All Forum Posts by: John Burke

Can you qualify based on the following USDA requirements?

Quote from @Jerome Boudreaux:

If you're trying to get started in real estate investing and you have VA eligibility, using your VA loan is a great way to start. You have a couple of options. You can buy a SFR to live in for 12 months & then convert into a rental. VA will allow you buy another home & you can count most of the rental income towards offsetting the mortgage payment on that property. This makes it easier to qualify on the loan. Live in the new home for 12 months then convert it to rental. The other option is buy a 4 unit, live in 1 & rent the other 3. You start out right away with essentially 3 income producing properties & after a year it goes to 4. All of this done with zero money down, no mi and better rates than you'll get on any other loan program.

Quote from @Brent T Galbreath:

What did you write off?

Quote from @Mayank Jain:

Hard pull VS Soft pull. A hard pull allows a lender to run your file through an automated underwriting system to determine whether or not you're pre-qualified. With a soft pull, it's a gamble. You're relying on LO's judgment which is risky unless you're A paper. 
Another thing to note: Some lenders just don't utilize soft pulls, so they have no choice but to do a hard pull. Lenders that can do either, will generally start with soft pull to avoid having you end up in "trigger lead pool".
You really didn't even need to get pre-qualified with anyone to a get rate and fee quote. Lenders do that to get you invested in the process. Lenders will not send out an LE without a complete application (which includes a property address) because it's basically binding. You can ask for a scenario or closing cost estimate instead. 

Quote from @Austin Williams:

Yes sir you can. The cash-out refi option is just a new VA loan to pay off your current loan and the rest of your equity is cash in hand as long as at least 1 of net tangible benefit requirements is met. If you meet at least 1 you can go up to 100% of your home's appraised value. If not, you have to drop down to 90% of the appraised value. If you can only go to 90%, you're probably better off going the HELOC route. The same thing applies if you've got a trophy rate on your current VA loan.
Yes, you can buy another home with a VA loan, convert your current home into a rental and count the majority of the rental income towards offsetting your current mortgage payment to qualify for the new mortgage. If you're looking in an area where the conforming loan limit is $806,500, you'd have enough 2nd tier or bonus entitlement left to go up to $612,500 on a new VA loan without a down payment. 

Quote from @Austin Williams:

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience leveraging a VA loan without house hacking? While I currently have 25% equity in the home.

One of the best things about VA is you can do a cash-out refinance up to 100% of your home's appraised value. No other loan option comes close to that. 
Also of note, you can convert your current home, with a VA mortgage, into a rental property and buy another primary with your 2nd tier or bonus entitlement depending on how much your current VA loan is.

Quote from @Leonard La Rocca III:

Wondering what the process looks like for getting a conventional loan for an out-of-state deal. For example, if one is looking to buy in PA but lives in NJ, is the typical process to inquire with banks local to the property in PA or is it normal for NJ banks to approve out-of-state?

It really doesn't matter as long as the lender is licensed in the state the property is in. I can lend in all 50 states.

Quote from @Sino U.:

In search of lender for house hack in Austin area. Would appreciate if you could recommend any good lenders that you have worked with in the past. Thanks!

Happy to help & I'm just outside of Austin.

How much down?

Quote from @Jeffrey Hill:

There are a couple of challenges with financing the difference. 1) The current servicer has to approve it. 2) Finding a lender to do a 2nd mortgage at 100% CLTV is almost impossible. You might find a local credit union or community bank that will go to 95 -100%.

At one point I called 2 different VA Regional Loan Centers regarding this section in the VA lenders handbook:
Assumability - The second mortgage should not restrict the
Veteran’s ability to sell the property any more than
the VA first mortgage. That is, it should be
assumable by creditworthy purchaser(s).

No surprise, I received different responses from the RLCs. One said the 2nd mortgage has to be assumable and the other said it did not.

VA issued Circular #26­24­17 back in August to try and clear up the issue:

Assumability: If the secondary borrowing is not assumable, the holder of the VA guaranteed loan should counsel the assumer that this may restrict their ability to sell the property to another creditworthy assumer through an assumption in the future.

The lender currently servicing the loan still can decide whether or not they'll allow the 2nd.

You could do seller financing for the gap and then refinance just that amount with a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit at some point down the road.