Finance Help Rental Investment Duplex NOT Occupying, NEEDS REHAB

[Collette Douglas]

Needing help purchasing our FIRST investment rental property. It's a duplex, needing extensive renovation, including new kitchen/bathroom/flooring/windows, etc on both sides. We are active duty military, make great money, have ZERO savings, no investment or retirement accounts, etc. We are only recently in a position to consider a property strictly for income potential, and not as our primary residence. As such, we are looking at multi-family properties in our home town, where we are comfortable, know the market, are very familiar with the area and potential tenants and rents, etc,. We are not going to be living there, in the foreseeable future, until retirement and separation from service. We currently have a VA mortgage on our primary residence, which we are selling in less than 2 months, with great equity. Once this sells, we will effectively eliminate ALL debt, and we will live in a paid-off property. Problem is, I am impatient, I want the deal NOW--I want the portfolio to start growing NOW. I need a mortgage product that requires no or low money upfront, for a house with a purchase price of less than $50k, but with rehab costs of approximately $60k, to a total borrowed amount of around (hopefully) $90k. Is this possible??? I don't think the VA Loan is an option, since it requires owner occupancy, same as an FHA 203K loan. What type of mortgage products are there that roll a rehab into the total cost? I recently learned about the Navy Federal Credit Union as an option, but that's all I know. I'll be calling them in the morning, Saturday, hopefully someone will answer with some good advice. I'd appreciate your insights! THANKS!