All Forum Posts by: Joshua McMillion

@Jeff Wagner

Your spot on. Madison is a hot spot for investors but also have exceptionally high property taxes. I use the link below to help determine the tax strategy. AL does have a homestead exemption if you live on the property. Are you willing to house hack? 

https://www.madisoncountyal.go...

Sincerely, 

Josh 

Shane, 

I use Tracey of American Dream. She is great and found tenants quickly. The tenants we have will be in the property for possibly 5 years! 

http://www.realtortraceyw.com/

Sincerely

Josh

@Shane Hutchins

Shane, great to always see military members taking action in the real estate space. I was stationed in Fort Polk, LA, for four years and owned an SFH there. Do you want to hold the property? That location gaines equity slowly but does rent well with nice returns. 

When you move, you can always use the VA loan again, depending on your eligibility. That's what I did for my first two properties. The advantage of this strategy is you can hold the property for up to 15 years without doing a 1031 exchange. You can also purchase a home with an FHA loan when you move to depend on your credit score. USAA offers a 90/10 cash-out refinance, so I'm assuming there are other lenders out there that do as well. But I recommend not to do that in the current market your in. The properties gain equity so slowly that it would hurt your cash flows and exit strategy. I use my LA property as a long term buy and hold to scale up since not 1031 is needed. 

Sincerely, 

Josh 

@Tommy Reeder

I am sharing a conversation with another SC forum that may be helpful. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Sincerely, 

Josh

@Christopher Sellar

We have similar stories. I'm 34, active military, and have a large family. That said, you can use this strategy and have success. It would help if you defined what your success looks like in the 20-year mark. For example, at 20 years am striving to have $10,000 a month of passive cash flow, net worth north of 1M, and 10-12 SFH's. Look at the BiggerPockets podcast talking about the book Vivid Vision; sorry don't know of the top of my head. After reading it, set down and come up with your retirement goals, then backward plan from there. If you want 4 to 6 homes paid off by retirement, it is a very achievable goal. Also, listen to the podcasts with Richard Carry. He was an active-duty military officer that got out at 20 years and had all his homes paid off. 

My goal is to leverage VA, FHA, Cash-out REFI, and conventional loans to purchase one to two properties per year, to hold ten newer buy and holds. From there, I will focus on shifting into multi-family properties, scaling my larger SFH portfolio, or focus on debt paydown. 

Sincerely, 

Josh 

@Alexander Knowles

I can't speak specifically for that military base. However, I have been stationed all around the U.S. Soldiers value family and tend to lean toward SFH's. It depends on your tenant base too. If you rent an apartment or townhome, it most likely will have a single newly promoted E-5 or, on the flip side, a more experience NCO with no family. From my experience, the apartment or multifamily tend to have a single officer bases. 

I aim to rent to tenants that value what I value and focus on SFH's. 

Sincerely, 

Josh 

@Jesse Whitney-Blane

Another advantage of investing near military communities is raising rents as basic housing allowances increase within reason slowly. Like @Nathan Felch said, you can go to Soldiers command if a soldier would not pay, but I would offer another piece of advice. When your screening the tenant, make sure you get the squad leader and platoon sergeant's number. Too often, landlords will go directly to soldiers' commands for small issues, which can cause more undo stress. Usually, the squad leader and platoon sergeant can fix it at their level. I only had one Soldier in over 36 months of command not paying rent, which was a crazy story for another BP post. 

Good luck 

Josh 

@Chris Odell

Yes, the loan would be a conventional loan. The current loan rate in my market with 20% down is 3.5%, to give you an idea. To qualify for the 10% down loan, you also have to have a credit score over 700 or just under. I have not used this strategy yet, but it seems like a preferred way to purchase a vacation rental without living in the market first. I would totally use a VA or FHA if I lived in a vacation destination like you. I dropped an article I found helpful on BiggerPockets below. 

Thanks for the connection!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Sincerely, 

Josh 

@Shaquille Shaw

Agree with @erickson Sainval. Understand want the rents will go for, then build a team. I would reach out in a DM to David Pere. I'm pretty sure he is living in San Deigo right now and is also House Hacking for a great return. Once you figure out the number, go for it, and good luck! 

Sincerely 

Josh

@Amare Boyd

focus on building a foundation of understanding the strategies you can use and start networking!

Josh