All Forum Posts by: Tony LaCoste

 Most mortgage lenders are illiterate bricks. This is not a complicated question, assuming one knows how to read (that's not directed at you, but my industry writ large). Benefits.va.gov below...

Assuming your full VA loan entitlement is intact, if you go over that limit then your down payment must be 25% of the delta. Using that, you can get a $5m VA loan on a fourplex, if you wish, and if you have that 25% down on the delta.

Also note that it says the Fannie/Freddie SFR limit for the area, not the FHA SFR limit for the area. They often differ.

Better to know all that now, than to learn it 4 days before scheduled COE. Good luck. :)

Hey @Michael Dunn a few of the comments above are not accurate. You can purchase multiple homes using the VA loan as long as they are your primary residence at the time of purchase. PCS'ing does not play a role in this at all and I have never heard anything about having to wait one year. It is all about your "VA Entitlement". This is essentially your loan limit. The standard is $417,000 however in areas with high cost of living, this limit goes up and varies by county. In my county in MD the loan limit is $517,000. The limit actually goes up if you are purchasing a multi-unit. Here is a PDF from the VA's website breaking down the loan limits for this higher cost of living counties. https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Downloads/Documents...

You can have multiple loans out as long as it does not exceed the maximum loan limit for your county.  With my $517K loan limit I was able to purchase a home for $210K then move out and purchase a second home for $240K.  Now a lender typically won't give you a second loan unless you have renters in your first home paying down your initial mortgage.  My lender required 3 months of rental income.  So I moved out, rented out my house and I rented out a townhome my self while house hunting for my second home.  

So fi your loan limit is $417, your goal should be to buy two homes for $200K each. Another thing to point out is just because your max loan limit might be $417k does not mean you will actually qualify for that amount. You will still need a good credit score, debt to income ration and monthly income. Also, you can purchase above your VA loan limit but you will need to pay 25% down on anything above the loan limit. Start talking to a lender about these things and see if they personally have any requirements for renting out your first home and

My problem is that I already have two properties with the VA Loan, one my primary residence and the other is a rental. I want to buy a Quad for cash flow purposes, but feel trapped. Trapped because from my understanding I can only use the VA loan on two houses/properties.

Any ideas would help

There is not a direct relationship of rent price to purchase price in our 7 cities.  Sales price varies much greater than rent.  Because of that, the high sales prices in Virginia Beach make it the worst city to invest in if your goal is high rental cash flow.  If your goal is to grow equity, Virginia Beach would be a good match for your goal.  Most neighborhoods in Chesapeake are similar to Va Beach.  

How are you planning to finance your purchase?  The length of amortization will greatly affect your monthly cashflow.  Whatever your financing plan, the 5 other cities in Hampton Roads will give you a better monthly cashflow than VB & Ches, all things being equal.