All Forum Posts by: Tom McLemore

@Alex Filipe

Depending on how much of your VA loan you used on your first house, you might want to look into the Interest Rate Reduction Loan (IRRL, www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/irrrl.asp) program, often called a VA streamline.  It allows you to keep the 0% down, wrap additional closing costs into the refinance, and if you're going from a fixed rate to another fixed rate, the new rate is required to be lower than the original loan.  It removes the requirement for you to occupy the house.  You just have to certify that you occupied the house at one point.  

You can get another VA loan with 0% down as long as your within the loan limits for your county. You can find that info here:

www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/purchaseco_loan_limi...

This obviously isn't scalable for more than a few properties since the purpose of the VA loan is to help veterans purchase homes for personal use, not to help investors make money with nothing down. Just make sure you're not hopping from property to property and abusing the system. As long as your following the rules and living in the property for a year, you should be fine.

How are you trying to finance the deal? Have you looked into an FHA 203k? http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/housing/sfh/203k/203kmenu

Did he say it was permanently off limits or just right now? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have something called a "first look" period where the houses are only available to people planning on buying the home for their primary residence. If you look on their website (homesteps.com or homepath.com) and find the property, it will tell you how many days there are left on the first look period. I haven't personally done this, but I've read about people making offers the day before the restriction is lifted and having them accepted.

Richard Montoya , you can get a 12 month extension to start the owner occupied requirement while overseas. http://m.military.com/money/va-loans/5-va-loan-myths-dispelled.html Are you planning on moving to Dallas at the end of this tour? If you have more than 12 months left, you could try and align the closing for 1 yr from your detachment and then fill the house with a 6 month or month-to-month lease until you get back stateside. Then just live in it for a year and rent it out again once the requirement has been met. You'd probably have to find a lender who regularly does VA loans. I found that many lenders didn't understand some of the "odd" benefits of a VA loan when I used mine. I'd also recommend giving a call to the VA department to make sure you can rent it out while waiting to start the owner occupied timer. Surprisingly, their loan department was incredibly fast and helpful when I called. If all else fails, just save up your COLA for a nice down payment when you get back. I was stationed in Yokosuka for two years, and that allowance was awesome.

Margo Roberts , Todd Miller lives in TX where there are strict rules on lease options. After 180 days, a lease option is considered an "executory contract". It can still be done, but it requires a lot more red tape than most other states. I'm not a lawyer, and I definitely don't know all the details, but I read enough about it to realize it isn't an option I'd want to pursue.

Do you have a tablet? If so, take a google maps screenshot of the area you want to drive through and save it in an app like Evernote. You can take notes in the picture and attach other files (like pictures you take or phone numbers). It will also help you keep track of the areas you've driven through and make better use of your time. Or you could just print off/buy a map and take notes on it.

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. "Lurking" may be a little of an understatement. I've been listening to all the podcasts, reading the blogs and books like Paul Timmins suggested. I just haven't been active in the forums at all. Jon Klaus, I've been on limbo for a while waiting to find out when I'd be released from active duty and where in Texas I'd be headed to next. Now that things have firmed up, I'm ready to start getting to work. We close on our primary residence at the end of the month. We bought a house that needs some updating with our VA loan and nothing down. Rental comps in the area are still well above our PITI. Our plan is to live there for a year to meet the owner occupy requirement then use our other VA loan (my wife is a vet too) to do the same with a new house, in addition to finding other properties in the mean time.

Hi everyone,

I've been a lurker on BP for the past few years trying to learn as much as I can while I finish up my time on active duty in the Navy. I've been an "accidental" investor since 2007 when my wife and I bought our first home and decided to rent it out when we transferred. We've been saving up with the goal of more actively investing when I got out and settled down somewhere. I'll be out at the end of the month, and we're headed down to Plano (Richardson, actually) to start a new chapter in our lives.

We're looking to start investing in buy-and-hold SFRs in the North Texas area in the next 6 months. I'm looking forward to learning more and hopefully meeting people in the area.

Thanks,

Tom