All Forum Posts by: George Drexel

Hey @George Drexel, I spent many years as a mortgage loan officer. The rule in the industry is that you must live in the property as your primary residence for at least the first year.

After that, you can move out and hold the property as a rental. But the other posters in this thread are correct, if you apply for an owner-occupied loan and never move in, you're committing fraud.

Best of luck!

The low money down loan options are for primary residences so you would have to have the intention of living there. 

My first rental property was a quadplex that I purchased with the VA loan. The building was fully rented so I signed a document saying I had to move in within 60 days. It actually took 4 months to move in. But life took a different direction, and I left after only a couple month and rented the place back out. It is all about intention, don't go into it without planning on living there.

Thank you all for your responses and insight. As I said, I recognize that my concerns are quite common and that Bigger Pockets offers many solutions to investing with low capital. However, I truly appreciate hearing directly from other individuals with experience and knowledge. Thank you all for sharing!

The main two things you need to focus on right now are 1.education and 2.saving money.  There are ways to get into real estate investing without money, but I will tell you that it sure helps a lot to have some cash saved up and ready to deploy.  Another valuable skill to learn is how to find off-market or deeply discounted properties.  If you can do that, there are many investors that will give you money.  Hope my rambling is somewhat helpful.  Happy investing and good luck!