All Forum Posts by: Kyle Falkenstein

My wife and are stationed in Jacksonville, NC. I bought my current home in early 2013 and the house was built around September 2012. We were about to put the house on market when we started going through the house and pointed out to our realtor about this progressive ant trail showing on our laminate flooring. It also started cracking open the laminate. So our realtor told us to cut it open and then we soon found that this “crack” ran from one end of the foundation to the other end of the foundation and was starting to branch off the main crack. This crack is running under several walls and even our guest bathroom. Our realtor mentioned a law that is a 10 year structural damage builder warranty. We are worried that the builder is going to say tell us to piss off. If that’s the case would it be smart to take them to court or just pay all this out of pocket? Is anyone familiar with this law that could possibly save us??

Information on me:

-I’m the first owner of the home

-it's financed with a VA loan

-I’m in active duty military

-I’m trying to sell the house as soon as possible to buy a duplex. Also to get us into a stable living situation before my wife gives birth in 2 months (give or take).

Our realtor says she’s going to confront the builders about this situation and try to fight with them about it. I was just wanting some legal advice or someone who has possibly experienced a similar situation.

@Jack Bobeck thank you!

@Aaron Hale thank you for your input! I greatly appreciate you reaching out. I took your advice and I reaching out to family down in Jacksonville, FL and they are getting me in contact with real estate agents and mortgage brokers. The only issue I have with VA is having to live in the property for a certain time period, which ever is saying a year but I'm also hearing other times as well. I think in the future once I actually move down to FL then, yes, I believe the VA loan will be a game changer. Anyways, you take care and thanks for your dedicated service as well!

@Stephen Akindona thanks for the quick response. That’s a very good point and need to do some reflecting on that, before the Marine Corps I used love doing construction but on the other hand I don’t want to lose valuable time on finding deal/making deals. Thanks again for your input.

@Stephen Akindona @Shawn M. I appreciate both inputs.

Won’t it save money and headaches if I could do the construction myself with a team? I’ve just heard the two hardest things to find are a decent contractor and a decent PM. I understand that it may come off that I’m planning to fail or not be successful with that kind of mindset but just thought the schooling would come in handy. Plus being in military I can use my

GI Bill which I won’t have to pay for the tuition and they will pay me for “housing” while going. I guess what I’m getting at is that while I’m going to school I can still do buy and hold investments but it’d help me learn the area more (Jacksonville, FL) then at the end I’d have the ability to either flip properties myself with a team or know when a contractor is screwing me on prices if I become too busy. I may be overthinking this too much but it’s just my thoughts.

Currently in the Marine Corps, 27 years old and plan on investing in the next 2-3 years (that’s the agreement my wife and I came to) starting with buying single or multifamily houses if the numbers work. Now a few questions I had are:

-How hard is it to do real estate investing (flipping and rental properties) with having kids? Do you get plenty of time with them still?? Just worried about doing this whole thing with my wife but then both of us being to busy for our son. Thoughts on that too?

-My wife wants to go to school to get her license to be a realtor (which is awesome) but she said if we are going to start flipping that I should go to school for construction or some specific trade. Is that necessary or would it be very beneficial? She also said it’d be good for something to fall back on to if the investing goes down the drain. Thoughts?

-Looking to invest in the Jacksonville, Fl region and looking for a mentor. Any suggestions on how I could find one?

@Jake Stuttgen Thanks for your input

Looking to invest in and around the Jacksonville, FL area in the next 2-3 years. Is that areas market worth it? If so do you recommend buy and holds or flips?

@Stuart Grazier Thank you for reaching out to me and providing this information! I greatly appreciate it and plan on diving into @David Pere information. Also I am aware of the VA loan but the only issue I have is finding a duplex or bigger around the areas that I'm stationed. Is there any preferred app or site to help locate multi-family homes around military bases that the professionals like to use? The issue I'm having right now is that I'm moving to Parris Island/Beaufort, SC next year to go be a Drill Instructor but all the sites/apps that I use don't show any duplex/triplex/ect. Plus the realtor I'm using says they are very scarce down there. Anyways, thanks again for the information you both have provided me and I'll be sure to go check out those sites and other tools provided.

@David Pere thank you for reaching out and will be sure to start listening, watching and reading your content!