Active duty (First house buy questions)

[Valentino Sierra]

Good evening everyone,

I am currently on deployment and was interested in buying a home when I get back in the Virginia Beach/Chesapeake area. I was wondering what the pros and cons are for buying a home and renting out the rooms to people I know at work. I was looking at roughly a $500k home 4bed 3bath and renting each room for $1000 dollars. Now full transparency before anyone thinks that's crazy rent if you do. The navy is charging roughly 1400 for a one bed one bath near the bases. my mortgage would be around $3100 dollars with my VA home loan. Just wanted some insight on this idea. Thank you!

V/r
sierra

[Sean Hudgins]

@Valentino Sierra, great strategy. That is essentially what I did back when I first got stationed out here but with a rental because I knew nothing about RE. If you are looking at the 500k price range here in VB or Chesapeake there are a ton of options and many of them can be ideal for this type of investment. 

Look for homes with more than usual bathrooms. I just helped another BP member find a place in VB that was 4 beds all with en-suite baths for the purpose of renting by the room. Something else to look out for is a floor plan that can allow for some separation. Now if you have 4 roommates in a 4 bed house y’all are going to be In each others business one way or another. But if you decide one day that you want to reduce down to 2 roommates having a floor plan with a separate entrance or something with a separate living room that you can minimize common spaces you may be able to live with that arangement more comfortably for longer. 

I know that’s a lot of information but you are going about things the right way. Reach out if you want to talk more. I would love to help you out in the search for your home as well. I love helping my active duty brothers and sisters get the best bang for their BAH.