All Forum Posts by: Kerry Baird

Knock on the door.  

Nice to reach a goal~  Way to rock Milwaukee!  

Agreed!  Tenacity pays off~

Well, to start with, closing costs are minimized as you don't have all the "junk" fees that lenders impose.  

A lender is not there to require an appraisal, so you don't have that cost (nor the confirmation of value)

The owner receives their capital gains over time, rather than in one lump.  Bonus for the seller!  

The loan does not show up on your credit report.

You can close immediately...kitchen table, if you call a traveling notary.  

Flexibility in payment structure...everything is negotiable: If you structure your agreement with the seller correctly, you can sell onward with owner financing, which makes the property easier to sell.  Or you can arrange for a payment holiday (skip a payment once a year, and add to the back end...such as when a vacancy is problematic), or ask for interest only...whatever works for you and the seller.

You can (and should, in my opinion) have a title agency handle the payments, escrow etc. 

I wonder how many other properties they have old loans on?  :D  What a nice confluence of events!

Looking forward to the future updates...

BTW, we used a loan from our TSP to make a down-payment on a house. TSP has been a great tool, just like many other that the military has on offer.

We have saved tax-free income, hostile fire pay, family sep pay, and re-enlistment bonus payments...the "extra" pays, above the basic pay, to set aside. We have used the 10% savings account for those deployed. We used our BAH as we purchased properties, and used COLA to make improvements to our owner-occupied properties. And after bunches of properties, and 20-odd years in service, we finally used the VA entitlement to get into the current house. We have another VA entitlement to use in the near future (since both of us have been on active duty).

We have flipped, fixed and rented our way through our service years, and there will be a pension at the end of the road.  And off topic a wee bit, we transferred the GI Bill to the kids, incurring a service-duty commitment, but shifting those expenses away.

These are all tools in the military toolbox; I don't think it is "either, or" but "both, and."

How did NY make the list?!  

Why not choose interest only loans, in this situation?  @Joe Villeneuve, curious about your take.  

Yes, @Walter Key hit it on the head: we bought those three houses, in the US, while we were overseas. 

While overseas, we had tax-free income from frequent deployments, we used the DoD 10% savings to boost our down payments, we used extra duty pays, family sep pay, and COLA to scrape together funds with which to invest.  I also pay close attention to my credit score, and aim to carry low debt.  We took a bit pay hit when we moved back to the States, and I'm thankful we have rental income built up.