Financing the next deal

[Lucien Perreault]

Good Evening BiggerPockets,

Last year I bought my first major rental property with my VA loan in Roscoe Village, Chicago, IL. The property had already been rehabbed for the most part but was not fully occupied. I have since moved out, raised the rents, have the building full occupied and cash flowing really well with a property manager running the operation.

I may be suffering from a lack of patience but, I would like to move on to my next property. I cannot use my VA loan again for some time and I have continuously run into funding approval issues. The lenders I work with told me once I file my taxes this year, I will not qualify for a loan for the rest of the year since my income will be 0 on paper and my cash reserves are not the strongest currently(they are steadily growing). They also stated my DTI ratio is too high because of the mortgage on my building even though the rents cancel it out.

I am looking for ideas on how to move forward with buying another property without running into more financial road blocks. I'm very eager to get back out there and find more deals to continue my growth. I have plenty of credit at my disposal but I want to use it right.

I have read many books and I watch at least 3 videos a day on youtube about real estate investing but even with all the education, I have still found a wall that I cannot get through at the moment. Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Very Respectfully,

Lucien

[Zack Karp]

@Lucien Perreault why can't you use your VA loan again for some time? Did you know that you can use bonus/secondary entitlement to use your VA loan again without refinancing or selling your current property? Or have you already checked into that, and too much entitlement was already charged on the first one?

Your military income should make it so that your income isn't 0.  There must be more to the story...

I am a Military Mortgage BootCamp instructor (I actually teach VA lending). If you want a second set of eyes on this from someone who knows what they are doing with VA lending (and house hacking with FHA and Conventional too), feel free to reach out.

Best of luck and TYFYS!