All Forum Posts by: Jaren Woeppel

Hey BiggerPockets community!

If you’re looking for a mortgage partner who truly understands real estate investing, my team and I at Motto Mortgage INVICTUS are now offering lending services across Florida!

What sets us apart? We’re investors ourselves. We know firsthand the challenges of getting the right financing in place—whether you're buying your first house hack, scaling a rental portfolio, or optimizing a BRRRR deal. We’ve been in your shoes, and we speak your language.

Here’s what we bring to the table:

✅ Access to Every Loan Product – As a broker, we work with multiple lenders to find you the best solution, from conventional and DSCR loans to creative financing options.

✅ White-Glove Service – You’ll have my direct number to call/text anytime for updates, pre-qualification letters, or scenario reviews. No more call centers or chasing down loan officers.

✅ Problem-Solving & Creative Structuring – Running into financing roadblocks? Let’s talk through options—I may have a lender or strategy that can get the deal done.

✅ First-Time Investor Friendly – If you’re new to investing, I’ll walk you through how financing plays into your long-term wealth-building strategy.

I’d love to connect! Whether you need a second opinion on a deal, want to run numbers on a potential property, or just have mortgage questions—let’s chat.

📅 DM me here or call to see how I can help you move forward on your next deal. Looking forward to connecting and being a resource for this great community!

- Jaren Woeppel | Motto Mortgage INVICTUS

 Hey, Anthony

Welcome to the BP community! You are already off to a great start with a lot of great advice from the community. The one thing I would like to comment on is the VA loan scenario you mentioned. We can connect outside of the thread and walk through it. However, the entitlement is based on your remaining entitlement and the county loan maximum where the property is being purchased. I agree that South Florida may be a tough spot to find an acceptable duplex house hack, but it is possible. You can also think about a strategy that combines a house hack with a "live-in flip" where maybe the duplex isn't in a condition where you would want to live with your family when you purchase it, but you could do value-add renovations that improve your families day-to-day living but also the value and rental income for when you all move to the next property or sell.

@Tyson Regier Welcome to the community!

First off, Go Navy, Beat Army!

Now that's out of the way. I am also a husband and father of two living in the St. Augustine area of Florida. This community is great for getting all the different perspectives in real estate and learning from others.

As far as the LLC vs. personal names goes, like everything, there are positives and negatives. This is not tax or legal advice. Yes, there are liability protections in an LLC and if done correctly, can help protect you in the case of litigation. There are also added expenses and financing hurdles to jump through. I would say either can be done safely and successfully. The biggest question is, which scenario helps you sleep better at night?

There was a recent biggerpockets episode where guest Dion McNeely talks about why he DOES NOT own in an LLC. I think it would be worth a listen/watch.

Welcome to the community, 

I think everyone makes valid points. Each path has its own positives and negatives, strategies, and options. 

The main questions to yourself are: 

How much time do I want to dedicate to this? 

How big of a loss can I handle up front, without stopping? 

If you want to give real estate your main focus; given enough time, and don't take any risk that takes you out of the game, chances are either path will be successful. There is a possibility that the first deal you make doesn't go well. Would you still want to continue in RE if that was a SFH? Would that answer change if it was a 20+ unit building?

Either way you go, I echo what @Stuart Udis said, surround yourself with a quality team.

 Can't beat the cash flow from a paid-off rental!

 Hey, Richa

Is the home already a vacation home and STR or is it a primary residence looking to convert over after potential ADU built?

The transformation looks amazing @Mindy Nicol!

If you haven't already, let me know if you want to look at any cash-out refi options for your short-term rental. There are a lot of good DSCR and investor cash-out refi options out there!

Hey, @Seth Donnelley

Welcome to St. Augustine!

House hacking is one of my favorite investment and wealth building strategies. I have personally house hacked for over 10 years and continue to do it to this day, right here is St. Augustine!

There are many ways to house, and even more way to plan for the future with 1031 exchange and Primary Residence strategies!

If I could ever be of some help in the process or want to discuss specific areas of town and investment analysis, please reach out!

Hey, @Samantha Elliott. Great question!

Let me summarize what I understood and please let me know if I am off base:

You are moving and currently have a property with a great interest rate, strong rental market because of military base, and 15 years left on the mortgage. You are going to be moving out of state and want to purchase a new home in NE and keep the current property as a rental. The issue you are trying to solve is getting the cash in hand to purchase the new home, potentially looking at a financial product to access the equity in the property? Sound about right?

The first questions I would ask are:

What term loan is your current property? If it was a 30 year with 15 years left, that amortization schedule for your principal balance looks a lot different than if it was a new 15 year mortgage. 

Are either of you active duty or a veteran who is eligible for a VA loan? You probably would have mentioned if you were, but worth the ask.

Are both of you listed in the mortgage and deed? There are a lot of programs for “first time home buyers” out there right now, which pretty much means all you need to qualify is meet the IRS definition which is essentially cannot have owned and occupied your primary residence for the past three years. Again, probably not, but worth the ask. 

Where I am going with all this is, have you looked into low down payment options that you all may be able to qualify for and afford without having to use an additional financial instrument on the rental property? Keep in mind, if that property is rented, you should be able to use a portion of the rent for your debt to income calculations. 

You’re welcome, Allende

As far as the HELOC goes, if I am understanding correctly, there a possibility for you to use a HELOC on your primary residence, to put a larger down payment on the investment home and avoid mortgage insurance and have positive cash flow from the property?

When you run the numbers, there could be a scenario, on paper, where this makes sense cash flow wise, because of the interest only nature of the HELOC you have. However, keep in mind that you are using your primary residence as collateral in this case. If the deal were to go bad or an unfavorable circumstance arose, you could not only be in jeopardy of losing the investment property, but also your primary residence. We hope the situation never happens of course, but it's a possibility. My personal investment philosophy would avoid leveraging my primary residence unless I had plenty of reserves to ensure I would be covered in that kind of situation. Of course, if you run the numbers and understand the additional risk, the HELOC may be the best route for you.