All Forum Posts by: Paul J Perez

You wouldn't need to quitclaim your current primary house. You could keep it in your name and rent it out. However, since the VA Loan is for owner-occupied properties, you would have to live in the investment property for at least one year. As @Doug Spence mentioned, the VA Loan is ideal for a house hack in either a multi-family or single-family home. Once you're eligible, you refinance your VA Loan into a traditional loan and pay back the VA Loan so you can use it again on another owner-occupied property. 

Matt, my understanding is that if you need to use rental income to qualify for a VA loan you need to have 6 months of payments in reserve.

Jean, sounds like you're on the right track. Take your time to learn, network with people who know the are and build your team (agent, lender, contractor and property manager). 

Thanks for the post. I've been to Detroit every year for the past four years and have many friends that are from there and move there. It's got a really good food and music SCENE. Looking forward to investing there in the future. It's not for everybody, though. Then again, neither is NYC.

Agree with @Juan Cabrera. My experience has been that AirBnB rates in January, February, and March are very low. You could mitigate that if you cater to a variety of guests, not just vacationers. 

Hi all. I'm a Marine Corps veteran here and am finally in a place where I can take advantage of my VA loan benefit. I'm a newbie to real estate and want to house hack my first multi-family in NYC by the end of the year.

I live in Astoria now and practice law. I grew up in Queens so I'm a Mets fan, love traveling, coffee, beer, and tacos. Would love to meet with others to share resources, systems, and strategies. Feel free to message me if you're interested in grabbing a coffee or drink. 

I live in NYC and I'm looking to house hack my first multi-family home with a 0% VA Loan this year. I'm not sure if it's feasible in NYC and would appreciate any advice and suggestions from others that were in a similar situation.

I'm currently renting a 2BR for $2000. Out of curiousity I applied for and was pre-approved for a $400K $0 Down VA Loan, though I can probably get more (the current NYC limit is $726k). I'm just worried about taking out such a large loan and having a huge mortgage payment. My income is $150k and I have approx. $40k in liquid assets. After taxes, child support and maxing out 401k contributions I bring home $5250 per month.

I've been looking on [realtor.com](https://realtor.com) and [zillow.com](https://zillow.com) and I'm running into a few problems. In Nassau County, homes close to my price range have huge tax expenses, so I wouldn't be cash flowing. Homes in Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx close to my price range are usually listed as short-sales and may not meet the VA's Minimum Property Requirements, so going for a fixer-upper may not be possible.

So unless I can figure out how to find a multi-family home with low taxes and in decent condition, it doesn't seem like house-hacking will be an option for me and I'll need to go with a traditional loan. I can't move to another market because I need to be close to my kids' school and work.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me on whether I'm on the right path and on finding leads?

Also, I ran a BRRRR Calculator on a property but I'm pretty sure I did it wrong. Here's the link if anyone would like to help me figure out what I entered incorrectly.