House Hacking in Jacksonville FL

[Devin Voelker]

Hey everyone, I'm new to BP and property investing. I'm stuck with a 9-month lease right now but I'm using the time I have to study hard and save more money. I plan on using my VA home loan for my first house hack so I can get 0% down and no PMI. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with multi-family homes in the Jacksonville area or experience using VA home loans for house hacking and could give me some advice.

[Andrew Postell]

@Devin Voelker now you are talking my language! I wish more of us veterans used our VA loans for this purpose. I've invested in Jacksonville for many years but I want to provide some advice that will apply to any city just in case:

1. Realtors - rely on a real estate agent to find properties. A realtor should be able to tell you more about your local market than anybody else...at least, a good realtor should. We rely on them for their market expertise. Now, you will find that in many markets where land is relatively cheap (like Jacksonville, Florida) that multi-family homes are significantly harder to find. In NYC or San Francisco the land is so expensive that builders have to put multiple units on a lot to make the numbers work. But here in Texas there's so much land they will build a house on an acre of land and hardly think twice about it. So some markets will have more limitations than others. It doesn't mean they aren't out there, but your choices might be limited. Maybe even think about a single family home with an "ADU" (aka mother-in-law suite or garage apartment) and that might open your choices up more. You can absolutely house hack a single family home as well. That's how I got started.

2. Getting PreQualified - make sure you are working with a lender that knows how to navigate some of the nuances to VA loans. For example, if you don't have rental history in your background...that will limit you when buying a 4 unit property. Make sure your VA lender knows how to advise you in this arena. Your lender should also know how to advise you on the TIMING of your closing so you aren't paying two payments (your mortgage and rent) at the same time. Closing about 2 months out will still allow you the benefit of one payment. Make sure they know that element too. Once you are prequalified you can go shopping for a property. It should be free to get prequalifed. Another bonus question to ask your lender - how many VA loans can I receive? The answer should be 2. If it's not two...then go to another lender.

3. Your Commitment - you commit to live in this property for 12 months. That's it. Then you can go and do it again. You can really leverage your VA loan to maximize your property acquisitions. There are some tax benefits if you stay 2 years...so maybe that might be a good goal to have as well? But in either case, map out what your plan is and you'll find yourself on property 2 before you know it.

Thanks for the post!  Feel free to ask anything else if you need.  Thanks!

[Vicki X.]

Quote from @Devin Voelker:

Hey everyone, I'm new to BP and property investing. I'm stuck with a 9-month lease right now but I'm using the time I have to study hard and save more money. I plan on using my VA home loan for my first house hack so I can get 0% down and no PMI. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with multi-family homes in the Jacksonville area or experience using VA home loans for house hacking and could give me some advice.

Sounds like a good idea. Good luck!

[Minna Reid]

I assume you are already in Jacksonville? Va loans are for owner occupants. Your first step here would be to talk to a local lender to find out how much loan you could qualify for. That would determine your next step. I have an awesome local lender if you need a referral. 

[Jasmine Vida]

Hey Devin! My boyfriend just used his VA loan to buy our primary last year. We are house hacking in the sense of just renting out one of our guest rooms to mid-term renters. There were a few decently priced duplexes and triplexes I found in the past couple months, but you of course have to move quickly on it. Also not sure if you've looked into new construction, but I would recommend checking out some of those houses! Some builders like Lennar have started doing floor plans with separate in-law suites. You don't have to rush an offer and most of the time you are not bidding against others.

[Doug Spence]

@Devin Voelker Welcome to BP! You're in the right place to learn more about real estate investing. There are lots of military folks on here (I'm still active duty Navy) who are eager to help folks like yourself along their journey. 

@Andrew Postell already gave you some fantastic advice below, but I want to make sure you know that the VA loan is zero down, but you will likely still have to pay for closing costs! I know lots of folks who have been surprised by this when its time to close on their property. You might be able to get seller credits for the closing costs, but make sure you have some capital (2% of the purchase price should be enough) for closing. You can't roll closing costs into the VA loan! Though you can roll the funding fee into the loan.

Good luck and let me know if I can help with anything. My wife and I are house hacking now in San Diego using her VA loan.

[Kimberly Gopp]

@Devin Voelker This is super exciting Devin. Straight to Multifamily using VA loan is so smart. Are you familiar to the areas in Jax?

Stay on BP and keep studying.. hopefully you are already running numbers. If not or you need help - just reach out- I run small multifamily properties -in Historic areas and Class A homes.. I can give you some figures to fill in. 

[Ryan Thomson]

@Devin Voelker good plan! You may consider asking your landlord what it would cost/take to get out of the lease early. MIght make sense not to wait if the right property comes along. 

Definitely meet up with a house hacking agent in your area.

The VA loan is the best loan product on the planet in my opinion. The only one right now that will allow a 0% downpayment on a fourplex.

[Sean Hudgins]

Quote from @Ryan Thomson:

@Devin Voelker good plan! You may consider asking your landlord what it would cost/take to get out of the lease early. MIght make sense not to wait if the right property comes along. 

Definitely meet up with a house hacking agent in your area.

The VA loan is the best loan product on the planet in my opinion. The only one right now that will allow a 0% downpayment on a fourplex.

 @Devin Voelker Congrats on getting ahead of the game. I totally agree with Ryan here talk to your land lord, some are nicer than others when it comes to early termination. If there is a management company involved they may have a Real Estate agent that works with them and you may be able to work out a deal that if you use their agent they might let you out of your lease for no cost... If the agent is no good then forget this, that early termination fee is not worth a bad investment because of bad advice.

Bottom line I wish I had known more when I got started and used my VA loan to get into the multi family space earlier. Build your team and be ready to act when that right property comes up!

Best of Luck.