All Forum Posts by: Jon Holdman

Our move to Seattle is coming to a head.  We have a house on Mercer Island under contract.  Its an older house (built 1970, yes, I'm aware of possible lead paint and aluminum wiring issues) and does need some updates.  Very livable as is.  But does need some work both quickly and later.  Any recommendations for folks that could do these items?

1. Deck repairs.  Not really sure of the extent of the work, but much more than just a few boards.
2. Replace windows and doors.
3. Replace cooktop (short term) and completely redo kitchen (longer term.)
4. Pull out carpet and install laminate flooring or something similar in basement.
5. Clean and treat the shake roof.
6. Replace water heater
7. Replace gas furnace

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Typing that out it does seem like a long list.  But we have a bunch of requirements (ok, desires, really) for a house.  We lost out on a house in Kirkland to an all cash offer.  And another one in Queen Anne that was already being inspected Sunday night after the open house.  We've looked at everything that fit our long list of requirements and was in our budget.  This one isn't perfect, but is a good compromise for what we want and the work we're willing to do after buying.

Shout out to @Jake Alger for helping us make this happen!

Sorry, @Account Closed, I missed your reply.  That was just when the packing chaos started.  The relo company did manage to find us a place and now we're in house hunting mode.

When I sign a lease the tenants hand me a full month's rent and the full security deposit in cash or money order and I hand them the keys.  Its their unit as of that moment.  

If we agree to take a unit off the market and hold it I use an "agreement to hold".  It requires an amount equal to the security deposit.  If the prospect signs the lease by the agreed upon date, the hold money becomes the deposit.  If not, I keep it and resume marketing.  The hold agreement says "nonrefundable" multiple times in large, bold letters.

The limits on conventional mortgages have to do with the number of mortgaged properties, not the number of conventional loans. Once you have 10 mortgaged properties, regardless of the details of the mortgages, you will be unable to get new conventional loans.  So, start with those, then go to commercial only if required.

You should assume you will need to pay off the first, including any back payments, late fees, and legal fees.  Be aware, too, that the first mortgage holder is unlikely to give you any information about the loan without an authorization form signed (and maybe notarized) by the borrower.

Or learn to use Excel or a similar application.  There are Excel like apps available for your phone.  Or find a mortgage calculator app for your phone.

Regardless of the spouse being on the lease or not, the spouse is the next of kin, not the children.  End of story.

First, its not the case that the "federal government" has imposed a 10 mortgage limit.  The situation is more complicated than that.  Many residential mortgages are purchased by the quasi-governmental entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  They has a set of rules that mortgages must meet for them to be able to buy a mortgage.  Mortgages that meet these rules are called "conforming mortgages."  This arrangement - lender make loans then sell the loan to Fannie or Freddie - is why we have 30 year fixed rate residential mortgages.  These mortgages usually have the best terms, which is why they're desirable for investors.

One of the Fannie/Freddie rules is that they will not buy a mortgage if the borrower already has 10 mortgaged properties.  (Not 10 mortgages, 10 mortgaged properties.)  The effect of this rule is that once you have 10 mortgaged properties you cannot get any more conforming loans.

If both you and your wife can qualify, each can get 10 conforming loans.  But each would have to qualify on their own income.

Another of the Fannie/Freddie rules is that the borrower must be an individual or individuals.  No entities, like LLCs.

You can get as many loans as you want. There is not hard 10 loan limit. But once you have 10 mortgaged properties you won't be able to get a conforming loan. There are lenders that do "portfolio loans". These loans are held by the lender in their portfolio of investment assets rather than being sold to Fannie, Freddie, or some other investor. Such loans probably won't be 30 year fixed rate loans. If they are fixed rate, fully amortized loans they will have a shorter term, like 15 years. More commonly they will be ARM loans or have balloon payments.

There is no public way to find out what's owed on a property.  Public records may show original loan terms and amount borrowed, and from that you can estimate the remaining balance.  That assumes they borrower has been paying according to the terms.  No extra payments, no late payments, etc.

You almost certainly need a better contract.  There's a reason state Realtor contracts are multiple, legal size pages with fine print.  There may well be sections of your state contract that don't apply to your deal.  But there is almost certainly a number of sections in that contract that are missing from yours.  These one pagers are guru malarkey meant to make this seem easy and simple.  But they have so many gaps that they barely do anything at all.  At least have a look at the state contract.  It probably has a section to cover this situation