New Member from Texas, currently stationed in the United Kingdom

[Emmanuel Villasenor]

Hello Everyone,

I am from the Waco, Texas area but I am currently serving a tour of duty overseas in the US Air Force. My wife and I just recently decided we wanted to get into real estate and so we have started to educate ourselves. I am really looking forward to learning as much as I can before I get out in ~4 years. I was wondering if anyone one here has ever been in the military overseas and successfully bought and sold real estate? What were some problems you might have encountered? Any information is welcomed, I am new to this and ready to learn. Thank you . 

Sgt V

[Kerry Baird]

We were stationed at Mildenhall, and bought three houses while over there.  We were stationed over there when we were E-3s and bought our first house in Mildenhall Village.  We were posted back to the States and bought another owner-occupied.  And then we read Rich Dad, and got cracking on pre-foreclosure properties.  And then back to Mildy for another 10 years.  We bought another owner occupied house in Brandon, N. of Lakenheath, and held it while improving the house.  We wanted to keep growing our portfolio, and the only way to do it was to buy back on the other side of the Pond, as it was very hard to buy investment properties in another country, and in foreign currency. The exchange could go either way, as you have probably seen.  We went from $2.00 a pound down to $1.15-ish, while there.  That's a big variance over thousands of dollars/pounds.

After 10 years in, I got exited service to be Mom, while my hubby continued on active duty.  When we sold the last house, we used the proceeds to buy another owner occupied, and one more rental.  My profile has the long list.  So, we've done what you are thinking about.

 How did we get there?  We used the Dave Ramsey approach to save up, and keep our credit score looking good.  We paid down debt and saved up any extra.  We bought clunker right-hand drive cars, knowing we wouldn't be there forever.  We used the 10% savings program while deployed, to grow funds.  We set aside hostile fire, family sep pay, and tax free pay, plus any bonus money, and let it grow until we had enough for down payment money. When we got any gift money from family, it went into the pot.  Don't get me wrong...I loved travel over there, but the "travel" pot and the "investment" pot were sacred.  I didn't want to blow the investment money.

Where to buy?  We'd been stationed in Texas for tech school, so we were familiar with it.  We liked how the cash flow looked, and I really dug into the demographics and job growth, which was good there, so we bought in Texas.  And then, when my mother-in-law fell ill, we bought a house near her, so we could get a possible write-off when we visited.  Now, we are on a Humanitarian Reassignment due to her declining health, and my hubby has to decide soon if he's done with service or if he will press on. 

How to buy?  Really, just like you'd do if you were present.  Hire an experienced agent, look at houses online, pull up property management companies and call or email to ask where demand is and what current rents look like.  We bought newer brick houses (no siding and newer systems, so little capex *but* higher prices).  Newer homes will not require rehab to get rent ready, though our FL house did need to be painted and a few maintenance items (bathtub plug didn't close, a side door allowed water in when it rained).  The Realtor suggested a lender who could close, so we talked with the lender to see what we needed to do.  Our credit was already good, because of the Dave Ramsey approach to daily living.  I DO use debt to acquire the portfolio, and we do use his famous Debt Snowball to pay down the houses.

What about my owner occupied houses? Well, we continue to buy houses where we can create value. Our two in England were like this, and the current one in FL. I like good bones to my houses, but prefer a tatty kitchen to a perfect one. I've got an appointment with Home Depot to measure up our current kitchen next week. And even though this house isn't quire ready to sell, I'm on the lookout for another gentle fixer to roll into. This is the first house where we've used one of our VA loans. I'm not working, except on the houses...and raising kids...so I am not sure whether we can use the other VA loan yet (mine, I mean). You have to wait on the VA until you can occupy, so find other ways to do it.

All the best to you.  I miss those lovely green fields, and would love to swap places!  Hope you are making the most of your tour there.  We went all over the place.  Got our English Heritage pass.  Drove to Edinburgh, Normandy, Garmisch, Paris, tulip fields in Holland.  Wouldn't trade that for all the houses in Texas!  :D