I'm considering buying a house but not sure if I should. Here's the deal, I'm paying an ass load for rent and figure there has to be a better use for my money than pissing it away on something I'll never own. I have a wife and two little ones, and it would be nice to have a house to come to when were home for holidays and such.
So that rules out renting it to cover the negative cashflow (unless you're planning to stay with your renters or ask them to leave town when you visit)? So you want to have a house sit costing you ~$700-1000 equating to as much as $12,000 a year just to have something to come home to on holidays? You could stay at a pretty nice hotel for a fraction of that!
Also it would be nice to have an investment that appreciaties in value. I just wanted to get the opinion of guys that have been in the fleet and may know what it's like to own a home away from where they are stationed. Thanks!
No news flash that economy ain't doing so good. Good news is you can likely great a great deal on a house, BUT bad news is most markets are flat or readjusting (downward) so you cannot count on the house appreciating in value anytime soon. You'll great a great opportunity to use your VA Loan, but I'd wait for a permanent duty station as you only get to use it once. Soo, you have the cash to put down to cover what the mortgage company won't cover (anywhere from 5-20%).
Well here's the deal, I already make pretty good money at my job now (auto tech) and my wife has her degree also. She works and plans to countiue working, so I don't think we would be over extended if we get something managable.
No news flash either that you won't be making that salary come June and once you move, she'll have no guarantee of a job so you better figure out whether you can cover the negative cash flow all on your O-1 salary alone.
I dont want anything too extravagent. Maybe only spend like 100-150k on a little 3bdrm just as a first home. I've also considered renting it out while were gone. My folks own and rent properties also so I figured they can act as land lords while were away. Does anyone else have any experience having a "home away from where they're stationed?"
So you are considering renting it out. OK, you need to figure out what homes are renting for versus your mortgage payment(s) and have enough reserve cash or credit to cover the worse scenarios of having to replace a furnace, central air unit, or appliances. Even if your folks are great at managing properties, turnover between tenants can be an issue if they don't take care of the house. I've had 5 tenants in my rental. One, a Navy O-6 no less, left the house as is and said to take it out of deposit which didn't even cover replacement costs of a garage door, outside door frame, wallpaper, carpeting, refrigerator door racks (child with anger management issues) or the month it took to completely deep clean everything. So you need cash reserve to take care of that AND pay mortgage when it isn't occupied. I've always had it rented before currents depart, but unless you keep in it great shape and upgrade it over years, you have to be ready to eat the mortagage payments. I'm sure your parents will tell you the same thing so what do they say?
Like the others have advised, I wouldn't commit to ANYTHING right now until your first permanent duty station that will put you in a location for 3 years or more. Save your VA for that and don't hurt your chances for a really nice piece of property then by having the other property reduce amount of financing you can obtain. Banks and mortgage companies look at worst case scenario on your debts and income so your salary will be OK because you're military, but she'll likely not have enough tenure in her job having moved. So even though
you think you'll be fine, doesn't mean
they do. If you really want to have a rental, get a decent property near your base and hold onto it when you transfer and repeat every time you rotate IF you can handle worse case cash flow.
