Hello New to Real Estate- 100's of podcasts in and excited to

[Jacob Pham]

Hello New to Real Estate- 100's of podcasts in and excited to take action. So this post is July 2022. 

Hi my name is Jacob. My fiance and I live in Austin, TX. We want to find a multi-family to live in one side and rent the other. I feel like Zillow has very limited postings and I am curious what sites people use, or if I have to figure out some way to find off-market deals.

We lived in Massachusetts for many years, and we wanted to move and see a different part of the country. 

I've been in the Army Reserves for 5 years. I am 1 year away from being eligible for the VA home loan. I debate daily if I should just do an FHA home loan and get started now or wait. The issue is I am getting mobilized right around year 6 so I feel I might wait for that to start house hacking. I am open to thoughts on that. Again, in short:

(Opton 1) do FHA now and get started in Austin, TX where I am,

(Opton 2) wait until mid-2023, go on mobilization, keep an eye on Augusta market, and house hack in Augusta, GA as soon as we arrive. 

(Option 3) I could also just wait until mobilization is over in 2024 and do our first house hack then which might be less stress back in Austin, TX

Any VA home loan experts on here with insight? Again, I want to get started but the mobilization throws a wrench in my plans. I am trying to not let it hinder my financial decisions though and use it as an opportunity. I am leaning Option 2 and using VA home loan. Does anyone know if when you PCS back home you are eligible to use VA home loan again? Could I use the mobilization as opportunity to get two multi-families (4 doors total) under my belt?

Thanks and thank you to any guests on the show that might see this. I've loved the many stories you have shared that makes this goal seem attainable. Thanks.

[Lien Vuong]

Welcome to the BP community. Start your journey now to build up the equity for the future. Make sure it's a good asset a PM would be good to look after when you start your mobilization to another place in the future. It doesn't have to make you $, just enough to pay off the debt with some surplus and take the benefits in 30 years when it is paid off. 

[Wale Lawal]

@Jacob Pham

Welcome to BiggerPockets!

You should get adequate knowledge of real estate and strategies you are planning to apply as multifamily investing is very vast.

Also explore various financing and partnering options and do a thorough local market research and analysis.

You can start by joining local real estate clubs, attending meetups and connecting with local agents and investors.

A local Investor-Agent can help shorten your learning curve and save you a lot of headaches as they tend to understand the market better.

All the best!

[Aaron Gordy]

@Jacob Pham I think that you should talk to a mortgage broker that specializes in VA loans. I think that you are qualified already to use it. My wife served less time than I did and is able to do the VA loan. I served two years active and 6 years inactive and was able to use it immediately. I know some very good mortgage VA brokers.

[Zack Karp]

@Jacob Pham if you are planning to house hack 2-4 unit properties, and stretch your loan down payment opportunities as far as possible, it's actually best to use FHA first anyway.

In a perfect world, here's the order of how you should finance these:

1. FHA

2. Home Possible (if your income is below the qualifying income cap)

3. VA

4. VA (using secondary/bonus entitlement)

There are strategic qualifying/guideline reasons for this order.  Take it from someone with 24 years writing mortgages, and I also teach VA lending. If you follow this order, you can get up to 16 doors in just over 3 years, following the 1 year occupancy rule. And even better, you can divide and conquer, and your fiancée can do the same if she can qualify on her own too, making it up to 32 doors between both of you.

Your best bet is to talk to a loan officer who knows how to navigate all this with YOUR best intentions in mind, and map it all out for you.  That means stay away from the call center LO's, and make sure your LO is an expert working with real estate investors and Veterans.

TYFYS and best of luck!

[Joel Allen]

@Jacob Pham

If you get caught up on all the BP podcast episodes and need some more content to consume, there are a few really good podcasts that focus on real estate investing by military members.  All are hosted either by Active Duty, Reserve/Guard, or recently separated/retired members:

- Military Cashflow podcast with @Dan Wynn and Mike Glaspie

- The Military Millionaire podcast with David Pere and Alex Felice

- Active Duty Passive Income podcast with Kevin Brenner

[Jacob Pham]

Amazing thank you! I really needed miltiary specific advice. 

[Julio Gonzalez]

Glad to have you on the forums, Jacob!