New to Real Estate. What made you better ? What did you do wrong?

[Kyle Press]

Hello, I came across the idea because I need to find a place to live soon. I'm currently active duty and once I make rank , I'm getting kicked out of the barracks and into town. With that, I thought why rent , and just save money, when I can utilize a VA loan and earn some money via an investment. The overall cash flow isn't much more (after accounting for mortgages + operating costs ) than if I just saved , but it is, just that much more. Plus it is exposure to what it's like being a landlord. I've ran the numbers on two separate properties and taken numerous things into account from broken water heaters to selling the house and how much I would make overall , and how much I should save should an emergency happen. I would be living in the house as well, (house hacking?) so I would basically be living for free. My question is this: is there anyone who has experience using a VA loan and would be willing to part some knowledge. That, and when you were young in the business, whether you were trying to become a full time real estate investor, or simply becoming a landlord (like I am) to make some extra money, what did you learn? What are things I should be cognizant of? What are some of the things that you didn't do, which would make me better if I did. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to reading what you all have to say.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Kyle Press:

Hello, I came across the idea because I need to find a place to live soon. I'm currently active duty and once I make rank , I'm getting kicked out of the barracks and into town. With that, I thought why rent , and just save money, when I can utilize a VA loan and earn some money via an investment. The overall cash flow isn't much more (after accounting for mortgages + operating costs ) than if I just saved , but it is, just that much more. Plus it is exposure to what it's like being a landlord. I've ran the numbers on two separate properties and taken numerous things into account from broken water heaters to selling the house and how much I would make overall , and how much I should save should an emergency happen. I would be living in the house as well, (house hacking?) so I would basically be living for free. My question is this: is there anyone who has experience using a VA loan and would be willing to part some knowledge. That, and when you were young in the business, whether you were trying to become a full time real estate investor, or simply becoming a landlord (like I am) to make some extra money, what did you learn? What are things I should be cognizant of? What are some of the things that you didn't do, which would make me better if I did. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to reading what you all have to say.

You're making the right choice. I served for 21 years and wish I had known about house-hacking when I was young and single!

You would preferably buy a four-plex, but anything with 2-4 units will work. You live in one and rent the others out. The more units, the more likely they will pay all your expenses and you can just pocket the BHA and save up for your next investment.

VA gets you 0% down, so I would use that to start. You can buy up to four units. Live in one while renting the other three out. You should make enough from the rent income to cover all your expenses and then you can pocket the BHA for your next investment. Once you've saved up enough money, buy another four-plex using an FHA loan and move into that. Now you'll have seven rentals and one apartment you occupy. When you PCS, do it again.

Keep in mind you typically need to own a rental for at least one year before the bank will consider the rent as income and approve you for another FHA loan. You could possibly buy 2-3 properties at each duty station but make sure you can occupy for a year before you are PCS'd an unable to purchase at the new location.