All Forum Posts by: Kerry Baird

I live in England and many banks do not want to lend to Americans because of recent changes in IRS reporting. Why not *rent* in Paris to start with and then speak to lenders in person?

Otherwise, try your favorite search engine...I found a bunch of hits, and you can too. Use "Guide to French Mortgages" for search terms, or "French mortgages for Americans."

If the numbers work, make an offer. Worry about the property values after you have the house under contract. Take some action if the house works for your parameters...and forget the rest. Obviously, if property values go down in the neighborhood (due to your tenant alone?) then you lose money. That is contradictory. The rest is just "noise." And if it concerns you once you own it, problem-solve it then.

I googled it and see a large number of bad reviews, including the words "fraudulent" "ripoff" "difficult to use." I have no experience with it, just looking for something similar.

Congratulations!

Welcome! We're a military family (Air Force). I did 6 active, 4 reserve and DH is nearing 22 yrs now. We did some fix and flips, pre-foreclosures, a probate, a short sale, and rentals while posted in the US a number of years ago, and bought 2 houses to live-and-improve while in the UK. Now just have three long term rentals, back in the US and hope to build up a small portfolio and then pay them down to complement retirement. We haven't used a VA loan yet, but hope to when we finally return back to the US. Ask a lot of questions as there are some very experienced folks here to guide you on the way. Good luck on your quest~

I like this Dave Ramsey quote: The biggest defense any investor has against foreclosure is liquidity. Say it over and over again.

Remember that there are far more lower ranks in most areas than higher ranking, i.e. not too many Generals or Colonels to rent to (unless you are at the Pentagon or near an Academy, for example), but rather there are tons of mid rank folks. Many are getting married as E-3 to E-4, or O-1, 2 or 3. Run the family allowance for housing through the BAH housing calculator as the "with dependent" rate.

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm

There is a housing office on each post/base, so you can search and contact them for more information.

Hello, I too was active duty but separated after my 2nd child and a looming indef. tour when the baby was six weeks old. I was motivated to earn some non AD income. Hubby was deployed a ton, so I did most of the learning and doing on my own. I found a partner to door knock pre-foreclosures there in Tucson. We flipped and fixed, rented, got a probate deal, worked a short sale. I am up to 17 total deals, but they take more time now that we are overseas again, so we save up to buy conventionally.

You have some really great resources there, as we have attended the local REIA as well as the Phoenix REIA. There are guys who work the courthouse steps, so I went to watch how that works and would recommend you learn those players, as they sell wholesale houses to investors when they get a deal they don't want to keep. Learn the foreclosure process so you know the timetable for events. You can also search the public records to see when owners get NODs...all kinds of opportunities. You might call the We Buy Houses people from bandit signs and see if you can buy their deals, or to flip deals to them.

I also learned that I like military tenants because I can go through chain of command for late rents, if needed. I can find their housing caps, and I would ask my SSgt and below friends where they liked to live, finding profitable rental neighborhoods. I even made a filing system, like at my unit and an operating or continuity manual, since that is how I learned to do things at work, lol. I am now ten yrs on from where you are, so I know it can be done by you, where you are, on whatever your income is. If I could, so can you!

...or use your VA loan to build an owner occupied plex.

Flexibility is Key to Air Power...and Real Estate investing. ;-) I am an AF veteran, so you understand the reference. There are different seasons in your marketplaces, as well as in the economy at large, and then in your own life. I love, love, love a good rehab, for example. I learned sub2, probates, short sales so as to feed my desire to rehab. Then the market turned to where flipping made more sense. And then the AF moved our family across the Pond where, if I want in the "game" I really have to be content with buy-and-hold.

America is aging...so probates should increase. Pivot. The Fed will have to raise interest rates at some point. Pivot. Rent controls may come. Pivot. Younger generation needs starter homes/apartments. Pivot.