All Forum Posts by: Joshua Lyon

Oh ok I believe I understand. So when they say "two-family" properties their talking about 5+ unit commercial properties? I'll head your advice on getting a proper appraisal right away thank you.

Ive been looking at different financing options for a quad plex. I'm a little confused by Navy Federal Credit Unions Terms and Conditions on their website. Under all their mortgage options it says minimum down payment for two-family properties is 20-25%. At the same time the loan advertises 0% down and no PMI. Doesn't say anything about triplexes or quadplexes. Does this mean you can't take advantage of the 0% down for multi-family homes even if you house hack it? Does anybody have any experience using NFCU's Military Choice or Homebuyers Choice loans?

I understand what your saying, thank you. I'll keep an eye on the market around my rental. That area has been going up in value steadily the last couple of years.

Thanks Albert Bui ! That's another idea I didn't think of. I believe the Military Choice is NFCU specific. It's very similar to the VA loan but with a slightly higher interest rate. About 4.25% but doesn't require mortgage insurance or a downpayment. There's another loan they offer called the VA Streamline. It's to refinance your VA loan to lower your interest rate (2.625%), doesn't require mortgage insurance and uses an LTV equal to existing payoff amount plus minimal closing costs. I don't know if that restores your entitlement to use on another house (probably not). If your a member of NFCU it looks like they have some good programs though.

Carlos Rodrigues Where in NJ are you looking at buying? As far as the banks are concerned, you just have to live there. You can rent parts of it out if you can find the renters. I know friends that rent each room out in their house. Another idea is turning a couple rooms into pilot/flight attendant crash pads if your close to an airport. Check out crashpad411.com for examples. There's a big demand for crash pads in NY/NJ. You charge a lower rate since they only need a place to "crash" for a few days a month but you can have say 10-15 tenants. Look at Airbnb as well. As far as the legalities of living in the basement, as long as it's up to code and it's your primary residence I don't think you'd have any problem. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Agnes Lai This was my situation with the VA loan. Not sure if some banks are different. You have to move in within 60 days of buying the house and you have to "intend" to live there at least a year. You can move out prior to a year and rent it out but if someone asks and you can't prove "intent" you could get in trouble for loan fraud.

Once you hit 4 properties it gets harder to finance more without paying off one or more of your mortgages. The federally backed loans weren't designed to make investors rich, but rather allow people to get into homes themselves. Therefore the requirements to qualify for mortgages gets a lot tighter. It's possible but requires higher down payments or higher interest rates. 

Also, this is something I figured out recently and could be where your getting the 25-30% equity requirement. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/03/04/how-to-use-future-rental-income-to-qualify-for-duplex-loan/

@Lamar Thomas

I've been talking to both USAA and Navy Federal to figure out my best option. I found this article that explains the VA entitlement for your second home pretty well.

https://www.veteransunited.com/valoans/second-tier-entitlement/

Lamar Thomas The VA loan doesn't require a down payment no matter how many times you use it. It does require that you use it for a primary residence and live in it for a certain amount of time. I'm currently working with Navy Federal Credit Union who helps with all the paperwork. Their very familiar with the VA process.

William Mccauley What lender is that? Is it only in that area or will they lend out of state? Do you have a contact I could ask questions?