All Forum Posts by: Asa Gunderman

Sounds like they're not asking for anything. If they wanted out of the lease, I would let him assuming they provided a copy of their orders. Other than that, he's still going to get BAH (housing allowance). You might clear it with them ahead of time to go into the property once a week. You definitely don't want them cutting off the utilities for that long. You could also ask for the rent up front for the time he will be out. Military are allowed to take their pay as a lump sum prior to being deployed in order to pay bills ahead. I made decent tax free money deployed and spent hardly anything. I wouldn't stress it if they are not asking for help. Asa

I would find a good commercial building to buy (maybe a strip mall). Open your clinic in one of the units and rent out the rest to other businesses. You really could do both. Asa

VA loans are great. Like FHA, you can use it to purchase up to a 4 unit building as long as you live in one of the units. Our current home was 100% financed through VA and I didn't feel like there was much extra paperwork. Also, I was told you are only limited to one va loan at a time, not just one in your lifetime. Something to keep in mind if you wanted to refinance a couple years down the line, you should be eligible for another va loan.

It's really up to you, but I think you will find most people here will say $100 minimum per unit.  We're closing on a duplex this month that cash flows $200/door on a 15 year note.  At the same time, we have a really nice single family rental where we payed $0 down that just meets the $100 cash flow minimum. It has increased in value by $30k since we bought it 5 years ago, so I don't mind the lower cash flow.  The duplex will not appreciate nearly that fast in our area, which is why you tend to see higher cash flow on a multi family. 

This is how I perceive things in my area, your mileage may vary.

Asa

Don't give up on the property yet. Plug the numbers in and find out what price point makes it a good deal. All they can do is say no.  If they do say no, you walk away knowing it wasn't a good deal at the sellers price point.

Honestly you need to plug the numbers into the bigger pockets analyzer. Make sure you are accounting for everything. Did you pull up the property taxes and get an insurance quote? Without knowing more details, here's the numbers I ran to get a rough estimate. 20% down @30 year $2k closing cost 1 point to lender $2k/year taxes $800/year insurance Vacancy 8% Repairs 8% Cap exp 10% Property management 10% Assuming I'm even close on the expenses, you would only cash flow $50/ door.

Mark, I also don't mind electric baseboards. They are dirt cheap to replace and we only pay $0.089/kwh here in my area of TN.

He could loan money on prosper or lending club. At his age, I would only invest a small portion but it would give him something to do and get much better than 1% returns. Asa

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

@David Dachtera,  I'll have a bankruptcy on file, so I can't work with stocks or buy a house for a while. Man, I was really hoping to do both of those at 22...

If this is how you feel, can I ask why you're posting on a real estate investing forum?  People are coming at you from an investor's point of view. If this is what you want to do, take the advise that the majority of investors have given you.  If not, file bankruptcy and move on.  

Asa

Your last sentence says you plan to rent it out in a year or 2? Does this mean you are looking at this to be your primary residence? If so, I would get the cheaper house assuming its not an hour from work and stockpile the extra cash for the next deal. If you are buying for a rental immediately, I seriously doubt either will cash flow. Asa