Military Newbie Looking to Leverage Frequent Moves

[Justin Lane]

Hello BP!

I'm very excited to leap into this awesome community. I'm an active duty service-member and plan to stay that way for another 16 years, not only not secure a comfortable retirement, but because the privilege of service is something that I love and wouldn't give up for all the units in the world!

I discovered BP when a friend of mind gifted me the audio version of Brandon's Rental Property Investing book. Fresh off the heels of "Rich Dad Poor Dad," I binged Brandon's content and fell in love with the concept of investing in Rental Properties. 

My wife and I have invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs for quite some time, but I'm simply not satisfied with the ROI we've enjoyed, nor do I feel like I'm fully capitalizing on our situation, our drive, or our abilities.

I'm still working out the numbers, but our plan is to use zero/little down VA loans to house-hack multi-family rentals (three and four - plexes) each time we move. We move from state to state about once every three years. This plan will allow us to accumulate roughly one unit per year over the next 15 years. We will finance using a 15 year VA loan at each purchase, accrue equity over the three year period, and re-finance into a 30 year traditional to make the VA loan available once again for our next move. This will allow us to save our cash flow and save additional income from our jobs in order to transition to creative financing when our debt to income ratio prohibits utilization of the strategy listed above.

I look forward to hearing from the BP community, contributing where I can, and learning learning learning. Thanks for what I know will be a warm welcome!

- Justin

[Jeremy Hunter]

Hey thanks for your service! I recently left active duty and switched to reserves and continue to serve there. I think that is a great idea and does take some patience but as long as your wife is on board should workout for you! Finding your strategy is going to be key to growth and success in real estate. I can also help you out with some other thoughts to consider just PM me and let's set up something!