personal finance

So you want to buy a house.

Unless you have all cash, you are going to need to obtain a loan – called a mortgage.

So how do you get a mortgage?

Whether it is for an investment, a personal home, or any other reason – mortgages in today’s market can be tricky and difficult to obtain. However, mortgages are not a mystery and the rules are fairly straightforward when trying to obtain a mortgage. This post is going to look at the top three different areas that a lender is going to analyze before saying “yes!” to your mortgage request.

  1. Your Credit –  This is most widely known and the easiest of the bunch to understand. Your credit score is a number given by one-of-three private scoring companies. Your score is determined using computer-driven algorithms that take into consideration the amount of debt you have, the amount of late payments you have had, the length you have had that debt for, and several other factors.   A credit score can range between 300-850.  Lender’s want to know they are making a safe investment lending you money, so before applying for a mortgage, make sure your credit is at least 640. The higher your credit score, the lower you will pay on your loan.
  2.  Your Debt-To-Income:  This number is a ratio that looks at the amount of monthly debt you have compared to the amount of income you make. In other words, a lender looks at all the loans you have (credit card minimum monthly payments, auto loan monthly payments, other mortgages minimum monthly payments, etc) plus the monthly payment on the new loan and divides it by the total gross income you make per month.  For example, if I have a $300 car payment, $100 in credit card payments, and I am looking to pay $800 per month on my new mortgage, my total debt would be $1200 per month ($300+$100+$800).   If my total gross (before taxes are taken out) income for the month is $3800, my debt-to-income ratio is $1200/$3800 or roughly 32%.   In order to qualify for a mortgage, make sure your total debt-to-income percentage is below 50%, but ideally below 40%.
  3. Loan-to-Value: The loan-to-value (also called LTV) is another ratio that looks at the amount of the loan you are trying to get compared to the total value of the property. Generally speaking, the difference between the loan amount and the value is going to be your down payment. For example, if a property is worth $100,000 and you put down 20% and obtain a loan for $20,000 – the “loan-to-value” would be 80%.  This number is also important when you try to “refinance” a home.   What is an acceptable LTV? It differs widely between lenders and programs, but for a normal loan lenders do not like to loan at higher than 80%.  However, if you use an FHA loan (a loan guaranteed by the US Government), you can get up to 96.5% loan to value.

If you fall within the guidelines of the three areas above, there are still several other features that a bank will looks at before giving you money. For one, they like to see consistency at your job. If you recently (within two years) changed jobs, getting a loan can be much more difficult. Also, if you have never used any “credit” before, obtaining a loan can be difficult as well. Finally, remember that each lender has different programs and even within the same programs some mortgage professionals are simply much more competent and can help you get the loan you want.  If you are interested in buying a home for yourself, your first step is to talk with a mortgage professional. The meeting is always free and you will learn exactly what you will qualify for.

 

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.

(This article is part two in a two-part series on stocks versus real estate)

Last time, I discussed the idea of the “hero stock” and why the idea of “just picking that one special stock” is absurd and dangerous to your money.

In an answer to this gamble, many financial advisers recommend a diversified (spread out) portfolio, using mutual funds to spread out risk over dozens or hundreds of large companies. This definitely spreads out the risk of losing all one’s money on a company that goes out of business.  The stock market on average over the past 40 years has provided an average return of around 10% per year. Stock salesmen love to point to this number and tell you that this return is better than anything you could get in real estate. Just give them all your money, plus their commissions, and they will provide for your future.

The problem is – with stocks and mutual funds, you are giving up the most important part of your ability to make money – your brain. You are completely dependent upon forces out of your control to make money. Yes, the stock market has traditionally provided a generally stable return, but this return is miniscule to what you could earn in real estate.  Are mutual funds better than nothing? Yes!  Anything is better than burying your money in the ground (or a checking account). An average return of 10% is better than losing money to inflation. However, average returns are for average investors.

By reading articles like this one – it is clear you are not a typical “bury in the ground” or average investor. You want more.  Real estate investing will give you more. Why? One word: leverage. Leverage is the ability to use borrowed money make you money. When you buy a stock, $20,000 lets you buy $20,000 worth of stock. With real estate, however, $20,000 will let you purchase $100,000 or more worth of property (or $500,000 if it is your personal home).

Lets look at an example.

You have $20,000 this year to invest. You want to decide between buying diversified stocks or real estate. Let’s look at both:

  1. $20,000 invested for 10 years and receiving an annual interest rate of 10% could be worth $54,140.86 – a gain of about $34,000. Not to bad. This equates to an average annual gain of almost 17%.
  2. You purchase a newer three-bedroom, two bathroom home in a family neighborhood for $100,000.  You put a down payment of $20,000 (the sellers pay closing costs). Total mortgage payment (on the resulting $80,000 at a 5% bank loan) is $430 per month. The home rents for $1200 per month.  After paying taxes, insurance, a maintenance guy to fix stuff when it breaks, and a other incidentals, you cashflow about $450 per month or $5400 per year. Putting this money back into the loan (not that you would have to, but to compare apples to apples from the stock scenario above), after ten years you will owe nothing on the loan.  Zip. Zero. Additionally, property in the US has appreciated at an average of 3% per year. So, you now own a property that is worth $135,000. Even taking out your initial investment and the cost it would take to sell, you have over $100,000 in equity, equating to a 50% return on investment – three times higher than that of the mutual funds. This 100,000 can now be used to invest in something bigger, better, and with more value.

At the risk of sounding too biased, there are drawbacks to real estate investing.  For one, the money is not liquid. This means that if you suddenly wanted to pull out all your money, it would take time.  Stocks are much easier to get in and out with.  Additionally, stocks do not require any extra leg work. You don’t need to drive by the stock, get phone calls from the stock, or evict a stock.  However, personally I could not invest in something that I couldn’t materially participate in. Perhaps its a lack of trust in others, but I want to have complete control over the destiny of my money. When I make or lose money, I want to make it or lose it by something I did or didn’t do.

This scenario is not a once in a lifetime deal or even a great deal. It is a very conservative look at investing. I believe in maximizing return by purchasing properties well below their value, adding tens of thousands of dollars in equity before even closing on the deal. In the house scenario above, I would have paid $60,000 for it instead, adding hundreds to monthly cashflow and tens of thousands in immediate equity. That is true real estate hacking.

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.