How to afford a more vet to DC, and leave 2 years later w/rental?

[Jon LaDue]

Hello, 

My first post is a big one for me. I’m moving to D.C. from Dayton, Ohio in four weeks to take a temp promotion (2 years). Although it’s a $17k/year raise, the cost of living is crazy higher.

With a 2-year residence in mind, I am eyeing an FHA loan. I only have $112k left of VA entitlement left, which might get me a cardboard box in DC. But I'm also getting married in August, so I can't afford some colossal real estate purchase — even at only 3.5% DP.

What/where should my game plan be to live somewhat comfortably, and leave in a couple years with a cash-flow property?

I currently have two past residences (SFH) that I rent out totaling

Jon 

Thx, Jon. 

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Jon LaDue:

Hello, 

My first post is a big one for me. I’m moving to D.C. from Dayton, Ohio in four weeks to take a temp promotion (2 years). Although it’s a $17k/year raise, the cost of living is crazy higher.

With a 2-year residence in mind, I am eyeing an FHA loan. I only have $112k left of VA entitlement left, which might get me a cardboard box in DC. But I'm also getting married in August, so I can't afford some colossal real estate purchase — even at only 3.5% DP.

What/where should my game plan be to live somewhat comfortably, and leave in a couple years with a cash-flow property?

I currently have two past residences (SFH) that I rent out totaling

Jon 

Thx, Jon. 

 Personally, I don't consider two years to be long enough to warrant buying a house. The cost of sale can be 8% to 10% when it comes time to sell and unless you want to have rentals scattered about the country, you are looking at a costly logistical problem with underwater properties. Call a local real estate agent in the area you want to buy in, and ask what the cost of selling an average property will run you and put together a spreadsheet from purchase, to managing, to upkeep to selling. That won't cover the "hassle factor" which you should also consider, but from a numbers point of view, it is very enlightening. It may be far more costly than you presently imagine, especially in D.C. I looked into investing in Maryland and found the property taxes and transfer taxes too onerous to even consider taking the plunge.