All Forum Posts by: John Walter

@Michael Giaquinto If you have narrowed your search to a specific market, and know you want to buy within a year, a real Estate agent. Be up front with them about your timeframe, but it’s fine to pick their brain as long as you are serious about buying in your specified timeframe. 

If you’re in no way interested in buying any time soon and you’re only practicing running numbers, then you’re correct, don’t waste their time. 

@Account Closed is exactly right. After you’ve done all the available research on your own, get the opinion of a local expert. Check with a realtor who does renting. You can also call local property managers, as they should have a good idea for that market. 

@Luke Valentine Johnson I highly recommend Veteran's United. They're the largest supplier of VA loans in the country and have been fantastic. Even a 10% rating qualifies you for the Funding Fee exemption.

Also, set up key word alerts on here for Madison. That will help you read and learn about that area, as well as let you see who lives/works/invests in that area. 

Hey Luke, as Jon mentioned, most VA lenders will not only not accept GI Bill payments as income, but VA disability, or rental income as part of your income. If your wife works, that will be your best chance to get the loan.

Currently, I am in roughly your same boat. I am using the VA loan with the idea of using it multiple times. Keep in mind, if you are getting 30-year mortgages with no money down (traditional VA loan), you won't have much equity built up after a year, and you can't have two VA loans at the same time, in the same area (the vast majority of the time).

Will you have a disability rating at all? If so, that will exempt you from the VA Funding fee, which could save you thousands (about $11,500 on my first triplex). That could also potentially save you on property taxes, although every state is different.

Keep up your research and don't let anything stand in your way. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I have learned a ton about VA loans in the past few months.

FYI, my VA loan is for a new construction, which is still currently being built. I tried to purchase another property while I was waiting, but my VA lender said they would have to cancel my current loan if I tried to do that (I'm in NJ and my MFR is over $500k). I attempted to go the seller financing route so it would not mess with my credit or DTI, but they did not go for it. Bottom line, if you are wanting to expand quickly, there are plenty of ways to go about it. You got this.

In short, yes. In NJ, tax liens go to auction, an investor purchases, then the property owner has basically two years to pay that amount in full (no partial payments allowed in NJ).

At that time, typically the bank will pay out the tax lien in order to off load the property. On rare cases, the lien holder can file a foreclosure if they are not paid out. That said, the first holder must continue to make the payments to keep this option. If they choose not to, a second investor can purchase a “second lien” on that property and they would have the rights to foreclose, assuming it ever got to that point. Long story short, the last lien holder has the right to foreclose...but before they can do that they would have to pay out the other lien holders with interest first. 

For more information, listen to podcast #56 with Ankit Duggal. He takes this into great detail, and built a business around this type of hands off investing. 

@Eboni Ayanna Sounds like you planned ahead, that's awesome. I plan on moving in a few years and hopefully using my VA loan again for another 2-4 unit. We'll see how it all goes!

Welcome to BP!

If you have enough for a deposit of 20-30%, you’ll live in a unit, and you at least have a stable job, there shouldn’t be any reason why you couldn’t get financing. 

Finding a 2% deal in NJ is pretty hard. Confirm repair costs, verify your rents, and if everything checks out, you can always go private financing (your dad or otherwise).

I've been under contract for a new construction MFR that I planned on house hacking since August. Close date was originally November 30, but was immediately moved to December 30, which was fine because that was communicated up front.

Flash forward, and over eight months later, they’re still not done. They work, maybe once a week, and at this rate, they are several months from completion. Another issue, their entire side has gone silent. My attorney apparently can’t reach them, and they refuse to provide any close date whatsoever. 

My contract states that I can now back out of the deal because they failed to complete this on time. If this was not a property I planned on living in, that would be fine but I am planning on living there. It’s in a great location and values are going up. 

The only thing I can think of, is the builder/seller wants me to back out so they can resell to someone else for a much higher price. Is there absolutely anything I can do in this situation to “force” them to actually finish building the home?

I’ve looked at other properties in the last month or so, but the area I want to be in is rather small. I put in an offer on one, but apparently there was a Corona-related death to someone close, so they claimed they weren’t selling anymore. I’ve been trying to get a builder to look at another property for about a week now, but can’t seem to make that happen either. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

@Eboni Ayanna Can you explain the loan limits lifted January 1, 2020? I have a $500k+ VA loan right now (got to love high cost areas) for a MFR. I was advised the only way I could get another VA loan was if I refinanced to a conventional, that way I wouldn't surpass the loan limit (regardless of my level of income).

I'm also service connected, so having that VA Funding fee waived was a real money saver.

I think FL is the only state where I would qualify for any type of property tax exemption ($5,000 a year), but are those exemptions every year? Also, do you have to live in the property to get the tax exemption (so purely investment properties wouldn’t qualify)? Last question, for the property tax exemption, if investment properties do qualify, can you only use that on one property, or if you own 20 properties, are you exempt on all 20?

Thank you!

Hey Jack, your agreement should stipulate what conditions you can break the contract and still retrieve your earnest money. For example, I am currently under contract with a new construction. I can legally back out of the deal and claim all of my earnest money because the builder failed to finish the project on time (as stipulated in the contract). Review with your attorney to see about your options.