All Forum Posts by: Joshua Lyon

@Tyler Hodgson That math makes perfect sense thank you. It's surprising so many people in the Military rent when there's programs out there like the VA loan and Military Choice.

@John Kent My wife and I are planning to sit down with Navy Federal here next week. I'm hungry to get nose deep into flipping and buy and hold but I want to be efficient about it. I'm thinking my best option is what @Abraham Saldana recommended. I'll use the remaining VA entitlement or Military Choice, live in the house a year then rent it. I can make it more of a live in and flip strategy until I have enough cash reserves to buy investments with the 20-25% down required. I also have a job that will continue to multiply in pay every year which will help.

I'm interested to hear your idea about hard money.

Thank you all for the great advice! Abraham Saldana I think that's a great way to do it. I'm curious though if I'm looking at a house slightly over my remaining VA allowance, is there a way to roll a conventional loan into the remaining amount? For example I find a house for 250k but my remaining allowance is 190k. Can the remaining 60k be rolled in somehow? Maybe put a down payment on the 60k?

So 420k - the remaining balance on the current VA loan? 420k-229k = 191k Do you know if that requires a down payment?

Hello fellow BP members, I currently own a single family home in Colorado Springs that's been a great rental the last couple of years. I bought it using the VA loan and put very little down on it. I lived there long enough to satisfy the VA requirements and moved out about two years ago. It's valued around 265k and I owe 229k. I'm getting $1550/month with the mortgage at $1250, 30 year fixed and 3.5% interest. I'm using property managers that take 10% so my cash flow is about $175. Currently I live in a small townhouse in Orlando that my parent in laws own outright. It's a temporary situation due to family reasons but my wife and I want to move out into a bigger house in a year or so. I want to take advantage of not having a mortgage at our primary residence and get into more investment properties. I'd like to flip a house in Orlando giving us more cash to continue to flip/buy and hold but also give us a better down payment on a primary residence. We have about 10k available to invest with a credit score above 800. Does anyone have any experience with using the Military Choice loan from Navy Federal? I have the VA loan tied up in my first house. I don't have enough down payment for 20-25% for a Conventional mortgage. Any other ideas to make an efficient investment with my current situation? Thank you!

Checked out your Blog. Good luck!

Thank you all for the advice. I will be looking at attending a few REIA meetings and comparing them. I'm very happy to have a medium like BiggerPockets to learn from people like this.

Hey Bobby! Small world when you have great sites like BiggerPockets. You may be a perfect contact. I'm looking at buying in the Orlando area towards the end of the summer. Either Buy and Hold or flip I haven't decided yet. Might be interested in going in with one or two others to cut down on costs.

Hey Carlo! I'm in the same situation. I love my job but I'm doing my best to diversify my income and set my family up for a comfortable future. I enjoy real estate and the challenges/opportunities it provides. I have one successful rental in Colorado and I'm planning to expand that here in the Orlando area towards the end of the summer. For now I'm saving money and growing my local network the best I can. I'd like to get into flipping but I have no experience with it. If I read all I can and surround myself with knowledgable people, I figure that's a good start.

I know that area well! My wife grew up in Casselberry and went to UCF. We've lived in Oviedo about two years now.

I have a 4/3 single family home in Colorado Springs just north of Fort Carson. I bought it with the VA loan back in 2013 while I was still in the military. I've successfully rented it for the last two years to stable tenants. It produces about $150 cash flow after all expenses including property managers. This house was an "accidental rental" but has got me hooked on real estate investing part time. I currently live in Florida and looking to get into the Orlando market. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on to educate myself before expanding. I'd like to get into both flipping and rentals once I can afford it. That's my "close to Denver" story.