All Forum Posts by: Malcolm Lawson

I don't think the agent was necessarily "strong arming" you, they were just being aggressive for their clients which is what they are supposed to do. If you had an agent in your corner who was just as aggressive perhaps they could have negotiated the deal at the full asking price for you and saved you allot of headaches.  

Also, if the clients signed the paperwork just an hour and twenty minutes before the deadline then the agent might not have just been sitting on it like you are assuming.  Maybe the clients did not email it back right away, maybe the agent just did not see the email as soon as it came in especially at 11:00 pm.  Frankly, I have to give the agent props for staying up until midnight to try and make the deal go through.  As an agent, I typically stop working at 7 pm to feed, bathe and put my kids to bed.

So if they accepted your offer to buy the house as-is which is what you wanted, why did you not just accept it?

Have you ever calculated how much rent your parents could be getting if they rented to other tenants for a profit? If they could cash flow an additional $200 or so a month then maybe you would best serve them by helping them get a renter in there and help them get into the world of REI.

Then you could purchase a primary residence possibly with a small rental unit built in.  

Just a thought.

Hey @Giovanny Garcia ,

I would love to talk to you more about this stuff.  Most of my business comes from helping Military and veterans move into or invest in homes.

I don't know of a way to find every property that is currently being rented but I know a few ways to get close.  I am guessing you are trying to find an area or neighbourhood with allot of rentals so purchase your own rental there?  

In Zillow you can obviously look at the number of rentals looking for tenants, this will give you a rough idea of the hot rental areas.

As an agent with access to the MLS I can take it a step further and look at all the properties within a specific area that were listed for rent and ultimately rented within a specific time frame, let's say the last 12 months. I can take it a step further, for example, look at only 3/2's with 1,500 - 1,700 sqft that has rented in the last year.

I can export all this information in a spreadsheet which can be fun to play with.  For example, if I pull the data for all rentals in Anne Arundel you can see the mean or mode rent price, sqft, style, days on market, ect.  

This could give you an idea of what type of rentals are most common in AA county.

I do something very similar to this when giving rent estimates for my clients.

Let me know if you would like me to run some numbers for you.

Hey Matthew, 

Yea multi families are not that common in Maryland but they do pop up now and then. Maryland just does not offer the proper zoning for multi families in most areas. Here is a list of the maximum VA loan limit for each county in Maryland. It might be worth buying in another county if you are trying to get the most expensive multi family you can. You can buy foreclosures with the VA loan but you are right that it needs to pass a VA appraisal/inspection. So it can not be severely distressed but nothing stopping you from buying a severely out dated or ugly home just as long as it's livable. Of course, you can save your VA Loan for later on and use a conventional loan if you find a beat up foreclosure you really want. The BRR technique is a great idea!

Hey Matthew, congrats on getting out. I did 11 years in the Air Force and now sell real estate in Maryland. Have you thought about using your VA loan to purchase your first investment? It is a little tricky but is possible. The two most common ways of doing it is buying a home then ultimately moving out and turning it into a rental. This is what I did and I still own my rental in Anne Arundel. The second way you can do it is to buy a multi unit and live in one of the units. You can purchase up to a 4 unit on the VA loan as long as one unit is your primary residence.

For Anne Arundel, your maximum VA loan is up to $500,000. The national standard is about $425,000. This is important because it is possible to ultimately purchase more than one property using the VA loan as long as they are both under your maximum VA loan amount. Again, this is what I did. Let me know if you have any questions about using your VA loan to invest in real estate.

So it sounds like your estimates of the rent and sales price were off.  Did you come up with those amounts or did a realtor?  

What does your marketing look like for the home as well? You said it's on the MLS, which is great but how are your pictures? Do you only have a few dark pictures or did you have a professional come in and take pictures? Good pictures make a big difference. Also, if you had a zillow video to your listing it will actually boost its ranking in zillows algorithm.

Seller financing is not a bad idea, will probably attract investors as well as those who have poor credit scores and can't get traditional financing.   

Are you listing this yourself for sale or through an agent?

Nice, I actually had orders to Camp David in Fredrick at one point but about a month out I was re-assigned to Joint Base Anocostia-Bolling in DC instead. Yea the VA loan is fantastic and you will have that benefit the rest of your life. I'll be honest I have not taken advantage of the GI bill yet, my plan is to hold on to it just in case the real estate market slows down again. If that happens I'll go back to school partially just to collect that BAH.

Another tip for the VA loan is that you can purchase multiple properties using it. I own two homes right now both with the VA loan. You need to figure out what your "VA Entitlement" is. VA entitlement is just the maximum amount you are allowed for a VA loan and is determined by the county you are purchasing in. You can buy more than one house with $0 if both are under your VA entitlement cap. For example, in Anne Arundel, the maximum loan amount is $517,500. My first home was $210,000 and was later refinanced to $190,000. This left $327,500 to purchase my second home. If you buy them cheap enough, like a condo, you might even be able to squeeze three properties in there instead.

Good luck in California. You can see what your VA entitlement is for your CA counties here http://www.military.com/money/va-loans/home-purcha...

I am an 11 year Air Force vet and Maryland Realtor. I especially enjoy working with military and vets who take advantage of the VA loan to invest in real estate. Yes, you absolutely can buy investment properties using the VA Loan! The only caveat is it has to be your primary residence at the time of purchase.

There are three main ways to use the VA loan for an investment property

• Purchase a primary residence and turn it into a rental when you PCS or move out (this is what I did)
• Purchase multi-unit (up to 4 units) as long as you live in one of the units
• Live in flip. Buy an ugly house and renovate it while living in it to build equity.

If you would like help finding a home or have questions about the VA loan feel free to reach out to me here on BP or email me at [email protected]

If you are Military or a vet living in Maryland I encourage you to also join my Facebook group "PCS'ing to Maryland" https://www.facebook.com/groups/PCSingtoMaryland/

Waldorf Maryland has an "easy" commute to DC and also offers allot of investment opportunities