VA Loan on Multifamily Homes, but no income in Colorado......

[Brandon Rivera]

Not sure if I am posting this in the right section, but here is my predicament. After doing some research on being a live in landlord I know I would like to purchase at least a triplex. I live in Colorado and have recently hit a road block. Since my ETS (in 2013) from the ARMY I have been going to school full-time. The problem is most lenders do not consider using your GI Bill as actual income because it is not stable income. Now the only extra added income I have is about a 40% disability. Which only accumulates to about 600 and some change a month. I know the loans operate on a case by case basis. I was told that you could use the income from other units while living in one and it would be counted. After speaking to a VA qualified lender I was told this income would not work since I do not actually own any property with current units. I would not plan on buying without inheriting tenants if it would help the situation. This would be my first home purchase starting my journey to real estate.

Questions:

Any one have a similar issue and idea on how you resolved it?

Should I speak with a agent, the bank, or lawyer on issues regarding paperwork? 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated and thanks for you guys time.

[Robert Sepulveda]

Your VA qualified lender has let you down. The VA allows a multi-unit property to use the current rents as long as you get a rental market survey with the appraisal that shows you're getting market rents. Then you'll get credit for 75% of the gross rents for vacancy, etc. As long as you show copies of rental agreements, you'll be fine.

On you GI bill, it's correct that you can't necessarily use that as stable income. you can use the $600 a month disability income though combined with the current rents on the property you're interested in buying. it's not much, but better than nothing.