All Forum Posts by: Brandon Metz

ive been doing a lot of looking around those neighborhoods which is a good thing I must be on the right track. From what I see though its looks very hard at least from my numbers crunch to cash flow even $100. I guess the real money comes from the so called living for free aspect where im no longer paying $800 in rent for my current apartment and move out to another property with another VA loan after I refinance next year. from other house hacker experience would you other hackers say its common for a bare minimum cash flow until you move to the next property. Since i dont have my first property yet its harder to put things into reality in my head of what i should truly expect. Everyone knows its bad to be int he red on a property, but exactly how much in the green should i be looking to be.

When looking at properties some math is simple. There is some major problems im running into when estimating some expenses though. I went straight from a Marine corps barracks to a cozy apartment which of course covers all maintenance and i only pay electric. My first investment property will actually be my first home. As challenging as that sounds im fully motivated to be up to that task however i was wondering does anyone have any useful tips or tools that would aid in estimating all those little expenses that can add up to be a cash flow killer. Im referring mainly to utilities and small maintenance repairs. Its pretty easily to find online estimates for the big things.

@Don Petrasek I haven't talked to anyone in great depth yet because id like to finish the current book im on due to how well the information has treated me. But ill PM you for the contact info. I need to do as much networking as possible.

@Ryan Evans thanks for the advice. luckily finding multi tenant property around there isn't a problem. I guess i just have to act faster. i Seen a potential ideal property go up on the market Friday and its already pending today :(.

I'm looking very closely at a few up and coming Cleveland neighborhoods and currently eyeing a few properties worth a second look or a numbers crunch. I'm trying a get a 4 unit property if I can but there's not too many around.ive found 2vin the Detroit shoreway area. I'm trying to gather more neighborhood data first to see if the numbers can check out

Im seeing a bit of a gray area here. I have a lead on a property in a up and coming neighborhood priced very well and well maintained. Im looking into using my VA loans benefits to house hack. Only problem is this property is a Duplex with a small house as well in the backyard on the same property. Does anyone know if the VA recognizes this as a separate house or would they consider this a 3 unit property. If it checks out this place is worth a full analysis. But if this is considered a separate property i rather just not waste my time.

Besides VA home loan benefits, does any know of any other tools/benefits veterans can seize to aid in the purchase of a home.

Awesome i got my certificate already so that's good. I guess the hardest part is figuring out how much credit and DTI help you. I always see posts about the bare minimum score of 620 but never anything about if you have a very high credit score. I currently sit at 790 credit score and i use Mint from intuit to track my DTI. I sit right at the target 36% but i believe i might be less seeing that i switched jobs this year and almost doubled my pay so the data is a little off there. Does having better credit and DTI do anything more for you if its significantly about the minimum threshold.

@James Wise thanks for the motivation it's great to here from someone with more experience that I'm starting out on the right path

Greetings Clevelanders im about 5 books into real estate investing and i am really starting to pick up some decent knowledge. Of course i am far from being well versed but i know enough to begin small action steps. im looking to House hack in the Cleveland area utilizing my VA benefits for a VA loan. I figured i can start sooner than later with the 0% down option. I always see posts about 5% being the magic number for VA loans though but i can never find an explanation. Is there any other current veteran investors in the area that can shed some more light on the full potentials of VA home loans i feel i am only scraping the surface. i get the main points of

0% money down required

no PMI required

lower rates

lower closing costs

1-4 units max if purchasing multi-tenant

and current VA loan limit is just over 400,000

Any advice here would be appreciated and of course id love to start surrounding myself with other local investors because after all doing this alone is foolish. especially in the beginning.