Veteran, Divorced, Need to house hack in NJ by June 2020

Buying & Selling Real Estate
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Veteran, Divorced, Need to house hack in NJ by June 2020

Steven E.
Member since 2019 · 14 posts · 4 votes

Hi BP, 

Firstly I'm new to BP and to the idea of house hacking so please forgive me if this is posted in the wrong section. 

So I recently got divorced and my ex & I decided to remain in our current rental until the lease is up in July 2020 rather than breaking the lease & we didn't want to put our kids in a new school mid year. 

Reason I NEED to house hack

Divorce is expensive.. ran threw my savings and racked up my credit cards on lawyer and court fees. 
I currently pay $2300 a month in rent, utilities not included. I'm looking to use my VA loan (taking advantage of 0% down) to house hack on a duplex or better. I currently live in NJ (Bergen county) and would like to stay in the area Rutherford area (not necessarily the city). Not having to pay rent monthly will benefit me tremendously with this new child support bill =D.

What I'm looking for

A realtor who has experience dealing with not only VA loans, but house hacking with a VA loan.

Any tips? Books to read? People to reach out to? 

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Jerry Padilla
Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y

@Steven E.

Welcome!
VA you are always required to house hack and live in the property for a year - or at least plan too. It is a primary residence loan only.

Are you planning to purchase a Multi-family? With VA, you are required to have 2 years experience as a landlord or you can't count rental income. This means you would have to qualify on your income only for the loan. Other than that VA is a really great product! You can get into a property with very little out of pocket costs and no mortgage insurance! Let me know if you have questions!

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  • Jerry Padilla
    Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Steven E.

    Welcome!
    VA you are always required to house hack and live in the property for a year - or at least plan too. It is a primary residence loan only.

    Are you planning to purchase a Multi-family? With VA, you are required to have 2 years experience as a landlord or you can't count rental income. This means you would have to qualify on your income only for the loan. Other than that VA is a really great product! You can get into a property with very little out of pocket costs and no mortgage insurance! Let me know if you have questions!

    3Reply
  • Brian D. Beatty
    Real Estate Agent · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2017 · 99 posts · 66 votes
    6y

    Steven,

    Sorry to hear your situation. Biggest Hurdles may be your debt to income ratio, if you have a extreme amount on credit cards. My mortgage connection tells me the VA loans he deals with are pretty forgiving and the FICO score can be in the Low 500's. The other question would be the cost of Duplexes, in these areas, I am not familiar with your area? Our local market has limited supply and very high demand, so they don't last long and go for top dollar! When purchasing with a VA Loan, some of the Sellers do not entertain these offers with some of the requirements. Which only makes the pool of available homes smaller. You definitely want to find the right agent and Loan officer in that area, who is knowledgeable in the Duplex market and what hurdles you will face through the VA loan process. Good luck, I may have resources for you, if you need?

    1Reply
  • Mark F.
    Rental Property Investor · Northern NJ · Member since 2019 · 672 posts · 677 votes
    6y

    @Steven Espinal Sorry to hear about your situation. I had the same circumstances (VA loan, house hack, Bergen) and it took me about 8 months from finding my realtor and lender, to moving in. One thing you need to remember is you're going to be looking in spring and summertime. The most competitive time of the year. Good for you as theres more inventory, bad for you as theres more competition. Especially in the areas you're looking. Another downside is our VA loans are sometimes not well received by sellers. But I got in with one this month.Also house hacking is very popular these days.

    My advice is you need to find a realtor and lender for a summer 2020 timeline asap. If you're serious, I have a real estate agentg who is also an investor and got me in my awesome HH. I also have a lender who is beyond amazing.

    As far as tips and books, read Set for Life by Scott Trench, listen to the BP podcast and read even more RE books. Replace music with podcast like I did. Good luck!

    2Reply
  • Mark F.
    Rental Property Investor · Northern NJ · Member since 2019 · 672 posts · 677 votes
    6y

    Also to what @Jerry Padilla said, this is true you need LL experience or there wont be rental income counted for you. One thing too is this years VA loan changes are important. Funding fee went up from 2.15% to 2.3%. On the plus side, they dropped the purchasing limits on the VA loan. What your price range and income is going to be very important to see if this is all doable. Duplexes that can be purchased with a VA loan, no rehabs guts or major work needed, are expensive.

    3Reply
  • Steven E.
    OP
    Member since 2019 · 14 posts · 4 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Jerry Padilla:

    @Steven E.

    Welcome!
    VA you are always required to house hack and live in the property for a year - or at least plan too. It is a primary residence loan only.

    Are you planning to purchase a Multi-family? With VA, you are required to have 2 years experience as a landlord or you can't count rental income. This means you would have to qualify on your income only for the loan. Other than that VA is a really great product! You can get into a property with very little out of pocket costs and no mortgage insurance! Let me know if you have questions!

     Hey Jerry ! 

    Thanks for responding. Yes I do plan to purchase a Multi Family. I honestly didn't even know that you were able to count rental income at all. The properties I was looking at were based on my current salary. This is great information thank you !  

    1Reply
  • Steven E.
    OP
    Member since 2019 · 14 posts · 4 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Mark F.:

    @Steven Espinal Sorry to hear about your situation. I had the same circumstances (VA loan, house hack, Bergen) and it took me about 8 months from finding my realtor and lender, to moving in. One thing you need to remember is you're going to be looking in spring and summertime. The most competitive time of the year. Good for you as theres more inventory, bad for you as theres more competition. Especially in the areas you're looking. Another downside is our VA loans are sometimes not well received by sellers. But I got in with one this month.Also house hacking is very popular these days.

    My advice is you need to find a realtor and lender for a summer 2020 timeline asap. If you're serious, I have a real estate agentg who is also an investor and got me in my awesome HH. I also have a lender who is beyond amazing.

    As far as tips and books, read Set for Life by Scott Trench, listen to the BP podcast and read even more RE books. Replace music with podcast like I did. Good luck!

     Hi Mark

    This is really good information ! Definitely a relief knowing someone else successfully did what I'm looking to do ! I'm definitely serious because this will also be my primary residence. Any connections are greatly appreciated & I'll definitely reach out! 


    Going to buy that book now ! 

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