All Forum Posts by: Phillip Faries

@Andy V.

I agree with everyone, you'll be stuck with that one realtor. 

The first deal i did, my realtor had me sign one. Little did i know she was terrible to deal with and i was stuck with her for 90 days, i had to figure everything out on my own as she never responded....... per the agreement, if i closed on a property not with her, she was entitled to commission regardless of if she was apart of the deal or not.

Hope this helps.

Hey @ Siraj Ahmed, 

The Meet up is every 3rd Tuesday of the month. See the link below:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/194...

Phillip

 Hi @AdamKerr, 

What are your questions?

Hi All, 

Does anyone use Rent Guarantee Insurance? Right now I'm holding around 6 months of expenses, just in case the tenant doesn't pay or if any repairs are needed. Currently my reserves are around $15k for 2 condos. (only responsible for maintenance on the inside)

My thought process is, rather than holding $15k in cash, if I'm able to buy Rent Guarantee Insurance, then I should be able to free up some of that cash (50%) for down payments or renovations, while still holding on to the other (50%) for any surprise repairs within the condos.

Any thoughts or advise on this strategy?

Phillip

Funny @Marcin Talage, being from Chicago I've heard the same thing. Even my real estate agent doesn't collect them for his properties. He's only been sued once in 18 years but the security deposit was what caused him to pay out.

Hi Shelly, 

First off Welcome to BP!!!

Where to start all depends on you and your goals.

What can you afford? What location do you want to invest in (close to home or 2 plus hours away).  Whats your goal/strategy Buy and Hold or Flipping?

Meet up with other investors. Start reading other peoples stories to get a feel of what you like, what works for one persons life style may not work for yours.

I'm currently in a buy and hold mode while learning as much as i can about flipping.

These are my steps:

1) Confirm what i can afford and Make sure Financing is in order

2) Find a place in a location i like, 

3) Run the numbers to make sure i am meeting my cash flow, fix-up, resale, and refinancing goals.

4) Put an offer in and hopefully close in my price range

5) Fix the place up and get it rented ASAP

6) In 6 months, Refinance and do it again.

Hope this helped!

 Thanks @Stephen, 

Interesting, i guess ill talk to my lender and see what he recommends when i mention "what if i write a letter"

 Thanks @Elizabeth, 

Hopefully with my reason of "i'll save $14k a year" will be good enough.....

Hey All, 

I'm trying to buy my 3rd property but don't want to pay the 20% down payment. I figured I would just move from my current place and rent it out, while moving into the new place, thus taking advantage of the 5% down payment. My mortgage broker just advised me that banks "lenders" don't like when an investor downgrades, in my case, going from a 2 bed in downtown Chicago to a 1 bed a little further out. Something about banks not trusting or believing that a Investor would want to downgrade and is only pretending to move to take advantage of the 5% down payment.

Nonetheless, I broke it all down, giving the reasons for wanting to move, I'll save 9k in mortgage payments, 2k in utilities, and make 3k cash flow renting my current condo, over all it's simply financial, what's so hard to understand that ........ But he thinks I'm not going to get approved for the 5% down payment loan and will need to do the 20% one.... Which I can't do as it will kill my cash reserves for my current properties.

Has anyone had issues with getting a 5% conventional load by downgrading to a smaller place.

Thanks for your help!

Hi BP nation,

I'm trying to buy my 3rd property but don't want to pay the 20% downpayment. I figured I would just move from my current place and rent it out, while moving into the new place, thus taking advantage of the 5% down payment. My mortgage broker just advised me that banks don't like when an investor downgrades, in my case, going from a 2 bed in the city to a 1 bed a little further out. Something about banks not trusting or believing that a Investor would want to downgrade and is only pretending to move to take advantage of the 5% down payment. 

Nonetheless, I broke it all down, giving the reasons for wanting to move, bacislly I'll save 9k in morgage payments, 2k in utilities, and make 3k cash flow renting my current house, amunst other reasons but it's simply financial, what's so hard to understand that ........ But he thinks I'm not going to get approved for the 5% downpayment loan and will need to do the 20% one.... Which I can't do as it will kill my cash reserves for my current properties.

Has anyone had issues with getting a 5% conventional load by downgrading to a smaller place.

Thanks for your help!