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VA No No No money down, No points. |
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A starter house here is approaching $200k. You could save up that much in 2 years? Didn't think so. |
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Uhh, I put 3% down two years ago, have NO problems paying bills and I'am living VERY comfortably, Thank You very much! |
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8 years ago my wife and I used my VA benefits to purchase a $155k home with $700 out of pocket. Today we're sitting on at least $65k of equity and probably couldn't rent our house for what our monthly mortgage payment is. Pretty stupid, huh? BTW, the only predictions I've read are that the housing market may cool over the next few years and the inflation rate of home prices may fall that of the national average, about 3%. Yeah, why not wait a few years until homes cost even MORE? |
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Depends on what you view as a starter house. 1200-1500 sq. ft was mine. In 6 years I bought and fixed up houses paying cash all along (which by the way gets the price down 10% on soon to be foreclosures) I now live in a 4900 sq.ft. house with 6 acres ,pool, etc. Just depends on how much you like paying interest I guess. |
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That's a starter house here. |
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PS, that's likely more indicative a how much more affordable that house costs in your market than your spend thrifty advice. If you can swing the $700k+ that house would cost in my neighboorhood, more power to you. |
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I swung it, and never paid interest Anyone can do it. I just lived well below my means. On another ? boomer, you going shopping after the sunset? |
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Rent with an option to buy and use the money that you've put into it as a down payment. The seller will verify this with the bank. Been there done that.
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Good idea Rambo, except what if you have been renting for say 2 years and the owner of the house goes bk. Your out of the buy option. |
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Nice dodge. And no, no plans to go shopping after the sunset. The vault is already full of toys procured before there was such thing as a ban. |
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No dodge from me .
Just go take a look at your statement. How many months x payment = what the house really costs. I hope people who are up to their eyeballs in debt never suffer job loss, sickness,etc. Then you find out who really owns the house . You do what you want, I just want to help a few that want to be debt free. |
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Here's how I did it with not one penny out of my pocket. I asked the seller if he would tell the bank the selling price was XX but the actual price was ....you guessed it 20% lower. Of course the house would have to appraise for that much. The sad part was to have the utilities turned on was 185.00 my biggest expense.
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I've had two VA loans. Both times, all I had to pay were closing costs that I couldn't include in the loan. First house was in 1992 and all I paid was about $1800 total closing costs on an $85K house. Second house was $190K and closing costs were about $6K.
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I've done it twice now through an FHA loan and FHA Gold loan. The first one was a used two story 1890 sq. ft. two story home sold for 80% of it's appraised value. We put another 5% down in cash. The second one was a new spec home bought through a builder with some upgrades. They gave me a $10,000 break on the price because it had gone unsold for 2 months, and after I bought it they raised the price on this floorplan another $15,000 to $175,000. Under the FHA Gold program my down payment came from a fund that all home builders pay into and after closing costs I walked away with $425. I've currently got $25,000 (14%) equity in a home I've owned for 3 months now. My mortgage is a 30 year fixed rate @ 5.75%. My property taxes for 2004 and 2005 are both for an unimproved lot. Taxes in 2006 will be more since they'll start charging me for the house. There are ways to work within the system if you cannot put money down. You just have to look for bargains and there are plenty out there. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... |
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MrClean4Hire,
Don't know about your landloard but mine live up to his signed Seller Aggrement about 20 years ago. |
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They usually do, mine screwed me wholesale. First house I ever rented. Worst thing besides that was he lived next door |
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I worked at Enron during the collapse as a tech employee. I've held 5 different positions, 3 of them contracts, since 2001. Times got tough, but I never lost my home. Of course, had I been bitten by the same bug as everyone else at Enron and bought the 4,200 sq. ft., 6/4/2 corner lot house for $210,000 that I nearly signed the paperwork on, I'd have died. As a matter of fact, refinancing the first home saved us, though it did cause problems when we tried to sell later because we had already cashed out our equity. You have to understand that the housing markets in areas that aren't on the coasts aren't that bad. Houston was downright cheap to live in. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... |
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Yeah I love Texas, I own 50% of a nice home in Tyler. If it wasn't for business here, I would be in Texas. Wife was born and raised there. |
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Forgot to add that once I did almost lose my home, right before a board member, Coz_45, gave me a job. It was the financial gifts and prayers of many board members that held us out long enough to get me hired. I haven't forgotten that, and I didn't want anyone to think I had by my previous post.
Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... |
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I have upwards of 100K equity in my current home. My wife and I would like to use that equity to buy one or two rental properties in the area and become slumlords!
I was told the best way to go about this was to get a home equity loan. The rates are cheap and it wouldn't change my current mortgage payment, just add an additional payment. Hopefully, with 20% down, the positive cash flow from the rental property should more than cover the monthly payment on the home equity loan. Is this feasible? |
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I got one thing to say:
www.carletonsheets.com - it's worth it! (sorry, don't know how to hot link) |
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How about using the VA loan to build a new house? Does this have any advantages.
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As long as you factor in vacancies,maintenance,etc. I would never leverage my paid for home(security) for an investment. Ask yourself this , would you borrow money on your home to go invest in the stock market? Same thing. Most people who do what you mentioned do well to get 5% return. Thats a lousy return for so much risk. Hope this helps. |
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My wife and I used a VA loan to buy our townhouse because we could get the VA loan with no down, no points, seller pays closing costs, 6% fixed APR. We paid $250 for the home inspection and the credit check and that was all it took to move in. I was an E4, she had just seperated and was doing some temp work while going to school and there was no way that we could have afforded the first + last + security deposit that we would have needed to rent anything.
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Actually it's more than that, since if you didn't have the house you could invest the money instead and get interest from it. |
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LOL, like I said you're still dodging my point. Your plan would likely NOT work for the average person in high cost real estate market such as the one I live in. I applaud you for your financial shrewdness and resourcefulness, but don't ignorantly believe your experience can be duplicated anywhere. |
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I appreciate the heated discussion but you guys are getting off my subject, answering each others comments and not answering my questions. The subject has turned to VA loans and using it to build a house instead of buying one.
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Now, with PMI, when you have 20% or more paid down you have the option of dropping the PMI for most loans, correct?
S.O. |
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As I, and others have said, an 80/20. But, as was also said, you do have to have A+ credit to make this happen. |
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It works anywhere, ever hear of the book Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey? Millions sold and a foolproof strategy. |
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as soon as the house appreciates a certain amount and you get a reappraisal you can dump the PMI, in this area that could 1-2 years, leaving a little over $100 in my bank account each month.
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What if you've been 30 days late on payment anywhere in the process? Can you still drop PMI, or will you need to re-finance to do this?
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Alrighty then. You must earn quite a comfortable income to be able to set aside $200k in 2 years. Defininitely NOT average. |
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Exactly. Interest rates are at their lows, money is cheap to borrow now. I kept the downpayment money and I got a 80/20 at a low rate, no downpayment, and no PMI since I have good credit. They wanted to see that I did have money in the bank though. Now, a couple of years down the road, if I wanted, I have enough to pay for any home improvements (or anything else) WITHOUT getting another loan at most likely a much higher interest rate than I am paying on my current mortgage. I also dable in the stock market and I can make an easy 30% a year in a down market without risking huge amounts of money at any given time. So, for me it was the best choice. |
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That's what I was thinking. A starter home here is approaching $500k. A townhouse is about $350k. Aren't too many people in this country that have $100,000 liquid. |
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I think I got the answer I needed. I'm done here since you all highjacked my thread.
Later. |
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I gave you the answer two minutes after your inital post.
Would you like us to go fill out the application forms for you too? |
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No shit, how many times do you need to be told to use your VA benefits?
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T.. Yep, it is feasible AND as your HELOC is essentially a checking account secured by the equity in your home that you are qualified to use, you can now bid on the couthhouse steps for any auction homes the .gov has to sell at auction. These homes are usually attached for back taxes owed, or are surrendered for cash value in probate, or some other quasi-legal .gov attachment of a house. The .govs around here demand cash on the barrelhead to participate in the bidding for these homes, you may wanna check. To do this, get in touch with a Realtor in the area you wanna be a landlord, ask this realtor who handles the foreclosures and .gov repos/surrender properties that are placed for auction on the steps of the courthouse. Get a list of these homes from THIS realtor and then go pick out the one(s) you want. If you have enough time and can get access, it would be wise to have a real home inspector or at least a contractor friend give the houses you chose a close once over. Then on a published day and time, the auction will be held and they usually really are on the courthouse steps! Go figure. If you win the bidding, give the man the cash (usually a letter of credit from the bank, check with the realtor to make sure what is acceptable). You should get a deed as soon as your funds are verified....now you own rental propertie(s)! Now, be prepared to have to bring these homes to some sort of liveable condition....BUT since you were abole to buy it at .30 on the dollar or so, you have some serious operating room. BTW- Spend the money on a 'lawyer based' rental agreement....not some internet based agreement and try to make it as protecting to you as possible. I have been there and done that and I got out pretty OK, just a few hundred in repairs, then I sold that property! BTW2 - All lenders are now worried about 'property flipping' so be ready to stay in your loan for at least 6 months befor eyou can sell this house. |
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You're original post said "80/20". If I'm asking how to buy a home, what makes you think I know what the hell "80/20" means?
What does use my VA loan mean? If I have never used a VA loan, why are you talking to me as if I know how to use it? After I get my cerificate of eligibility, what do I do? Who do I see first? This is the answer I was needing, not some short blurb using acronyms and verbage I don't understand. Once you all start talking, and arguing amongst each other, then you have highjacked my thread. Wiggy 762 gave me the answer I need as he was talking to me not to the others who posted and he gave me detailed info. Thanks Wiggy, everyone else, have a nice day. |
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