All Forum Posts by: Zachery Hitchcox

Thank you all for the great responses and it makes sense. I definitely understand I won't be get a long term approval, but I'll need to go back to them and let them know that this is only for pre-approval and not an actual loan application. It has been about 9 years since I have gone through the loan process so I'm pretty rusty. 

Quote from @Miranda Holland:

It depends. Being that you're looking for a property through a realtor, chances are you will have time to find financing after you find a house.  However, it is good to already have your financing in place in case someone else is looking at the same property you're looking at.  

With that being said, check to see how long the pre-qualification is good for with each lender. If it's only good for 30 days, you might want to wait. If it's good for 6 months and you expect to find something by then, getting prequalified is a good thing 

 Thanks for the advice. I'll check out the length of the approval. I was just worried about paying application fee, submitting all the paper work, and then getting locked in with a single lender. So hopefully this is normal to do prior to finding a deal. 

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

I had to look this one up! The poster says he is in Japan. He references Strata which is Canadian for condo/HOA and says he is looking to buy in FL! Looks like there is Strata Group in FL.

I don’t know if you are in Japan or in the US. If outside of the country get your financing arranged well in advance of making an offer. Having represented out of the country buyers, I can tell you that having a crystal clear “this is where my money is coming from to buy your property” attached to your offer is crucial. If the seller doesn’t understand your bank statements or doesn’t trust the source of financing they’ll move on to the next best offer even if yours is cleaner otherwise.

Thanks for the response. I'm a US govt contractor working for the DoD out here in Japan. I'm not sure about the Canada company, but yes, the Strata Group is the one in Florida I've been talking to. I'm in a good situation where I have my living expenses covered through my employer, so looking to invest the additional w2 income. 

Hello everyone!

I currently have 2 properties, but those were financed as a primary home many years ago. I'm beginning my investment property journey and I had a possibly simple question regarding "order of events". 

Where I am at: Been talking to an agent from Strata Group Reality and others trying to lock down a good one in the central Florida area to proceed forward with. Also, I have spoken to my bank as well as some recommended lenders and just getting an idea of what kind of loan I can get and how much. Still searching for deals on buy-and-hold rental properties, but have not found anything to pursue as of yet. 

Working with a lender at Home 1st Lending in Florida, I needed to fill out a bunch of information on my finances as expected to see what I can get. However, its at the point where I need to submit copies of driver's license, social security card, bank statements, etc. Navy Federal Credit Union also wants to charge for a loan application fee and start going through that process. 

If I haven't even found a property worth pursuing yet, is this too early to be doing this? Are these lenders just trying to lock me in with them before its the appropriate time? Been a while since I financed property and it's the first time I've done a pure investment property. Advice here is appreciated. 

Thank you,

Zachery

Hello Jonathan,

Have 2 properties in Las Vegas and looking to expand out to the Florida market, particularly north of Orlando (as my research has led me). So far, the agents that have been responsive and their lenders have a little over 1 year of experience according to the NMLS lookups. Seems like this is something that is coming up quite a bit as I imagine a lot of people dove into real estate in the boom the last year or 2. Is this a big red flag to stay away from as their experience is based on an overinflated market, or did the huge workload over the last 2 years may actually give these relatively new agents some good skills? 

Quote from @Ricardo Hidalgo:

Quote from @Serge DuLaudAllemans:

Hi all, I've been doing some research lately on the real estate market and most professionals on YouTube and articles being written are on the pessimistic side of things. Most of the advice out there right now is that it is a terrible time to buy since everything is over valued. I hear prices are going to come down and it would be better to wait for them to come down rather than buying now. I would love to hear the opinion of some of you in this forum and website. Thanks

 They do that to get views.... how many YouTubers actually own a large portfolio with a strong sales background in real estate? In addition, they are using click bait to sell more of their courses or programs. Everyone has been speculating a crash since covid and since we are entering into another chapter of volatility, they are using the market for their own benefit. An adjustment will come, but a crash is unlikely. 

 Over the last few months, the deals have been few and far between for a beginner investor like me. However, I can see the dip down right now and deals are starting to get better. Based on the great info here at biggerpockets and other research, a crash doesn't seem likely. The inventory still isn't there and it looks like we are just seeing corrections in overinflated parts of the US right now. The other good thing for us buy and hold investors is that rent rates are going up, and values are correcting. In my opinion, it looks like a good time to buy....if the right deal comes across. Keep searching, keep analyzing. 

Quote from @Bill B.:

You need to find a new “everyone”. You don’t listen to the guy that rides the bus about what kind of car to buy, don’t listen to the person that doesn’t own any rental properties about when you buy. 

NOT ONE person told me it was a good time to buy after the big crash in Vegas. EVERY SINGLE PERSON warned of the next crash or further crashing. You couldn’t explain to them that you were putting down`$25k on a $100k house, the tenant would pay for the rest. Did they think houses were going form ``$300k to under `$25k?

Take a survey of this “everyone”. Ask them if they think houses will be cheaper in 10 years than today. If so, stop listening to that person. :-). If not, then you both agree buying today isn’t a mistake. Hoping for future lower prices isn’t a plan. It has cost millions of Americans the opportunity to EVER own a home over the last few years. They listened to EVERYONE about the coming housing crash and didn’t buy. Now they can’t and probably never will be able to afford to buy. They would jump at the opportunity to pay the “insane prices” of 2019 or 2020. 

Completely agreed Bill. I also bought in vegas after "everyone" said not to. Bought in 2008 and 2013, not complaining at all with the great equity in each property. Like many people have said here, if the numbers work, they work. Each area around the US seems to have its own micro-market and it might be very hard to find a deal where you are looking, but its a big country and they are out there.