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Updated almost 9 years ago,

Account Closed
  • Investor
  • Lompoc, CA
3
Votes |
17
Posts

Race to find a deal

Account Closed
  • Investor
  • Lompoc, CA
Posted

I bought a condo with no money down last year through a VA mortgage and I have enjoyed living in it. I got a roommate to help bring down costs and it ended up being cheaper for me than renting. But, about a month ago I read that it's possible to have two VA mortgages at once. I started researching like crazy and decided that I would buy a second property within the year. At first I was planning on buying a multi-family, but it looks like I am priced out of that market in my area. I got a Realtor and started looking. I spoke to a mortgage broker who told me that I would need to have my current condo under a lease by the time I got to closing.

And this is where I jumped the gun.

I posted my condo on Craigslist with a move-in date of June 1st at about $200 above what I thought was the market rate with the expectation of simply gauging interest. I thought I could only get about $100-150 cash flow, but I posted it with a rent price of $1500, $350 more than PITI+HOA. Like I said, I expected to get an email or phone call here and there with people telling me it was too expensive or trying to talk me to a lower rent. I was completely wrong. Within an hour of posting I had received 10 emails and phone calls from interested tenants. I started scheduling tours for the next day. By the next morning, I had cleaned everything and had four tours scheduled in a 4 hour block.

The first family came to tour and told me they were very interested but might want to buy a foreclosure instead. I told them that if one of the other interested families qualified and signed a lease after them that they would get the condo instead. They asked me to wait 30 minutes so that they could talk to their real estate agent about the foreclosure. 40 minutes later they called me and said they wanted to sign. I had to call off the other 3 tours.

Here's the problem: VA loans take 45 days to close and I'm 37 days away from them moving in. It looks like I'll be "homeless" for a little over a week. I don't mind thanks to the extra money that will be in my pocket, but maybe I should have planned the exact dates a little more! I just honestly had no idea that rentals were going so quickly and for so much in my area. I couldn't pass up the cashflow opportunity. Even if I can't find a deal I can just sign a month to month lease on an apartment and still come out ahead.

Now the race to find a deal and prevent my own homelessness starts. Does anyone have any advice? Anyone ever been in a similar situation? I'm planning on asking one of my friends if I can pay $250 to sleep on their couch for the time in between move out and closing. Wish me luck.

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