100% service-connected veteran looking to use VA loan on multifamily property FL.

[Christian Chartier]

Hello everyone,

I've been stalking the forums here on and off for years and finally looking to do this for the first time. 

I've looked at several strategies, but now that I know what thr numbers are going to look like on some properties, numbers aren't really making sense to me. Hoping you guys can shed some light. 

As most of you already know there's no PMI, and 0 down on the VA loans.an additional benefit I have due to my combat related injuries and being rated at 100% through the VA is that I also don't have to pay property taxes. I am in pinellas county, Tampa Bay area.

Here is my question, with the 0 down and carrying the full mortgage with a Duplex, triplex, quad, the numbers seem strange to me. Regardless of which property I have the numbers on they all will require me to cover part of the mortgage, some instances up to 3k a month. 

The problem that i'm seeing is that i cant really cashflow any of these, they all require my cash on a monthly basis to make it work. I'm ok with that, but would like to start buying these up and actually make money off of then monthly.  

Some lenders are saying i can move out in 6 months others are saying they require 1 year. No problems with that, but the issue is that when I refinance these properties into conventional and FHA so that I can reuse my VA no down loan, i will then have to pay PMI and property taxes on the former property. With that said I don't see how I will cashflow anything around here.

These properties are either located in booming downtown St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or the beaches. 

Originally I was of the mind that I would hop in and out of these properties and cashflow them once I moved out of my owner occupied unit along the way, now that doesn't seem like it can happen. 

Help, advice, recommendations, and alternate strategies are requested.