All Forum Posts by: Joe Boggin

I would love to sell my primary residence. 

However I cannot afford to juggle two mortgages. A friend of mine made an offer on a property contingent upon selling his primary and I'm guessing that is the preferred way to approach this. My question is geared towards the costs associated with closing and acquiring...

Let's say I list my property for $258,000 and we accept an offer for $250,000. if I sold a property for $250,000 what would I walk away with after all associated fees ( commissions, closing costs etc?!). 240k? 235k? 230k?  We live in New Jersey by the way. 

The reason I am wondering what I walk away with it is because I'm trying to factor in the total acquisition cost of selling my property and. purchasing another property.  The amount of money that I walk away with it if I sell for 250 obviously is my down payment on the new property. But I'm guessing closing costs on the new property are going to be close to 10 or $15,000.  15,000 to sell my property and $15,000 to buy a property is a swing of close to $30,000 in costs having nothing to do with the purchase price or down payment. The amount of money I can put down property and my debt to income all factor into the cost associated with selling my primary and closing cost with purchasing a new home.  Maybe my numbers are not accurate but if the costs associated with closing on a new home and the cost associated with selling my primary come out to be $30,000 I have to factor that $30,000 on top of my down payment for the new property?! 

I work in the inner-city. I've spent the past 15 years of my life there. I'm comfortable with the people and with the neighborhood. My first property I purchased for 17,000 and was rented a month later for $750. Taxes are 650 a year I'm only responsible for the water bill and my insurance is around 50 bucks a month. The property was never vacant and the only repairs I had to do was replace the kitchen faucet and sheet rock. 

My second property I purchased was a foreclosure and the bank was asking 15,000. I Offered the bank 6000 and they accepted. My contractor estimates I will need about 3 to 5000 in total repairs to get the place rentable. A conservative estimate will have me all in at around 11,000 and the place will rent for 650. Taxes are 500 insurance will be around 50 and the water bill is going to be my responsibility but extremely inexpensive because it's only a two bedroom 890 ft.² row home.  I used to super check for my credit card to acquire the house with 0% interest for 12 months. Even if my repair cost hit the $7000 mark I'm still all in for 13k and I should cash flow 450-500 month.  

There is another property that I have the option to purchase. A gentleman bought the place but ran out of finances and he's willing to take 15k for the property but there still at least 10,000 worth of repairs needed. Even a 25k for the place will rent for 750 a month. I might use another super check to acquire this property and finance the repairs at my own schedule when my personal budget will allow. 

Assuming there is no mortgage for people's investments at what point would you be turned off from a project that cash flows at 4 to 500 per month? I guess I mean what is the most amount of money you would come out of your pocket either to cash flow 4-500 month?  Should I try to purchase this third rental?  Would you use a credit card at 0% for a year just to take advantage of the promo rate and use the rental income to pay the bill? I will greatly go into my savings and probably only have a cushion of about eight months living expenses but I should be able to increase my household income in the long run. I guess I need validation for my approach to buy and holds.  I would like to get it at some 15 properties cash flowing 500 per month. I own two properties free and clear I'm only 35 but the third one is right under my belt. 

@k.marie poe - you really would bet the owner, being of sound mind and body, would forget actually selling a property?  i first reached out to the owner in november, then we spoke again in december, and the deal was actually agreed upon in late january...thats when i pulled title and found out the property was sold in december to a woman.   it was an extreme coincidence the property was "sold" at the same time i was interested in the property.  the property was probably on the radar of some criminals only because it was certified for a tax sale, which could take 18 months to sell in phila (ask me how i know this:)...

the deed that i have been emailed by the title company i used to pull the title, is digitized, not the original.  its a legit deed recorded by the city.  there are time stamps and dates it was recorded.  but the city of philadelphia recorder of deeds office has no gate keeper to check deeds.  they are a dumping ground.  the record deeds presented to them in recordable form.  this deed was in recordable form.  

for names sake im making up names here.  the property belongs to David and John. David and john have owned the property for 30 years.  John passed away and the property is in Davids name.  David is the sole owner because when the deed when transfered to the brothers 30 years ago it had a right of survivorship.  if something happened to one brother, the property would belong to the other brother.  the deceased brother who passed away in 2013 is off the deed and off the cities record but apparently he came back from the grave and signed the bill of sale and deed over to a woman.  it boggles my mind the city doesnt event check to see who is the proper deed holder or not.

a title company was not used.  no money was placed in escrow. the notary whose name is on the deed states he did not notarize the deed.   

this is a long read and i apologize.  but this story is complete with criminal elements and creative resolve.  please offer assistance.

i want to purchase a vacant property in philadelphia to expand my business.  right now, my business is located next to the vacant property.  the property has been vacant for 8 years.  the vacant property is in bad shape.  the vacant property has back taxes.  the vacant property owner is long gone, until 3 months ago.

i found him and asked if he wanted to sell.  he said sure.  we worked out numbers and we agreed on a deal.  i told him i would give him X amount of dollars and i would assume all the debt attached to the property etc.  he was fine with that.  i told the owner i will run title and get back to him when the title search comes back.  the title came back.  

apparently, the house was sold one month ago.  the title company sent me a digitized deed that shows the property owner (who i have been negotiating with) signing over the property to a woman for 7k.  i told the property owner and he said he has never sold the house, he has never met the woman and he sure as hell hasnt received 7k.  the deed was recorded in philadelphia at the recorder of deeds and notarized by a local notary.

in philadelphia, the recorder of deeds records a deed in recordable form. Poof you just got your house stolen! you can have a paper typed up and notarized on the top of a used washer and dryer and the city will record the deed and its up to the correct property owner to prove that he did not sell the house!  how the F*** is that??  

the property owner and i are both stunned.  we have been having several discussions on how to resolve this.  the property owner has contacted the philadelphia sheriff and the District Attorney.  in order to resolve this, it seems you need to file a motion to quiet title. the motion will go in front of a judge and probably go to trial, even if its not contestable.  the judge would want us to prove how the transaction is fraudulent.  for starters, one of the signatures dated 12-14 if from a man who passed away in 2012 (the property owners brother).  second, the notary who notarized this deed, who i confronted denied notarizing the deed and says its a fraud stamp.  point being, if we present our case to a judge im sure it will be easy for us to prove it was fraud, but it will take over a year and maybe close to 3-5k just to go through the courts. 

my point with this rant, is to try to come up with a plan to get this woman to sign the property back over to the correct property owner without going to court.  the lawyers said, this deed conveyance was done out of court and it can be reversed out of court, as long as you can get the woman to sign it back over.  

now it gets funny, i received a phone call from this woman three days ago.  rememeber my business is next door.  she called me and asked me if i wanted to buy the vacant property.  she claims she bought the house from the owner three months back and they went to a lawyers office in downtown phila to do the transaction.  she has no idea that i am like months and months into this property and i already ran title a while ago that shows a signature from a dead guy and signed by a notary who denies signing it and she has no idea that i have been speaking to the REAL property owner for months.  i  played dumb like "Yea sure im interested, can i come and see the house?"  she invited me over and the house def looked like it has been vacant for 8 years.  trash and demo and no electricity and no sinks and pipes everywhere etc. i recorded the conversation.  she wants 50k for the house she stole.

i recorded the conversation.  i have her name and number and she is expecting me to call her shortly.  she claims to have other people interested which i doubt.

if i tell her in my next visit that i know she has stolen the property and she better sign it back or risk going to jail, she will vanish back into the streets and never come to philly and the house will drift back into the worm hole that philadelphia is known for.  i need to get her to sign this house back to the real property owner voluntarily but i need it all done at the same time so she cant run away.  im thinking of getting cops and lawyers and confront her like ummmm sign this document and we will all walk away without incident or you will have the district attorney issuing a warrant for your arrest if you dont cooperate.  

the house is important to me.  its worth it.  its my business's future.  

thoughts?  i will exchange my number in a private message to somebody that can offer assistance.  thanks for the read!

i'm actually not confused by the ratios I do understand how to calculate my own ratios. I have a couple friends that own their own mortgage companies and from what I gather the max ratios that lenders will lend for conventional 30 yr are around 45. I was told someone would lend up to 50 if compensating factors were adequate. 

Lenders use gross income to calculate lending power. However homeowners take-home 70% of their gross income roughly.  Am I missing something?  I know everybody gets taxed returns and write offs but it just seems like the lending structure really needs adjustments. 

what happens if you have been making the interest only payments on a HELOC for 10 years and then life throws a curve ball? lets say over the course of 10 years you lost your job and you cant afford what the payments have ballooned to after the interest only payments ceased. what happens? the bank takes the property that secured the loan? if it is a rental property that secured the loan, will they go after your primary or just the rental?

Let's take an average working class guy. He makes 60k a year and has a mortgage and a car note.  10k in liquid savings and some bedroom cash for dinners with the wife. 

If he decides to get into real estate, he will need to borrow. Banks will evaluate his earnings and debt and his ratios. Best case scenario a bank will loan him 50k for a small single family rental that earns 200/door. Now he is in the rental game. But how do you move on?  How does an average guy get multiple units? Who will lend to a guy with middle class salary and two mortgages car note etc?  for an average guy, two mortgages will throw his ratios through the roof!! How can you obtain more units?  It takes some time to use that rental income on a loan?  Taking out a line of equity will increase your ratios even further?  What am I missing?  

Is it me or is the guy with 50-70 rentals, have a 200k a year salary and lives in a tent so he can extend his borrowing power to buy units?  Refis or equity lines that are taken out of one property to buy the next all increase ratios and eventually will cap your purchasing?  

title work won't be 1k but acquisition costs will be around 1k. I'm including costs to record the deed and UO and transfer tax and the title policy. 

I am married. My wife is a very successful supervisor and her industry. I am a business owner. She likes to invest her money in stocks and bonds. I like to invest my money in real estate. 

I am waiting for seller to clear title for a foreclosed home that I just purchased. The listing agent send me over documents about how I'd like the deed to be recorded. I don't know if there's pros and cons of checking a certain type of way the deed should be recorded?? I am purchasing the house myself my wife is not on the contract nor the deed.  My options are tenants by entirety or joint tenants with rights of survivorship or tenants in common... If applicable community property separate property. 

I don't know what these mean??

for the record, i contacted the philadelphia water department and the philadelphia gas company.  there are no liens there.  philadelphia electric doesnt attach liens.  real estate taxes are paid to date as well.  i need to contact the sewer department and that should cover anything local...

seach homes in the 19133-19134 and you will see what im getting into:)