All Forum Posts by: Nick N.

Is it possible to turn the den into a second bedroom and see what it appraises/rents for after?

@Chantal W. giving you an up vote solely for the "Go Huskers!" comment.

Since you have access to a VA loan with $0 down and no PMI, you could house hack a 4-plex and get into REI relatively easy so long as you can find the deal.

Generally with the BRRRR method you buy and rehab the property with cash, then refinance to pull your money back out minus the 20%. If you owner occupy you can do much lower down payments through programs like FHA but they also have rules about how long you have to live in the property. Commercial financing generally requires 25% but anything 1-4 units is usually 20%.

There are also systems you install after the meter that can monitor the supply lines to each apartment and send you reports so you can accurately bill each one accordingly. The Sense Home Energy Monitor is one that connects to each circuit in you main panel so you can tell how many KWh each one is using. Once you have everything labeled appropriately it should be easy to bill back depending on how well the units are wired. For water, you could look into sub-metering for the water also using something similar to this https://submetersolutions.com/water-meters/ so long as the units are piped in a way that you can separate those main supply lines. Just another option you could look into to get the most accurate numbers possible without splitting out the main meters into the house.

@Tim Bradley 

Not sure if you've already painted or not but could you try mixing your first color into your second until you achieve your desired color? Might help you get closer to what you originally envisioned.

 Thanks for the detailed response, I've vetted some of these resources and researched them to find one that works well for me. I like the idea of searching for apartment screening criteria as a guide. I appreciate all the feedback!

So, I have seen a lot of posts referencing the development and implementation of systems to make owning and managing their rentals either on a smaller or larger scale. I was just wondering what specific systems people have developed that have worked well for them and how they ended up developing those systems? I think it would be interesting to get multiple points of view on what works in specific markets. Thank you in advance for any and all comments.

I would also check into your insurance as a lot of insurance companies won't cover damages/medical costs when it's a pitbull. 

Could you take an extra class or two each semester starting next semester and cut out those last two prior to your GI Bill running out? That'd save you the hit to your nest egg and having to worry about making it back up.