Trying to sell my condo and buy farm, advice needed.

[Audrey Zehner]

Good morning, first time poster, please forgive if I bypassed any steps before posting. 

I currently own a condo in La Mesa area of San Diego, CA. First time home owner. I purchased the condo in 2020 for $310,000 at 4% and a similar unit just sold in my complex last month for $570,000. My mortgage is $1820 + $430(HOA) monthly and I owe $288,500 remaining. I used my VA home loan to purchase this property. During Covid I deferred mortgage payments, so I owe a $30K balloon payment upon sale or refinance.

I want to buy a property in a USDA eligible area, it has an apple orchard and small farmland. Property is priced at $950,000. 

Is it possible to cash out refinance my mortgage use the money to fix up the condo, pay off the small debt I have and then sell my property? I did the math and would need about $40,000 to do all that, ($70k with the deferment payment due at refinance). After the sell of my house I'd want to purchase the farm, I could use the equity remaining in the hose to cover closing cost of the farm. 

Things I'm confused about: 

- Where should I start

- Can I refinance, sell and buy within a short period of each other? and what would this do to my credit score? 

- Should I use my VA home loan again to buy this property?

-What kind of USDA loan would this qualify? Property loan or business loan, or both?

-Should I calculate potential earnings from the farm? Looks like they are selling the property as a home and not a business. 

Thank you all for any advice, I can do the research if someone can just point me in the right direction. 

[Bill B.]

Make sure the “fix ups” will add more to the sale price than they cost, most won’t. Ask a realtor. You wouldn’t believe how many “upgrades” we ripped out by the next buyer. 

The cheap way if they say yes you need to do this or that, would be a heloc. Cheapest to get and only pay interest on what you borrow when you borrow. 

When you sell you will receive selli price minus all liabilities tied to the house (The Heloc, the $30k deferment, and the original loan.) you can use that money as a downpayment or to do repairs/upgrades on the new property. 

I’d confirm before you start all this that you qualify for the new loan so you don’t sell then become homeless. 

I BELIEVE usda loans are meant to be for your rural primary home, even if it was a 160acre corn farm their rauirement is simply you live there. 

Personally I wouldn’t count any Apple profits and just count that as a bonus unless you’re planning for that to be your new job. 

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Is the Apple farm also in San Diego?