All Forum Posts by: Tchaka Owen

@Tashina Taylor:

1. What is the root of your desire to refinance? Is your rate poor?

2. You're not going to have to pay rent, thus stand to bring in $1300-1400/month that will help pay off your debts and you're not sure what to do? Hmm....

@Tashina Taylor- to me, this is a very easy decision. What's your hesitation to rent it?

1. You have a place to move to, let's assume it's the same price as your current mortgage. If you sell and move, you're still paying the same each month. If you rent the home, the renter will pay the mortgage and you'll have cashflow of $500/month.

2. Commit the $500/month to your debts. That way your renters are paying it off for you and you're maintaining (and possibly increasing) your equity in the home.

3. If the home has appreciated so much, call the lender and ask that the MI be removed. As long as you've owned it 2 years and have (I believe) 22% equity, they're required to remove it.

Good luck!

I don't know about the best blogger, however I really appreciate @Jay Hinrichs and @Russell Brazil for their responses. They have great knowledge and are willing to share. 

@Jeremy Johnson - selling at or above list price isn't necessarily relevant; many of the homes I list do. Why? Because I price them to sell. The question that's more relevant is where they're being sold in relation to ARV. Yes, OOS buyers are paying a premium, however that doesn't mean everyone is doing so. That said, if you are able to mobilize people to NOT invest in Indy, I won't object. :-D

@Eden Pogiro - if you intend to do rehabs from Israel, you might want to find a partner in addition to an agent. Your request #2 is something most agents would be wise to avoid. All it takes is one estimate to be off and a relationship issue develops.

@Gil Keren - you appear to be confusing "putting a home under contract" with "close on it". The former can take minutes, the latter is usually 7 days minimum.....realistically 2 weeks. Title and lien searches, etc need to be done. What you might do is plan a trip for a few days and schedule as many properties as you can during that time. Best of all, it gives you an idea of what the neighborhoods look like. I was in Indy this past Thu-Sat and previewed at least 16 properties. I'm slowly become familiar with the place, strongly suggest you do the same.

@Gil Keren - I was in Lawrence Twp two days ago and the area I went to seemed totally fine. One issue to keep in mind is that permitting for work can be a pain. As in absolute pain.

Do you care to share the details here, Omar? I was in Hollywood for over 12 years and I am not aware of any 2/1s in the past half decade that will generate $500 positive cashflow. 

Also, how did you get a non owner-occupied loan for only 10% down? I'd like to add that lender to my contacts. Thanks.

@Daniel Abt - actually, it made (makes) a lot of sense. What doesn't make sense is the notion of "in a market like Miami".....Miami is not immune to fluctuations. 

Here's a quick version of what's gone on: supply (particularly of condos) in Miami was up prior to Covid. There are different segments and I can't recall all numbers, however I do know that luxury in South Beach was around a 2 year supply. It was less in other segments and areas, but still what we'd consider "Buyers Market". For some reason though, many agents kept pushing the notion that the market's hot, prices are rising, etc, etc....perhaps they weren't reading the data properly. Just before Covid hit, we noticed that trend moving up to Broward (it seems to always start in Miami-Dade and move north). Covid put the brakes on listings as there was concern about spread. But that didn't stop all buying, so with limited additional supply we get a quasi-Sellers Market. Now that things are slowly getting back to normal, true market conditions will prevail. There will be downward pressure on prices for a year or two - nothing drastic, just an adjustment while things iron themselves out.

@Sheila Grullon - tough call! The reason to sell is that the condo market has been moving towards buyers and Covid has merely put a halt to that, but once we get that under control, there's a very good chance sellers will flood the market again. Thus chances are that prices will go down a tad. That's good reason to sell now.

On the flip side, your place is in Harbordale which is desirable and still affordable (given that it's east of US1). You can walk to eat, ride your bike to the beach and a short Uber to most places. I don't know your building's rules on AirB&B, however it would certainly be set in the right location. I bet you'd easily get cruisers staying there - it's right near Port Everglade.