
California SB 681 was intended to deal with problems surrounding zombie mortgages. It was poorly written and, if passed, would make all junior liens unenforceable in the state.
While a number of industry groups were working with the sponsor to rewrite the bill, the author instead pulled a fast one and buried three pages from it into AB 130, a 215-page budget trailer bill which has nothing to do with real estate.
These three pages, which must be removed, are an attack on lending in CA and will effectively make all junior liens unenforceable. This bill will cause damages for all borrowers in California including those who cannot refinance their low 1st mortgage and need to get a 2nd mortgage from the equity in their homes, HELOC, and many other borrowers in general. Likewise, this bill will send shockwaves of harm through the entire mortgage industry in California. We all have a dog in this fight and must deliver immediate opposition to all our corresponding representatives.
The California Mortgage Association (CMA) outlined key points to include in a message to your representatives:
- If the provisions of AB 130 involving subordinate liens are passed, it will make enforcing a junior lien completely impossible.
- If subordinate liens cannot be foreclosed upon in California, lenders will stop making junior liens and extending second-position lines of credit. In today’s housing market, with many people locked into 3% loans, this will make tapping into one’s home equity virtually impossible.
- Private trust deed investors, many on a fixed income, will find the 2nd liens that they invested in, unenforceable virtually overnight.
- Bill allows for retroactive setting aside of foreclosures sales from years ago, which is destabilizing to the real estate market.
You can watch Mr. Mike Belote, a lobbyist for the CMA and the United Trustees Association on June 25, 2025 zealously advocating for us here.
Conventional and private lenders alike have much to lose here, as well as our borrowers. Please take a few minutes to write your representative to add some sanity to AB 130.
Thanks for informing everyone. Crazies is an understatement.
On Monday Newsom signed "historic" legislation to "reform" CEQA. In the fine print you'll find that only union contractors will be rewarded, non-union is SOL. Over 80% of resi new builds are non union. The uni party gotta get that grift.
Grifters gonna grift.
Post: Using private funds to buy investment property and then doing delayed financing

- Lender
- Charleston, SC
- Posts 1,126
- Votes 945
For delayed financing, the new loan will be treated just like a purchase money mortgage. The funds for closing that are listed on the settlement statement will be sourced. Based on what you described, this transaction will not qualify for delayed financing. The lender will require sourcing on the payment from your parents, and neither a gift nor a loan from your parents will be allowable.
Another tidbit - this will vary between a Conventional loan vs a DSCR loan.
Lastly, what are you trying to accomplish here? You're putting 20% down at purchase, so why not just get a purchase money mortgage at the first closing?