All Forum Posts by: Ryan Schwartz

@Chris Mason thank you for the info

@Ross Denman thank you for the input!

Hi All,

So I've always had a pretty solid credit score and thus never had to develop a skill set to improve my fico score other than paying things off and making regular payments.  My wife, however, is a different story.  I bought my first property by qualifying on my own, however now we will need her income to qualify to buy our second property.  Her score won't keep us from getting a loan, but it is significantly under the 740+ benchmark that will get us into the best situation with a lender.  There are several late payments and one item (a tiny medical bill overlooked) that went to collections and was paid immediately when she realized she had not paid it.  These are all 5-6 year old marks on her credit score.  After 7 years I believe they'll fall off, but is there a way to get the lenders/creditors to take them off before hand?  I've heard about good will adjustments.  Does that work?  I'll take any advice anyone has for me.  Thank you in advance!

Thank you so much for the advice David.  Awesome tip on the paperclip over the staple increasing the open rate.  I will also be sure to handwrite.

Hello all,

Brand new to bigger pockets here. I am a part time real estate agent. My full time job has a non traditional schedule and I have several days a week off which allows me enough time to be an effective agent even though I'm part time. I've been doing it for a few years now and definitely know my way around a transaction. My broker is my cousin, so I have a great resource in my corner as well. Anyway, I digress... I'd like to buy a "move up" property for my family and keep my current home as a rental. The market here in CA is absolutely brutal for buyers right now. For example, the last listing I had got over 10 offers in under a week, including cash. Just being a financed buyer, even though my income, DTI, FICO and asset situation is strong, I feel like I'll have a hard time competing. I am going to attempt to find my own seller off the market and create my own deal. Not only can I get it at a slight discount because there will be no commission for a seller to pay, but I'm looking to eliminate to competition this way. My wife and I have a couple of our "dream" neighborhoods picked out. I'm curious as to what the best strategies are for identifying potential properties, how to approach the homeowners (letter, door to door, a written offer, etc) and how to write a fair and solid price (I'm thinking full price offer based on comps minus 6% because of no commission but throwing in some cash or creditiing closing costs to the seller to sweeten the deal a little bit. I'll take any and all advice. Thank you!