All Forum Posts by: Jared Viernes

I’ll speak with my contacts at the VA over the next few months.

@Shane H. if you do end up trying to work with vets in the area I would be very interested in helping you out. I sit on the advisors  board of the Veteran Providers’ Coalition of Sedgwick County and am getting pretty well connected with the various entities. Always good to know people trying to help vets out.

@Shane H. went to Topeka to dive into this type of investing. I would expect he’s learning a lot about it trial by fire.

Jozelle B. Think about the cost of the gas and capex on your vehicle. You will be putting a lot of wear and tear on your vehicle over the time you are at your duty station. If you are unable to find a multifamily to house hack near your duty station purchase a home at a price that will work as a rental. While you are at your duty station pay down your loan as much as possible. Find a good property manager you trust, them when you PCS hand over the property to them to get in an tenant and have a cash flowing asset. Use your second tier VA loan benefits on the next home you PCS. Then do the same, once you’ve used up all your initial benefits apply for the one time reinstatement after you’ve refinanced out of the original loans. You should be able to get 2-4 houses out of your benefits depending on where you PCS to. By that time you should have enough cash flow you can save for a conventional down payment or commercial loan.

Anthony Markey you mean the Wichita KS market? Your profile is throwing me. If so we have a REIA meeting January 6th.

Welcome! Way to get after it.

Kyle Swenson wow man you are doing pretty well for yourself! First, the beauty of the VA Loan is you need very little money to start investing. Apart from closing fees, inspection cost, and those types of things needed to pay for with all loans the only thing you need to pay for is the funding fee which can be wrapped into the loan cost (funding fee is waived with 10% disability - make sure to claim everything when you get out I learned about my degenerative disc disease in my lower back which almost all grunts have when they get out). There are some limitations though. First you must live in the residence to use the VA loan. As with any loan you need to prove income and job stability. So you will need a job which justifies the loan cost when it comes to your DTI. Additionally, a large family will require you to have a large residual income which lowers your income in the DTI calculation. I just left the military and cannot get a large loan because my current job as a real estate agent is vastly different from my previous military job and the income generated is not stable nor do I have 2 years proven profits. This allows me to count only my Reserve pay and my disability. With a family of 4 this essentially makes my monthly income as a lender sees it through VA lending standards almost non-existent. GI Bill payments don’t count either. With the VA loan you cannot use the income from other units of a multi-family purchase unless you can prove property management experience. With that being said you have plenty of money to buy using something with other than the VA loan. In fact, since you can easily afford a 20-25% down the extra few percent cost of the VA funding fee might not make sense. You could purchase your first multi family using conventional financing get you property management experience and then turn around and purchase you next using the VA loan. Lastly, why the heck do you have $40k in cash? If you are trying to retain liquidity then put it in a low expense ratio, non-commission traded, short term bond ETF (like from vanguard). This way your 40k makes at least a small amount of return in the 2 years you are waiting so inflation doesn’t eat away at its value.

Jack Pinney it is possible to use second tier entitlements if you can show you are upgrading to fit your family. Say you purchase a duplex with 2/1 in each unit then one with 3/2 in each unit. You can satisfy the need for justification outside a PCS move, it’s just a little more difficult and you need a lender that really understands the loan.

Michael Dunn most of the information I’ve read here is correct but there is a few misconceptions I’ve seen. You can have more than one VA loan at once. This is called “second tier” entitlement, most lenders are not even aware of it so make sure you get your second loan through a VA specialist. You can only have up to two at a time. You also have to show that you are moving out of the previous home for a good reason (PCS or outgrew, etc.). You can “restore” your used entitlement by paying off your loan (refinance) then applying to get it restored. Go here for restoration instructions as well as obtaining your certificate of eligibility: https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/documents/docs/veteran_registration_coe.pdf You may only restore benefits once if you retain your property as a rental. If you completely sell or off you can restore your benefits completely. The loan was never meant to be used as an investment vehicle though it can be used so if you are smart about it. As far as VA loan appraisal goes, there are Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs) that a VA loan requires - basically safe, sound and sanitary. This makes it difficult to purchase a distressed home because it has to be in pretty good shape - only superficial problem. The buyer is not allowed to pay for repairs under the terms of the VA loan.

Aaron Millis I recently left the active army to pursue life as a real estate agent / investor and college student to get my MBA with a finance concentration. Pros: learning about the time value of money and how to calculate the net present value of a project is absolutely mind blowing. So is taking a future arbitrage opportunity and paying for it in the future. It has made me make financial decision in completely different ways than I previously did and I am super thankful for the education. Additionally, it provides a great backup! Cons: GI Bill money does not get counted toward your income because it is irregular. If you take on a job like me as a real estate agent it is difficult finding a bank to loan due to not having 2 years worth of new job history. So despite having several thousand dollars in liquid cash I have to find more creative ways to finance. Despite the difficulties I think the benefits outweigh the issues. You can become an investor without it, but being able to speak the language of finance, think like a banker, and write a business plan will take you a long way to build credibility. Besides with 8 years, you can take it slow with only a few classes online while you work and invest!