All Forum Posts by: Monica Zaricor

Thanks for all the replies! I've looked around at the outside of several houses today and now I am thinking that I will buy a SFR. The multi-family places around here all seem to need some work done. Since I will be very busy and traveling a lot I just don't feel comfortable buying a place that could need major repairs. I have found a very nice, small single family that is in excellent condition and I think that will work better for me right now. I think it has great renting potential and I am okay with aiming for equity growth rather than cash flow. My husband is also not so keen on the idea of buying a multi-family so maybe taking small steps will help us gain more confidence in real estate investing. We can always use his VA loan in the future (or the rest of mine) to try multi-family if we find the right deal.

@John Dirgo Deweese

Sorry if my wording was confusing. What I meant was that although I will be living in one unit, I wanted to analyze it as if I were purchasing it purely as an investment property. So although I would definitely be paying less to live there than I would to rent elsewhere, if I were to move out I wouldn't really be generating much cash flow. Does having a year or two of reduced rent make it worth buying a less than ideal property? I'm not really sure.

Hi Everyone!

I'm an officer in the Navy and I'll be moving to Oak Harbor in a few weeks. I'd like to get into real estate investing so I've been looking around and researching my options. 

My ideal is to buy a multifamily with the VA loan and live in one unit while renting out the others. Then I could eventually move out and keep the property long term. However, as others have mentioned on this forum, there seems to be slim pickings in that area right now (because of the squadrons moving in from Hawaii), especially for a relatively young beginner like me. There is a triplex currently on the market, however I think it is priced such that cash flow would be very minimal. My other option would be to buy a SFR (to live in now and rent in the future), which I think would appreciate well and rent very easily but once again, cash flow would be negligible once you take into account repairs and property management. For instance, based on looking at Redfin a house listed for $150K is renting for $1100 a month. There are also condos available but I'm hesitant about being subject to an HOA.

I don't think I would be able to manage any property myself because my job requires me to be out of the country about half the time. I feel like I'm about a year too late to catch the price increases from the new squadrons moving in and I'm afraid the market is topped out right now. I don't want to get in over my head, especially since I know I will be busy with my job. Any advice would be welcome!