All Forum Posts by: Matt Pich-Maxon

I am currently using www.theceshop.com

They had a sale and it only cost $84.

I can't compare it to other courses, but the price was right.

I live in Big Bear. We rented a 2 bed 2 bath in Big Bear City for $1350 when we first arrived last year (2017).  Your unit looks of similar quality, but not quite as updated (on the inside) as what we rented.  When we decided to break our lease, we had no shortage of people searching for long term units, however, many of the applicants were not able to meet the minimum 700 credit score threshold that the owner was looking for.  The owner did find a suitable candidate remotely however.

One thing to consider if you decide to rent annually, is that there is generally a dearth of long term rentals here for locals, however, many renters here have less than ideal credit. Long term units go very fast.

Additionally, many long term renters don't want a furnished unit or only partially furnished, so you may have to hold a yard sale or rent a truck and donate to one of the many 501c3 thrift stores here. 

Insurance can be much higher than $500 due to fire hazards -- the location of your property has a lot to do with the annual rate. Many companies simply refuse to offer insurance here. We pay $750/year, while people with similar houses and in the same general location, but with more trees around pay $1200/year. As an owner up here, you probably are already aware of this.

Please, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

I really appreciate the well thought out and helpful responses.  My apologies for not responding sooner... I was on an 8,000 mile road trip to look at various markets and I was not on the internet for much of the journey.

 Conventional/conforming (I'm not sure if there's a difference) with 5% down. No fha or other similar program.

We bought our primary residence 10/06/2017. We found a Duplex that we would like to buy and make into our new primary residence using a conventional loan.

I emailed a lender and she said I would need 70% LTV on our primary residence (soon to be rental) in order to qualify for a new owner-occupied loan?

Our DTI is 25%.

Anyone have experience with this? And/or can you recommend lenders for conventional loans that would not require this?

I know part of the answer will be to contact more mortgage brokers :)

Thanks,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngw-pm7OhSI&featur...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArUgnvnEyrY&featur...

I found this info to be useful as well .... Thanks for sharing @Matt Faircloth

@Dan H. @Storm S. @Katie L.

Thanks for your reasoned responses -- you've all given me things to consider.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer. 

As a side note, I did purchase the book from BP "Tax Strategies for the Savvy Investor" as I've found great info in all of the books I've purchased here.

Thanks for feedback. We're making the rehab work -- the roof is replaced and landscaping work is underway. I just bought some 5 point scrapers and a box of caulking. The goal is to have it ready for appraisal by the end of August....

@Ned Carey Thanks as well for the feedback. We've really been educating ourselves as to the local market.... where I didn't see any deals, after some education... I've found a lot of potential up here.... How's the Baltimore market?

@Aziz Raji I've read some of your deals for sale on the listings here. As a former Cream City resident, I'm interested in looking at deals there. Specifically, I'm looking at Riverwest (nothing too far West of Bremen) and West of Bay View, however, taxes seem somewhat high in WI. Any thoughts on taxes? How's the rental market in Brew City these days?

I would like to attend this event. Do you happen to know when the next meeting is?

Thanks,