House Hacking to the max

[Alana Reynolds]

Hello everyone. My husband and I met in the Coast Guard, married and just had our first baby. We are 25 and 24 yrs old. I used my VA loan to buy a 4 plex in 2020 and still own it today, it cash flows about 2k. My husband bought a home and renovated it while he lived there. He purchased it for 180k and sold it 2 yrs later for 330k. I got kicked out last year for not getting the covid shot. We moved to Florida on his orders and bought a home here. Spent most of the flip money on the house. I got back in active duty, they offered my job back a year after being out.

In our current home, we made the garage into a studio apartment and are renting both the 2 bed 1 bath side and soon the studio too. We made the mistake of buying a brand new Toyota and a 41 ft camper (financed). Should have bought used. The plan was to live in the camper while renovating homes so we are living in the camper on the same property we are renting out our "dueplex". The rents will cover the home mortgage and the car payment. 

Wondering if we should sell the Toyota and camper to get rid of debt and buy another VA loan house to hack or just save up money and stay in the camper.

If we bought another house the mortgage would be low 7% interest and on a 350k-385k home our mortgage would be about 3 thousand (Anything cheaper is a less desirable location or unlivable). We have a roommate lined up who would pay $1,100 towards it. In the long game, we will rent each bedroom if we have to in order to cover the mortgage when we move again. 

Looking for creative options too like an assumable mortgage. We live in the Jacksonville FL area if anyone has something they want to sell. 

Or we can stay in the camper and put 5k in savings every month. Only have 30k in savings currently, this would not be enough for a hard money flip or regular rehab. I want to keep it for reserves.  

The goal is to get financially free and sustained by rental properties asap. I want to be a stay at home mom and plan to get back out in 3.5 years So I need to make the best of the double income currently. 10k a month in cashflow from would be great, currently at about 3k. My goal was purchase 1 property a year and its about that time but I am worried about being over leveraged and uncertain about the market. It seems like a great time to sit on the sidelines and save up cash for when/if prices drop. What are your thoughts on this, I'd love to chat. 

[John Mausteller]

I will mimick what everyone else is saying!  Congrats!  

I think you have a variety of options and all of them are good paths. If you could find another multi family and get a VA loan on it, that is probably what I would choose. I think with having a new baby, I would rather the multi family than a roommate. While you wait for a multi family, I would continue living in the camper. Once you find the multi family, you could even keep the camper and place it for rent on something like Outdoorsy. Since you are in Jacksonville - you could offer to trailer it and drop it at various state parks nearby (Little Talbot Island State Park, Fort Clinch State Park, etc). I know people who have done this other places in Florida and end up making good money - that pays off the camper AND then cash flows and it is relatively easy! There are lots of people who want to go 'camping' but do not have an RV or do not want to trailer one. Having it dropped at the campsite, and picked up - is so easy. Plus once you are a stay at home mom - that could be your side income, easy to clean them after check outs. Just an idea...

Congrats on your new family and how far you all have already come at such a young age!