Pensacola FL, First time VA purchase, Questions on Location/Strategy

[Marcus Jones]

Hello all! I’m just curious on how some of you pros would start out if you had a stable dual income household $135k/yr, a 3 month emergency fund, and 15k saved up. I'm going to be stationed at NAS Pensacola but my wife will probably be working at Hurlburt Field or Eglin AFB. 

My thoughts are find a house that doesn't need rehab because I'll be extremely busy with training. I want to get a 3/2+ or 4/2+ and rent out a room to 1 or 2 roomates with furniture/utilities included for $8-900 each. After I move again in 1.5-2 years I would love to just LTR but I think I need to convert this to a MTR and fully furnish because I'll be coming out of pocket $500+ a month if i LTR because of reserves & mortgage. LTR rental rates I'm seeing are roughly $1700-$2100. I'm feeling apprehensive about making a mistake and not sure where to start and really want to get specific on my strategy. 

[Chris Watson]

I am a recently retired AF Chaplain in the area. Obviously you are looking at Gulf Breeze or Navarre. Several properties here for sale have VA assumable loans. Look for those at it could greatly reduce your carrying costs by abot $1k a month (2.75% loan vs 6.5% loan). With this you might have to put $10k to $20k down just because of the difference in the assumable loan and the selling price. It is that time of year and several people are getting orders soon and more properties will hit the market in the next 90 days. Just search for the word "assumable" in the key word search on zillow or realtor.com. If you need a realtor I can give you a recommendation. You need someone who understands assumable VA loans and how to get it done.