Military VA LOAN

[James Booker]

Hello everyone my name is James, active duty military. I just had a question about using the VA LOAN to possibly flip houses. I been in for 5 years now and people keep telling me to get into with out giving me info that I need. Is there anyone out there that has done this and can give me a run down of the process or the things I need to know?

[Jessica Skupien]

Hi @James Booker welcome to BP!

My husband is in the Coast Guard and we're looking to buy our first property with a VA loan soon. As such, I've done quite a bit of research on its requirements and unfortunately for you, the VA Loan requires that properties meet certain Minimum Property Requirements which essentially means it must be "move in ready" and therefore can't be a fixer upper.

However, it is an excellent choice for a buy-and-hold strategy because you can buy up to a 4 unit property with no money down, live in one of the units for a year, and then move out and rent the unit you were occupying.

Make sure you do your research, there is a lot of mis-information about the VA loan. For example, it's "common knowledge" that the VA Loan maximum is $417,000. However, if you live in certain "high cost" areas (i.e., the Bay Area like we do) then the maximums can be much higher. Also, the more units your property has, the higher the loan limit. In our case, if we bought in Contra Costa County or Alameda County, our limits would be:

Single family: $625,500;  Duplex: $800,775; Triplex: $967,950 ; 4Plex: $1,202,925

For you, living in Killeen which is in Bell County, your limits are:

Single family: $417,000; Duplex: $533,850; Triplex: $645,300; 4Plex: $$801,950

That info can be found http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/purchaseco_lo...

Hope that helps!

Jessica