All Forum Posts by: Burt L.

I will be seeking either a 3% Conventional or 3.5% FHA loan. Credit is at 715-720 (720 is much better) but I will have a high DTI and can obtain a family cosigner with significant income and low debt.

My understanding is that FHA doesn't set the loan rates, but a FHA lender does and assesses the loan risk. I suspect that a conventional lender would be quicker to put me in a high risk category even with a cosigner and that an FHA lender would have to follow guildelines and would be more lenient on the "combined" DTI of myself and the cosigner - as a Conventilonal lender can have their own overlays, so to speak.

The permanent PMI isn't so attractive with an FHA loan. Is there any known difference on how Conventional treats DTI with a cosigner vs FHA. Conventional may not even allow a cosigner, for all I know. Thank you.

@Eric Miller

I certainly appreciate the suggestion about a new conventional program, without PMI. On a purchase price of $400K and 3% down (or 3.5% FHA) it appears I wouldn't meed the "Under 350K loan threshold".

The fact that ihat the purchase price is $120K or so under FMV doesn't seem to matter in any scenario, as described in the earlier posts by others. Thank you.

I certainly appreciate the replies - it has more moving parts than I'd thought as it seems that the property will be valued at the lessor of FMV or contract price.

Would I be able to have it appraised at current FMV (without rehab) if the owner landlord did an owner carry/sub-2 and title was already transferred to myself?

I suppose it would have to remain for six months in this situation for either conventional or FHA?

I'm leery to be in this situation again as an income property I finished rehabbing a year ago left me exposed to sharp rate increases and could only watch rates escalate higher. I would also be in this situation even with a short-term owner carry/sub-2. 

The goal of course is a small downpayment without mortgage insurance due to the baked-in equity that apprently can't be recognized in utilizing a single loan. I could also be set up for six months of rate increases doing two loans, as before. 

My landlord has offered to sell me the property I've rented for the past 9 years. The price is $400K and it is worth $700K with a fix and lower $500's as-is and is quite livable. I'm also in the real-estate business. 

I'd like to make the puchase and avoid mortgage insurance or MIP if an FHA. If I have 20% equity on appraisal on day one - can I avoid the mortgage insurance?

The appraiser will of course demand the purchase contract but I'd like to believe he can still go above the purchase price if value is present, even if an FHA appraiser.

Hello Nation,

The local Zillow rental listings have the drop by 90 percent once you fall to the second page, which takes two days -three days if very slow weekend listing traffic but few calls on weekends compared to weekdays anyway. 

How can a person bump their listings (also called updating them) back up again?

I see property management companies doing it regularly, with their same listings. I don't mind the fee, especially as Zillow is the category-crusher of  other rental sites and I"m not going to change that. 

If not rented in two days, you're done - and the setting a mutually agreeable appointment time, showing, getting applications filled out/returned and credit checks takes that long alone. 

Changing the availability date or language in the copy hasn't done anything that I've noticed either. I'm at a loss- thank you. 

 I should have added that the DUI' of one was in year 2020 with driving privileges restored, and the other I'm not sure of. I will certainly ask though. Both disclosed that they each had had one DUI, voluntarily,  but none came up on the background checks. 

I use MySmartMove, which is part of Trans Union. They break down the areas into Credit, Criminal, Eviction, and Income. I suppose that a DUI isn't considered a criminal act and so they didn't pick it up. 

I have two applicants for a unit at a 4 plex property that is up/down configuration. Each has had a disclosed DUI and their background checks should be back soon. Does their occupation raise any other items? I presume they will be coming home shortly after 2 am on work days. 

I've not had to face this choice before, though there are always decisions that haven't been faced in landlording beforehand. Thank you for any suggestions. 

I'm getting many responses on a property in Denver but the format for the tenant responses on Zillow seems weak. Potential renters simply check a box that says "I'm interested in viewing your property and am available at the following times..."

Not my first circus here, and I want to speak with the real human behind the inquiry before taking the time to schedule and meet with a potential tenant and just see what shows up and if they show up. I"d like to ask what date they are seeking occupancy for, how many persons, vehicles, etc before spinning my own wheels. 

I then call their number listed by Zillow and leave a VM offering to answer questions on the property and ask them to give me a call back concerning the property and typically don't get a response. It seems people want to hide behind the keyboard anonymously without human contact in a business that is still person-to-person. 

I consider posting in the ad something to the effect of "stand out from the crowd and call the lowly landlord for further info or to schedule a viewing - landlord is only responding to phone calls. I do ask for interested tenants to give me a call, in the ad, currently. 

How can I do this better? I'd sure like to duck behind my keyboard each time there is a maintenance issue for example, but it doesn't work that way! Opening my doors to unknown people I've never even spoken to doesn't seem very wise. 

WhIen speaking to insurance agents they ask me how much building coverage do I need? I have no idea but I'm told that $200 per sq ft is replacement cost in the greater metro area. 

Does appraised value or loan value have any relavance? An agent today said that a lender will want at least as much coverage as the amount of the loan but that they don't insure loans, just the structure and so the amount of the loan isn't relevant. But lender underwriting could have a loud voice on this, too.  For tax allocations purposes its often accepted that 20% of the value is allocated to non-burnable land which would indicate that 80% of the value of the entire property should be the building coverage policy amount. 

In my current case, I 'm also told that since the lower two units of the property are considered below grade even though only one side "has dirt" against these walkout level units, that I only have to insure the units above grade and not the lowers as they are considered basement space. 

What do experienced people usually choose as the value to insure for building coverage? There doesn't seem to be much standardization in this area and the agents seem to be looking to me -perhaps to overinsure - I don't know. 

Hearing the different viewpoints starts to make the headspin....What is the more-accepted practice?

I much appreciate the replies- insurance is an area most people don't really know what their coverage will actually be until its too late. 

Its certainly insightful to learn that the carriers move aggressively into certain areas each year or so and the pricing is always moving. I received some independent agent referrals and am looking into those. Otherwise it would be hard to navigate as there are so many independent agents and its hard to navigate through other than lobbing darts at all their business listings.