All Forum Posts by: Ethan Bennett

We are in the process of closing on a home and had 4 questions for our REA. Keep in mind that all of these questions are relevant and should be asked before closing. Such as - there is a whole house generator installed July 2020, so we wanted to ensure that the HOA gave approval and that we have some type of documentation.

During our conversation with the REA, she stated "This is just unusual for buyers to ask so many questions".  I replied, "We asked 4 questions total and they were all things that YOU told us to look for".  

She wasn't thrilled about it and said she would forward them to the seller.  I am a bit confused because we truly only asked 4 questions during this whole process.  

Are we in the wrong?

What would be a good cash flow figure?  Right now I have calculated rent about $1850 a month and that would give me about $890.  Is there a hard and fast rule that says don't go under a certain number?  I don't need the money for the next house but would like to eventually(3-5 years) have some side money to do things.  

I have a property in Hampton VA and have lived here since 2006. Its current value is about 260+ and we owe 180k.

Since there is a VA home loan on it, I was going to refinance into a conventional loan at a lower rate and free up the VA loan. This would allow me to rent out the existing home and purchase another without a down payment. I would also keep the payments at a total max amount that I am willing to deal with, in case something happens to the rental and it cant be rented at the time.

My thing is, this is my first time renting and I am starting to research all the ins and outs.  I wanted to know if it will be financially better to rent the existing property out or sell it outright and take the 60+ in profit and move on.  

At what point do you start to see profits from rentals?  My goal would be to take the difference in rent and keep it in a bank account and only use it for repairs or whatever would pop up.  I hate to sound new, but I am!

I also know that I could get a property manager to handle things, but isnt that like 8-10% each month off of the rental?

My wife and I renovated our home a few months ago and afterwards she comes to me about selling because the market is moving houses really fast.

We both have perfect credit scores, no debt on my side, she has about 20k left. (We have been following Dave Ramsey for a while).

Our realtor did the figures and we could make around 60k profit from our home.  

We have a few problems however which are keeping us from moving forward.

1. I’m a disabled veteran so moving around a lot from house to apt, or house until we find another can be tough.  

2. Our son is in a good school and has 3 years left until he graduates HS.  Because of this, we would be limited to the areas for the new house.  

3. We just spent about 15k in renovations.  

4.  The area we live in has slowly started going downhill and the neighbors are all getting older.  Most will be 80 in 5/10 years.  We have noticed as one neighbor moves on, others move in and make it bad.  How bad?  We moved here in 2006 and never heard anyone or had problems.  2016 we had a lot of break ins and a shooting on the same street a half block up.  A rims and tires shop has moved into the center at the end of our street(we live in a dead end CLI de sac) and the customers use our street to race up and down and test out the latest back firing exhaust.  


I have been thinking of putting the house up for sale, sell it and move into a nice apt for about six months until we find another location.  We have also talked to the realtor to see if we could do a owner occupied for a new house until ours sells, but that’s not guaranteed.

I’m not sure what to do.  

I just feel of we wait, we will lose out on the profit from the sale.  I also don’t want to think about how this neighborhood will be in 10 years.  

I’m open to suggestions and advice.  Just really confused and would rather not make a decision based on emotions at the moment.    

If I refinance this house into a conventional loan(it has a VA loan now) and then do a VA on a new house, I assume that would be the best route to take?

I wish it were as easy as the "everything is getting worse" due to older age.  I have watched the area slowly die and the neighbors as well as other residents are moving.  I would like to say that I could stick it out, but with the signs of decline everywhere, it may be time to move on.

The thing that I dont like is that I have already put 13 years into this house and if I leave, I would have to start all over again on another mortgage.  Thats hard to think about.  

I am a disabled veteran and would like to pay off the house early and invest the money in other things later on.  

Since my house is under a VA loan, I would assume that it needs to be moved to a conventional loan before renting out, to free up the VA loan amount? I dont pay property taxes due to my DV status. With insurance the payment each month is $1380, its a 1900 sq ft house, six bedrooms, two baths. Currently still owe around $198k.

At this point I would even entertain renting the house out and moving into a condo/apt for the time being. Just not sure whats the best option since I have a VA loan on the house.

I am trying to decide which is the best option financially for myself and my family.  We live in an area that was pretty good when we first moved in(2006) but the past year or so, the area has started to decline.  Good people that lived in the area moved out and questionable people have moved in.  We never had a shooting in our neighborhood until this year and the number of crimes in our neighborhood went from 0 from 2006 to 2016, to 15 break-ins in 2016 alone.  

I realize that no matter where you go there will always be problems, but I have watched my area slowly die.  Stores shut down, armed security guards at the local grocery store etc.  

With that said, I am trying to weigh whether it would be better to move or focus and pay off our home.  If I were to pay it off it would take me another 4 years and putting extra payments each month during that time.  Or we could clean up the place and put it up for sale and look for a better area to live.

So many people have said the same thing "no matter where you go its bad", but I would hate to spend that 4 years putting that much money into my home and then having to move.   

Just so confused on the best option.  

I am looking for some advice on my current situation. We live in Hampton VA and the schools are rated low, some even a 2 out of 10.

Up until now our son has gone to a good elementary school, but we now face middle and high school.  Those two are the worse in lower numbers.  We may end up sending him to private school for middle school, but the private high schools here are extremely expensive.

So we are thinking of doing one of the following:

•  Save our money for the next few years and try to sell our home, paying the difference that we owe vs. what we can get.  At this point we just want to break even and get out.  The house is nice and we have did a lot of work over the years.  It is however, about 15-20k over.  Currently we owe 206,350.  Most homes in our area have sold for 180-195k.  Also, when does interest drop on the loan?  We have been paying over 10 years now and the interest is killing us($861.50 out of a $1356 payment).
•  Stay here and send our son to private school.  That would mean paying at least $18k a year, which we truly can't afford.
•  When the time comes for him to attend high school, we would rent an apartment in the area we want him to go and leave the house until it sells.  
• Rent the house out and move.  I personally don't want to deal with renters.

I keep going back to the first solution as it seems the best.  This has put such stress and worry on our family lately.  There has to be a better solution.

What is a good way to sell a house & buy another without having to move into an apt? Are there clauses you can put into a contract that will allow you to stay at your house until the next goes through? Ideally we would already have another house in the works at the same time of sale.

I am trying to avoid renting an apt until another house is finalized.