Active Duty Military Investment Psychology

[James Marszalek]

Man... If only I knew what I knew now when I was active duty, my life would be a lot different right now. But at the end of the day, you don't know what you don't know! 

Here's the fact: Active Duty Service Members have a strong competitive advantage in the Real Estate Investment Industry. 

If you're active duty, I'm going to speak directly to you now. Here are some things for you to consider: 

- You have access to the VA Home Loan, which can be used for multi-family properties as well as single family. 

- THE GOVERNMENT PAYS YOUR MORTGAGE (BAH)

- You are only required to occupy the property for 1 year before you are eligible to rent it out. (VA)

- You are generally a prime candidate for mortgage acceleration tools like simple interest revolving lines of credit. 

- By the time you PCS or ETS, you can have passive rental income being generated on a monthly basis. 

- By the time you leave the military, you could have a massive chunk of equity built, and a great monthly income to help you transition to your next path. 

- A Real Estate Portfolio can be much more powerful than a retirement plan. 

If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have done things much differently. I would have utilized the tools given to me and purchased a multi-family property at each duty station I went to. After 2 years of receiving that rental income for each property, I can now count that income when I apply for financing on the next one. Not to mention, the mortgage acceleration tools I use now would have allowed me to completely have paid off my first property by the time I ETS'd. The greatest thing about this whole situation is the Army would have paid the majority of the mortgage down. Fort Wainwright and Fort Lewis alike have above average BAH. In most cases, soldiers want to find a property that rents (or get a mortgage payment) for less than what the BAH is, that way they can pocket the excess. I would have snowballed my mortgage acceleration by putting the excess cashflow from BAH into the principal of the mortgage through my line of credit. 

I could have come out of my 7 year military stretch with an 800+ credit score, and so much passive income I wouldn't have even had to go get a job. Instead, I could have continued to build my portfolio, and pursued my passions. 

If you are or have served this country, thank you for your service. I take the words "brothers and sisters in arms" very seriously. If I was sent a plane ticket back to the desert, I'd being going in a heart beat to support the operation! Be safe out there, and please learn from my experience! Set yourself up for life while you still have the advantage in your corner! 

This was taken just South of Kirkuk, Iraq in 06.