All Forum Posts by: Dan Gustavson

@Mark Welp - Where is the best place to get more info on whole life insurance? I'm deploying in 6 months and have some money I'd like to put away since I won't be investing in real estate while I'm gone.

@Mike S. - Thank you sir, I will check into UFCU as I have had previous loans through them. 

@Kerry Baird - Where is this list you posted? Would like to check it out. Thanks!

@Brian Garlington - I heard they may be getting rid of the entitlements, that would be awesome! Over bought 3 properties with the VA loan and currently have two VA loans on two properties .

@Nathan Goff - we are in salt lake city where the market is insane, and has been for the last 5 years. We bought at the perfect time, not knowing that we would appreciate so quickly (2016). However, we were not worried about the 0 down as we knew we were in a hot market and also wanted to not stay idle and get our first rental. We've had 3 years now of rental income, cash flowing about $250 a month for our townhouse, which as a newbie, I think is great in our market (and it was brand new with warranty). We've been searching for a third property for over a year now and we are finding it difficult as the thounhouses in our area would rent for the same but have increased in price by 60-70k since we purchased ours. Like mentioned previously, find a well educated VA loan officer as it can be done. I find it laughable when people say you cannot have two VA loans. I heard it all the time as well when I was looking at doing the same thing. You CAN make it happen. All we had to do is write the loan officer a brief letter stating we had outgrown our townhouse, due to a baby, and we needed to upgrade. We had a rental contract in-hand when we went to close on our new SFR. They didn't question a thing. So we made 50k in equity on our first SFR, paid off debt (Boat loan), got back my full VA entitlements, and bought our TH with no money down with VA. Lived in for a year, then bought our new SFR with the remaining SECONDARY VA entitlements. Our new SFR was a little more than what I had left for entitlements, so I had to pay 75% of the remainder out of pocket, about 10k... but that's because we really wanted that specific house. You could totaly find something cheaper and have two properties no money down with VA. As mentioned above, especially in this hot market, you do want to be careful. If you did what I did, and the market turned, you could be very upside down as you didn't put anything down along with the VA funding fees being added to the backside of the loan. We were lucky and bought at a great time, we didn't plan it, I just finally decided to pull the trigger at that point. Feel free to message me with any questions, happy to answer any you have. I find it funny when fellow military family asks these questions about the VA loan and others simply shoot it down saying it CANNOT be done. It can, and has greatly helped out my family and has started my real estate career. Now... if I could only find a good deal to get my third property in this crazy market 😁

@Nathan Goff - Back in 2013 I used the VA loan to buy our first primary SFR (wasn't in the game back then). Got the real estate bug three years in so decided to sell the SFR. We sold for 50k profit and bought a townhouse with the VA loan. As long as you live in the property for at least one year, AND have a life event (baby, job change, marriage.. etc), you can keep the property in the VA and use your secondary VA entitlements to purchase a second property. We rented out our townhouse after a year (we had a baby), and used my remaining VA entitlements to purchase our now primary SFR. After three years, and now down payment, my TH has about 70k in equity and my primary almost 100k. All with no money down. It can be done my friend! Find a lender that is very knowledgeable about the VA. Good luck!

Question to all - How do you handle "ESA" animals? My last turnover, I had significantly more applicants claiming that their animals were esa compliant compared to the last turnover. I even had one say they had 3 esa dogs. Seems like this is becoming more the norm, and a problem for landlords. Would love your input. Thanks all!

@Khemaro Nuon - Awesome man, good luck to you and your journey!

@Dan Gustavson *1031 (dang auto correct)

@Khemaro Nuon Thank you for posting this thread, I've been in a similar situation and have been asking the same questions. I'm in Utah and am fighting a crazy market, struggling with keeping my unit as a rental (90k equity) or 1039 into a larger one. Would love to 1039, but fear, in our strong market, not finding a deal before the clock runs out. Wish you the best my friend!