All Forum Posts by: Kerry Baird

That is a fine strategy.  As an additional point of interest, you can buy up for 4 units on a residential mortgage, and in this way you can have 3 units with tenants contributing to your mortgage.  Over this, into 5 units and up, is where you head into commercial lending.

Our family has occupied fixer houses and improved them while living in them, and then rented or sold the houses after a few years.  

Be sure to listen to the podcasts, and also check into the keyword notification.  Those keywords helped us to find a local meetup when we recently moved to a new location.  We searched for our county and city, which led to the meetup. There we found Realtors, lenders, wholesalers and title agents who were attending.  It is a good way to grow your team and your knowledge at the same time.  

Welcome! There will be many folks who can benefit from your experience, as well as those who are above you and can guide you in your future transactions. I like using the key word notifications, and recommend you set them up. In this way, I found a meetup soon after we moved to a new state, and found real estate connections in the new location. And I have a keyword search for LOC or lending criteria. The podcast is very meaty, as well. So if you haven't found the podcasts, you'll likely be drinking from the real estate firehouse in the near future.

I bought my property managers a basket with a variety of food goodies to share among the employees in the office.

Yes.  Yes, because the top half of the bottom third is...

Where starter homes are located...

Where I used to buy as a newer investor and continue to buy as a seasoned rehabber...

Are a bit older so they tend to have the "right things wrong" with them...

Because there are more houses at this tier than at the top...

Just because our family and income grew and we no longer want to live there, doesn't mean that starter home neighborhoods should be avoided.  Many people, tenants and first time home buyers, DO want to live in higher-end blue collar areas.  Yes, I have owned houses with bars on the windows.  No, I don't buy in the slums.  Just in areas where the last generation has moved on out and the new generation is ready to turn the area around to trendy again.

I really like the Tapestry by ESRI delineation of neighborhoods.  I can drill down in ZIP codes and specifically identify the people groups who live in an area.  From the link above...

"What is your neighborhood really like? In 1988, Michael Weiss, in his fascinating book The Clustering of America, introduced the idea that neighborhoods can be grouped in terms of lifestyles, consumer spending, demographics, and socioeconomic variables. Part of a larger field of study known as Cluster Analysis, the descriptive names given to neighborhoods included “Furs and Station Wagons”, “Towns and Gowns” (college towns), and “Laptops and Lattes.” From this sprang geodemographics—the analysis of people based on where and how they live. Some have argued that geodemographics had its roots in Charles Booth’s survey into life and labor in London during the 1890s. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s when geodemographics became very important to businesses seeking to make wise decisions about where to locate.

I first wrote about the lifestyle cluster data available from Esri back in 2009, and since that time, the ways that the data can be accessed has become easier than ever. In addition, the data itself has become more accurate and more detailed. Tapestry segmentation provides an accurate, detailed description of America’s neighborhoods. U.S. residential areas are divided into 67 distinctive segments based on their socioeconomic and demographic composition, and then further classified into 14 LifeMode and Urbanization Groups...."

And we are in the same boat...have used one of our VA loans and just hit the 1 year owner-occupy requirement. Starting to scout for another owner occupy house on which we can use the second VA.

We are another military family who have done what you want to do. We lived in England for 16 years and learned about real estate in the 4 years between PCSs. I bought two turnkey properties in Texas in 2012, and still have not seen the inside...only drove by this past summer. And then we bought one off the MLS in Florida, by building a team via email. I found an investor friendly Realtor, he recommended a lender and insurance guy, he scheduled the inspections. We called a property manager to start listing it for rent, and got it all put together. Only now, at 23 years in service, have we used either of our VA loans for our first US owner-occupied property. Similar to you, we are probably putting down roots here in Florida, and with the cold winters and Baby Boomers retiring, the beaches of Florida are likely to shape up to be a great place to hold properties.

We also moved to the area, and about the same time.  There are a number of investors who work different aspects of this big county.  A number of us attend a meetup every other week, down in Palm Bay.  Additionally, my husband and I have attended the Cocoa Chamber of Commerce meetings to get an idea of the future growth in the area.  

Go to the courthouse...

We recently moved from overseas back to the US, and were looking to use our VA loan. The lender had us obtain a letter from the finance office saying that we still had W-2 income available for at least 2 years going forward. *That* could be your sticking point. Even though the VA is federally backed, you still need a lender to approve you. And they do this, at least in part, by checking your anticipated sources of income.

Many of use up our conventional lending options first, and then roll into the VA options, and lastly into private lenders or owner carry properties. You might just as well start with the end in mind, and just stay on the creative side all along. :D

Perhaps direct mailing "tired landlords" or small multi-family, as once you are at 5 units and up, lending leaves the safe "conventional" arena and moves toward commercial.  Many of these owners anticipate carrying back a note when they sell.  

Any way you go forward, I wish you both much success in your endeavors!