Hello everyone,

I’m a new investor looking to purchase my first property. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and feel I am prepared for my first investment property. I have only one issue that is holding me back. I don’t have much liquid assets. 

I was planning on utilizing the VA home loan for 0% down payment on a multi family property for $250,000 and house hack for my first property. I found a property with nice numbers so I checked the pre approval process at a bank and realized I probably wouldn't get approved due to liquid assets.

I would like advise on how much liquid assets would be sufficient to avoid disapproval. Also, I can get a family member who is a veteran to be a co-applicant.

Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.

@Reynaldo Perez III - it has been years since I worked as a mortgage broker, but what I recall is that for a VA loan, a SFR you don't need reserves, just assets to close. For triplex or a quad, you need reserves that are equal to 6 times the monthly payment.

Again not 100% srue with a VA loan, but a lot of lenders will let you use an IRA or 401k balance as reserves. They will only count around 75% of the balance. As an example, if you had $20k in an IRA, they would use $15k of it as reserves.

@Reynaldo Perez III VA doesn't require reserves. If your bank/lender says you need reserves, you're working with the wrong lender.

Best of luck, and TYFYS!