VA Loan Multifamily later Refinancing
Hello Everyone,
I'm interested in utilizing my VA Loan or FHA Loan towards a mortgage on a multifamily home that I intend to occupy along with tenants. I have enough for 3.5% down payment for the FHA or to cover closing costs for a VA. I would like to live in the home for the minimum amount of time before refinancing and utilizing either loan with little money down again to purchase another, and repeat this process until I have a nice portfolio that is still managable or until I no longer qualify for lending.
I have some questions before embarking on this investment and this seems like an awesome forum to have them answered. If any of my assumptions are incorrect feel free to let me know. I am going to lay out my current plan and then highlight some questions I have.
I'm looking at a duplex to start in the area of $200K to $230K that I could get with essentially nothing down and not buying points through the VA loan. I could buy points and reduce the APR by about .75% but since I plan to refinance this seems like it would be a waste. Or I could put $7K down with a FHA loan and still have the VA loan in my pocket. I intend to live in the residence, then refinance and move onto a similar property. I understand I am going to incur closing costs each time but I am willing to take that up front to accumulate multiple properties.
1- Should I utilize the FHA first time homebuyers loan or the VA for the first property and how long do I legally have to wait to refinance either loan?
2- Are there going to be any legal ramifications to my plan?
3- If I refinance the VA loan does that free up my full entitlement($417k)?
4- If I refinance am I going to have to have a certain amount of equity in the property I'm refinancing in order to get approved?
5- Should I skip paying for points on the VA loan up front? (closing costs would be only $650 up front at 4.5% versus $7300 at 3.75%) and assume I can refinance at a lower rate and then pay the points?
Thanks in advance for your time.