All Forum Posts by: Matthew Coleman

Welcome to BP! As others have said, there are pros and cons of each. But to give specific advice to you, we'd need more specific information, such as how much cash do you have to put down? Will you live in the SFH if that's the route you go? If you use an FHA loan, you'll only have to put 3.5% down. If you go SFH, that means you'll have to live in it first before renting out. If you go MFH, you can use the same type of loan, with small down payment, and rent the other units out. Depending on loan amount, payments, rents and other factors, the rents may pay for the mortgage payment, meaning you'd be living for free! But it all depends on the specific situation.

Obviously, there are MANY MANY people in this community willing to help, so feel free to keep asking questions! Welcome!

Sounds great @Andrew Hatcher! I just went under contract on two units of a triplex in Bartram Place, off of St Mary's Rd right across from Sugar Mill. With the huge rental market due to the base you can't go wrong getting into the rental property business in the area.

I will be living in one unit and renting the other out, and there's already a tenant in place. The listing agent of the unit I will live in is apparently a flipper also, as this is the second unit he bought as a foreclosure, fixed up, and is now selling. I'm not sure if he's on BP, but his name is Jordan Gallup. May be someone to get in touch with if you're doing a lot of flipping.

Good luck to you!

Forgot to ask, is the second home going to be owner-occupied? If you want to do another VA loan, it has to be an "upgrade" (as considered by the VA), unless it's above 144,000, in which case they don't really care.

@Ian Davis, I recommend you research VA loans more. You can definitely have more than one. How long ago did you purchase the first property? The only requirement the VA has is that you reside in the home for one year. You can have more than one VA loan, but the max guarantee amount remains the same, and each loan goes against it. Check out the VA loan forum and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Thanks for the replies. @Thomas S., by normal vetting process, I mean the requirements that get talked about on here all the time, such as the requirements @Account Closed mentioned. Not sure exactly how long the tenant has been in place, but definitely less than a year. I'm working on getting the rental history now. I will call the property manager and ask what their requirements for renters are. Thanks for the advice!

I just put an offer in on my first rental property. There is an existing tenant that is currently on a six month lease, as the owner couldn't sell when she listed the property (it is now off the market but she's accepting offers- I'm hoping for a great deal!). Anyway, I'm waiting to hear back from my agent on getting the current lease and rental history. From what I can tell, the tenant should have about two to three months left on their lease, and very well may want to stay.

My question for BP is, if the tenant does want to stay, should I conduct a full screening as if I were looking for new tenants? Should I go ahead and do a full background/credit check? One of the reasons I am so interested in this property is that it does have a tenant in place, but I'm not sure how much the current property manager vetted the tenant. The owner is using a property manager, so I'm assuming they did a normal vetting process. I'm not sure about the privacy laws and such (I'm in Georgia).

Any thoughts?

Welcome @Hubert Washington!! If you have any questions, just ask. Lots of knowledge in these forums..

@Andrew Hatcher, I too am looking at investing in this area. Did you get any leads or info? 

I am currently Active Duty Navy stationed in Kings Bay, GA. I'm currently interested in getting started in buy & hold real estate investing to supplement my retirement in 5 years. 

I'm interested in learning as much as I can about financing and finding the great deals; as well as networking and meeting real estate professionals (specifically, lenders, brokers, and other investors!) and absorbing as much information from them as I can.