Sacramento Military Veteran Questions

[Shea Bartolino]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to reach out to the local Sacramento community and see if I can get some advice on my current situation. A quick run down: 

I'm 28 years old and recently married. My wife and I have owned a SFH in the Natomas area since 2016 but have supplemented the mortgage payment by renting out the spare bedrooms. However, we no longer want to rent out individual rooms and wish to sell our home. My goal is to purchase a multifamily in the Sacramento area while I finish college. I wish to stay in this area due to the BAH rate (money I get from the VA to pay for housing) the San Francisco colleges enable me to have, and the cheaper cost of housing in Sacramento.

The problem I am running into is multifamily homes are either incredibly expensive or in really bad areas. My initial plan was to use the VA loan but they require the home to be in a move-in condition. This makes a lot of properties in my price range ineligible or they fall into areas that my wife and I would simply not like to live. We do not have enough cash to put 20% on a loan either.

Can I use the FHA 203(k) if I have already purchased a home (I have used the VA loan)? If I cannot find a suitable place to move to should I just keep my current home or should I find a cheaper location to rent (2000 vs 1300). I have not contacted a real estate agent yet but plan to in the near future. This would be a buy and hold property for myself which I would eventually transition to become my first full rental property.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.