Strategies for getting into RE while moving every 2yrs - Oahu, HI

[Tom Holiday]

Good afternoon y'all! I'm posting since I'm a long-time reader but I'm having trouble figuring a way to get started in RE since my job requires me to move frequently. 

Looking for advice - does anyone have tips/strategies to getting into RE when you're locked into moving frequently? 

Some background on my situation: 

- Military, slated for New England for a few months, Oahu HI ~2 yrs, another location ~2 yrs.

-Approx. $25k saved up. Saving rate about $2k/month, no debt

[Olivia Radziszewski]

Hi- @Tom Holiday- are you able to buy and house hack while you are living there and then rent it out when you leave? Or you can locate a market and invest in it no matter where you are currently living at the time. Good luck!

[Jamel Brown]

Good Evening Tom,

Thank you for your service and I understand your situation all too well. I am active duty Navy stationed at Naval Station Mayport (Jacksonville, FL). The best advice I can give for all military personnel is to use the VA loan.This allows you to put zero money down without PMI and the VA loan gives you access to some of the lowest Mortgage Rates. When you move to your next duty station, you can then use the VA loan again because of your new set of orders.

This is very powerful, because after your 2nd duty station approximately 4 years would have pass, which means your first property should have gained some equity. Refinance your first property out of your VA loan. Use the equity to purchase the third property (investment property). When you move to your 3rd duty station you will be able to use VA loan again since entitlement would have been freed up. Thus your fourth property will be covered without another down payment!

Feel free to message me if you want to discuss more about it. Good luck and welcome to Bigger Pockets, have a blessed day!

P.S. Also follow the Military Investing Forum on Bigger Pockets. 

@Tom Holiday

[Tom Holiday]

Thank you for the input @Olivia Radziszewski! That's definitely an option I'm looking into. 

[Bryan Vukelich]

@Tom Holiday -  @Olivia Radziszewski and @Jamel Brown gave you good advice. In my experience, service members do quite well putting their VA benefits to use while they are stationed on O'ahu. All my VA clients who have purchased and sold when they moved off island have made money. But if you are able to swing it, my recommendation is that when you PCS, you try to refinance out of your VA loan and hold your O'ahu property for the long term. With limited land, difficulty in building new homes, and usually strong global demand for real estate here, if history is any indicator, you'll likely be happy with the appreciation of any property you own here for for the long term. Plus the rental market is usually strong and with the military presence, there are some great renters.

And congrats on saving up $25k. With your VA benefits you will be able to buy a property with zero down, so you can put the $25k to work elsewhere.

Take care and if I can be of service to you in any way here on O'ahu, you're welcome to contact me any time.  I am here to serve you.  

[Eliott Elias]

Military towns are great rental towns. I would buy as many airbnb's as you can per place you get relocated. Army guys scout areas and need a short term place to stay other than the crappy hotels that are offered  

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Tom Holiday:

Welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!

The problem is that you probably can't purchase a home with a VA loan and then rent it for enough to cover the mortgage. For example, a single-family home in Ewa Beach on Oahu costs $850,000. Even with $50,000 down, your mortgage, taxes, and insurance will be well over $5,000 a month. That same house will only rent for around $3,000 a month and you'll lose money.

You have to crunch numbers to see if it will work. With sky-high prices across the nation and being heavily leveraged using a VA loan, you'll have a hard time making the numbers work.

[Doug Spence]

@Tom Holiday Welcome to bigger pockets! I'm also active duty military (Navy) and I've been investing in real estate for the last 6 years. I recommend reading the book "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene. That book helped me open my mind to the concept "live where you want to live, and invest where the numbers make sense" or in our case "live where the military tells you to live!" ha!

You're on the right track by having a solid savings rate. That helped me get started earlier on for sure. Good luck on your journey - I'm happy to help out however I can!