All Forum Posts by: Ian Lord

I'm doing this with my home in Norfolk now. I bought it 4 years ago using a VA loan and am now moving across the state. My advice would be to take a look at what similar homes rent for and try to get something with decent cash flow. I have my house under lease for an amount that cash flows about $300 a month not including vacancies or repairs. Since I'm self managing it should allow me to throw a nice extra principal payment down each month and get the home paid off.

Welcome Paul! I'm currently in Norfolk but moving to Roanoke. I just signed a tenant to lease the home my wife and I purchased to live in four years ago. I too am a big fan of the buy and hold strategy. I self manage, and intend to do so as long as possible. With my wife's job we move every couple of years, so our strategy is to buy homes that we can tolerate living in for three or four years and then convert to rentals. The eventual cash flow from paid off homes will fund the "permanent" home when her career settles down.

@John Ma Happy to see another Norfolk landlord here. Do you self manage or use a property manager? I'd love to chat sometime about how you handle properties in Norfolk, since it takes about as much time to get from NOVA to Norfolk as it does to come from Roanoke.

Hello everyone!

My wife just got a job at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and will be starting no later than July 1. We are looking for a home and possibly a duplex near the hospital as a house hacking opportunity. I would greatly appreciate hearing from any Realtors with experience in finding live in investment properties. My wife is eligible for a doctor's loan and I have VA loan eligibility. Thanks for any help.

Thank you everyone for the help. I spoke with my wife a bit this morning and I think she might be softening up on her attitude towards taking out a mortgage in the California market. She is used to the Hampton Roads market where we could buy a perfectly nice rental house for a bit over $100,000. Being from Napa, I know that doesn't even buy a crack house in many parts of California. 

To add a bit more background, my wife and I will be moving three times in the next nine years. Wherever we wind up is bound to be mostly at the discretion of the Air Force. The good news is my wife will be a physician, so after the initial four year residency we will be in a great position to save up cash. Median pay for OB/GYN's is over $200K a year and she will not have a student loan because of her contract with the military. We just have to get through the first 8 years at a substantially reduced rate of pay, and it is during that time we will only be able to save $10-20K per year. 

We own our current home, and have about 28 years left on a VA mortgage. I have remaining eligibility and my wife will have her own eligibility starting in 2016. Our general plan has been to rent out our previous residences with each change of station and use property managers. Once we settle down, hopefully in Northern California, we want to transition to more local and possibly self managed properties. We see real estate as a way of getting some tax and small business benefits beyond maxing out tax sheltered investment accounts (TSP, IRA's, 401k, etc).

My wife and I are interested in purchasing rental properties on a buy-and-hold basis when we settle down in Northern California in about 9-10 years. She is currently a medical student and obligated to serve 8 years in the Air Force starting next year. Our goal is to settle between San Francisco and Sacramento and build a real estate portfolio while she practices as an attending OB/GYN. 

Starting in mid 2015, we should be able to set aside $10,000 a year to save for real estate. We should be able to add $5,000 a year to that amount, so $15,000 in year 2, $20,000 in year 3,  etc. While I'm aware of the power of leveraging, part of keeping a happy wife means keeping any business activities paid for in cash. 

For a 10 year timeline, should I just put the money in CD's, savings accounts, etc? Or should I look at something like a low tax, low fee S&P 500 index fund? Volatility is a concern, I don't want my investment to drop in half at the same time the real estate market takes a dive like in 2008. 

This is making me feel more likely to sell my home for a small profit rather than keep it as a rental property. I don't think I want to be a long distance landlord, and this thread doesn't seem to paint a very good picture of 757 property managers.

Thank you so much Sean! I will give them a ring when I get closer to needing a property manager, and if you'd like would happy to tell them you referred me. 

Thanks Sean. There is a good chance my family will PCS in the next year and we plan on renting out our home if we get transferred out of Hampton Roads. Can you give any more specifics about their service? How much do they charge each month, and do they have a fee for placing a new tenant in the home?

Hello!

I'm Ian. I know I'll be moving in the June 2015 time frame when my family relocates for my wife's school, which will most likely be outside of the Hampton Roads area. I'm looking to rent out my current home then, and start buying additional properties to self manage once my wife finishes school and settles down in a to be determined city. I know there a lot of uncertainties right now with locations, but that's because my wife is a medical student under military contract. So for the next 9-10 years we go where the military tells us.

My initial plan to rent out our home with each PCS. I'm OK with using a property manager while we are long distance landlords, but eventually I would like to start buying local properties and self manage.

This site and the podcast have given me a lot of great info to start with. Thanks for all the help so far!