All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

I had a little bit of a hard time understanding your question, but if I understood it correctly then my opinion is that the new property would be essentially 100% financed. Here's my understanding of your question and my reasoning (using made up rounded-off numbers/percentages):

You already own rental property #1 (RP #1).

You want to buy rental property #2 (RP #2) for $100,000.

You take out a new mortgage for 80% ($80,000) of the cost to buy RP #2.

You do a cash out refi on RP #1 for the other 20% ($20,000) needed to buy RP #2.

You now have $100,000 to buy RP #2. However, all of this money is financed. Additionally, all of this money would be considered debt service (and deductible against) RP #2 (including the $20k you pulled out of RP #1).

Consequently, I would consider RP #2 to be 100% financed.

It's creative, but it won't work. Even with good credit, there's no way your wife will qualify on her own with no income. So you'll have to apply jointly with her. Plus, even if she did have an income and could qualify on her own, she'd have to falsify the part where she states that she intends to occupy the home as her primary residence. Not a good idea to lie.

You can still get really good interest rates right now even on investment properties. Granted, you'll have to save up for a bigger down payment, but aside from that you can get rates in the low 4%'s. Maybe just try to save up some more so you can take advantage of these killer rates. Or do like some people and wholesale a few deals until you get the cash built up.

You're going to have a hard time getting a conventional loan for an investment property with only 5% down. You can try to "make" it whatever you want, but in the end it is what it is.

Two questions for you: 1) Do you intend to personally use (stay in) this property at all? And 2) How far away (in miles) will it be from your primary residence?

If you intend to personally stay in it, then MAYBE it could be a vacation home. If you intend to stay in it some times and rent it out other times, then it's going to be considered "mixed use" and you'll have to pro-rate your deductions. If you don't intend to stay in it but say that you will, then that's considered lying.

In regards to how far away it is from your primary residence, if it's in the same city (or very close to it), then it's not going to be considered a vacation home.

I've chosen not to rent to criminals in general, especially serious offenders.

That being said, Rob K brings up a very good point. If you rent to one in a multi-family property, you risk losing all of your other tenants and/or making it harder to attract new tenants in the future. Hardly seems worth the risk.

Great outcome to your story. :) I hate thieves.

Probably one of the more popular ones is Craigslist.

Here's another online source for info on the subject (again, for California landlords). This one is written by a landlord-tenant attorney.

http://www.yourlegalcorner.com/articles.asp?cat=land&id=115

Not so fast. Check your state laws before you decide whether or not to allow a daycare. Most people don't know this, but in some states (like mine - California) the tenant does NOT need the landlord's persmission to run a home daycare. They only have to advise you that they are operating one.

Here's some info on the subject (for California landlords):

http://www.childcarelaw.org/docs/qanda-landlords.pdf

She can have a remote, just like she can have a key to your house. Whether or not she can go in without your knowledge is covered by local law and your lease. It's likely, that absent an emergency, that she cannot go in unannounced. Refer to your lease though to be sure.

On a side note, if I were you I would change the code to the garage opener. It's easy enough to do by holding down the button on the side and clicking the remote to reset the code. It may very well be that another device/opener is inadvertently opening your garage door, and/or it's a defective opener. Either way, if you change the code and you continue to find it open, you'll be able to narrow down the cause.

Welcome Derrick Brooks. I know what you mean...there's lots to read here. Lots of good info though.