It sounds like you might be in the situation I'm in: buying a vacation home that I plan to use as a STR when I'm not using it so that other people can help pay my mortgage.

VA will allow you buy another home & you can count most of the rental income towards offsetting the mortgage payment on that property.

Once the home is a rental, you can deduct operating expenses like property taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, and depreciation (over 27.5 years for long-term rentals).

With 5% down, mortgage all in would be $4700, 10% down $4500/month, 15% down $4300, 20% down $4000/month.

I've come to realize paying down my mortgage is the best investment I could make.

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

You can always have an accountant review your return for a lower fee (around $200-$300).Biggest thing: Make sure you’re tracking all deductions (mortgage interest, depreciation, repairs, etc.).

Someone else pays your mortgage.

Hey,I shopped some Ohio CU and found the 6.7% was the best for an investment property. Are there any lenders who are lower than this, I've been brokering myself. Closest rate I've gotten to this was a 7.2%.Thanks for ...

I prefer to have the least amount of banks as possible.Create a bank account that you already have a relationship with(Credit card or mortgage)The least amount of bank accounts is also ideal.