LJ Driver Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by Hotel: A Reserve bum isn't going to get the BAH right? So, when I'm done with training and doing the bum thing it's not like I can take the BAH and put it towards a house instead of throwing it away on rent. Or am I wrong on that? Also, what is "maxing out TSP"? Is that 20% of all base pay and bonus pay? It's all pre-tax as I understand it. There is not a cap on the max percentage anymore, just the max amount in one year. 2006 is the first year that this is the case. The max amount per year is now limited to $15,000, which is the IRS limit for a 401K investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest a_uhan23 Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Piggybacking on the bum question: I am headed up to Selfridge (AD transfer) and we are leaving for MacDill in 1-2 years. I was thinking about a condo, but I am not sure if A.) I can afford it on a bum's pay and B.) If it is worthwhile to even do so when the unit is moving in such a short time. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war007afa Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 How much does it cost to have someone take care of the rental property for you while you are out of state? My wife and I love our house down here and if we ever have to leave to fulfill a staff tour, I'd love to come back to my house when I return to the gunship. I wonder how much you'd have to pay to have someone be responsible for managing your rental property. Guess it depends on location? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medik6 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Definetly use mover's advantage for selling and buying! We still own a house in the Tampa area that we used to live in and we have been renting it out for the past two years. We paid a Realty/management company to handle things for us for a while and they charged us 8% of the months rents. (usually they charge 10% but they lowered 2 points as a military discount) It ended up being like $115 pr month. We used them for the first year but our tenants have been so good that we decided to get rid of the middle man. We can always use them again just to find us new renters if we need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydbraun Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Hey, I agree with you all about all the investing etc. I just PCS'd to Hickam and am absolutely blown away by the real estate prices. Some people say I'm crazy but I'm not paying 700,000+++++ for a roach infested crap hole of a house, and I'm not exaggerating. I was all for buying a house, even half a million at 24 years old was doable, but when I saw what I'd be getting I just couldn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotel Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Ideally for me right now (having not moved to NC yet), I'd probably like to buy a house or build one in NC and then eventually retire to someplace like San Antonio. Hard part is figuring out if I should be buying land now on the front end of training or wait. Prices only seem to go up in real estate. So I take it if the furnace breaks in the middle of winter on the renter - the management company takes care of it (but you still pay for the replacement)? That sounds like a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blkafnav Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Here's my two cents: Bought a house in Omaha, first duty location, 2001. Bought a rental property in FAY, 2003. Bought another rental property in CBM for pilot training, 2004. I plan to buy two more rental properties in FAY this year, it's an investors dream! My advice, BUY, BUY, BUY! Yes it depends on the market you're currently in, but there are plenty other markets that can help build your networth. I have property managers for all of my investments, all have 15yrs mortgages, and all will be paid off <6yrs. Another thing you can concider is buying away from your duty location. I will be PCSing to Hurlburt this summer and currently building a house in Milton, 45-60 minutes away. The price is worth the commute. If I get tired of the drive, I will have an easier time renting that house out and moving a little closer to base. Put all your flight pay into TSP or Roth IRA! Remember, people will always need a place to live, no matter what the economy does. I say start small, $30K-$50K, the payments are like car notes. Every military officer can be a real estate investor. Try to live below your means for the first four years of your career and you can reep the benefits for years to come. Again, just my two cents, it's been working so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F16Deuce Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 My two cents is to do some research and max out your Roth IRA before TSP. For those that read financial magazines or are just up to snuff on investments, when was the last time you saw TSP make noteworthy returns? Never. There are plenty of mutual funds out there that beat the snot out of TSP. Additionally, though USAA is good for banking, insurance, and other stuff, there are FAR better companies to invest with. Personally, I have 2 different Fidelity mutual funds and they have done very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotel Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 I've got a Vanguard Roth which seemed to have some of the lowest management fees. Plus, I'm more apt to invest post-tax and withdraw tax free. I don't like the idea of withdrawing from TSP and having to pay tax on that money. So, I agree on the Roth, but they only let you put in $4k a year I think. Seems kinda wrong that the gov't as a law limiting how much $$ you can save. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medik6 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Hotel To answer your question, yes the managemnet company will take care of everything that breaks. They usually have people they contract with to do certain jobs. Plumbing, roofing, water heater, whatever. We had an agrrement with our property manager that she could fix anything under $500 and just send us the bill but if the price of fixing something was going to exceed that we wanted a phone call before any work was done. But nothing mager like that has never happened. (knock on wood) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreasySideUp Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Almost done with the training and looking to by a house. Don't know really anything about it. VA loan looks attractive but there are some fees, might be able to come up with some cash for a down payment but my big question is what can I comfortably afford on a 1 LT salary, no kids and no other expenses. Any of you have 250K houses and still have some beer cash left over? Also is there any hidden money out there for military members that yall have found? Govt grants for defending freedom or anything like that? Love to hear some tips and some gotchas and especially some free money. Thanks, j Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lovelacm Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Depends on where you're headed, folks. We're here at Eglin.. STICKER SHOCK!!!! Found some folks who needed to sell.. gave us a great deal. That's the way I've seen it work: the GOBN (Good Ol' Boy Network) is in full force. Yeah.. it's in the BALLPARK (read +/- 50K of your numbers)... BAH with dep. won't cover the mortgage payments on a VA mortgage at decent rates. "Well, honey, it looks like it's time for you to find a job." I hate having to do that, but even the rental market is insane down here. There's no way we could rent a place (much less OWN it) for the BAH we're paid!! And that's at O-3 + Dep's. Going to Moody? Going to Columbus? I'm sure there are much better housing markets for you guys. Please provide some more info and some folks may be able to help a bit more than I can. Cheers! Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHAP Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 1LTs at LRF are doing 150k-175k. I know one guy at McCord that went up to 260K, but the BAH up there is good. Im at 2LT and I went in for 130K, dont have any issues, but i dont have any other debt either. So keep in mind car payments ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Just the numbers, but we borrowed $184K on our house in S.A. and are paying around $1600 a month. That's a 5.875% rate on a conventional 30-year loan, with very little taxes as the property is still listed as undeveloped (as it was a year ago when it was last surveyed) and we are outside of the city limits, so no city taxes at the moment. When the property gets re-assessed, the taxes will be increased as will our mortgage payments. Cheers! M2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LLoyd McPherson Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I used the VA loan and has a easy time with them. They have few hoops you jump through that you don't have with a regular loan. They make you have the house inspected (saved me some jack because the first house I wanted to get had some hidden structual issues). So having the house inspected is real good idea. Also you do not have to pay PSI when you use the VA home loan program. "Just The Numbers" (thanks MM2) Nothing down I borrowed $110K, 6% fixed, and the seller paid all closing costs with escrow we send the bank $670 a month. Other people that I know have had nothing good to say about the VA Loan program. Just shop around and get REAL INFORMATION not the crap that you hear while slaming down large amounts of Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Actually, we had our house inspected twice, once by an inspector we hired and again but an independent inspector the builder hired. Both found things we would've never known about, so I concur with Stagger Lee's recommendation of getting at least one inspection done before buying, even on a new house. Cheers! M2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war007afa Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Got my VA loan on my house down here at HRT. I payed $235k for my house and my mortgage is only 1500/month (including my escrow payments and hazard/hurricane insurance). I get 1359 or so for my BAH. I'm not hurting too badly at all down here. I guess it's pretty much location dependent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ce2be Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Just check the BAH rates where you are going. You can get a good idea of how much you can spend out of pocket on top of that. Use a mortgage calculator to see how much of a loan you can afford with your BAH and allowed out of pocket... Do a search for realtors and/or real estate in the area you are moving and se what there is in your price range. I used my VA and had no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bergman Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 One word of advice: DO NOT listen to what the BANK or REALTOR may say about how much you can afford. Realtors are obviously trying to sell as much house as possible because their commission is a percentage of the sale price. Banks apparently no longer care about whether you can pay your loan back...because they will approve you for an insane amount of money. My point is to develop a price range based on a sound budget before you go house hunting, and don't let anyone talk you out of your budgeted range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M2 Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Originally posted by Bergman: One word of advice: DO NOT listen to what the BANK or REALTOR may say about how much you can afford. Realtors are obviously trying to sell as much house as possible because their commission is a percentage of the sale price. Banks apparently no longer care about whether you can pay your loan back...because they will approve you for an insane amount of money. My point is to develop a price range based on a sound budget before you go house hunting, and don't let anyone talk you out of your budgeted range. However, it may be a good idea to spend as much as you can afford on a house, depending on where you are going to buy. With home prices increasing on an average of 8.7% annually here in San Antonio, buying a house is a good investment. I bought and sold one in less than three years the last time we were here, and still made several thousand dollars profit. Had we rented that entire time, we would have gotten nothing, nor would we have had the tax benefits. I was looking in the $180-200K when we moved back here last summer. We ended up going up to $240K as once we calculated what our monthly mortgage payments would be, we found we could easily afford it. So do your homework and invest wisely... Cheers! M2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rangerbob5 Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 www.zillow.com This will help you greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champ Kind Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 (edited) I'm about to buy my first house I'm expecting about 250+ days gone in the next year... Sounds like your money may be better spent renting a crash-pad apartment and a storage unit! Edited January 12, 2011 by Champ Kind 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banquet Beer Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Champ and GSXR, Thought about those things for sure. I have run through the options, from a 5th wheel, to cheap furnished apartments, to crash pads and bros houses... The way I see it, I would rather have the equity and I'm really tired of living out of a suitcase (I've been doing it for awhile now and I would like to just come home and chill when I get the opportunity... with my own shit!). I just really hope I get awesome neighbors.... I have heard of some local PDs having programs where you tell them you will be gone and they put it on an officers route every week or so just to look and make sure things are going alright. Anyone heard of this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrodgsxr Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 If you rent out a room from a friend the difference b/w rent and BAH is probably a lot more than the equity you'll be getting in a house just keep in mind that owning a home comes with it's own expenses that you might not have realized yet. Make sure you do your homework. if you just want to own your own place then I understand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitman Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) If you rent out a room from a friend the difference b/w rent and BAH is probably a lot more than the equity you'll be getting in a house just keep in mind that owning a home comes with it's own expenses that you might not have realized yet. Make sure you do your homework. if you just want to own your own place then I understand Listen to him. You will save so much more money this way (see first three years of amortization schedule below). As far as deploying goes, make sure you call USAA if you have car insurance with them and they will put your car on a storage policy for like $20/month. Tell them when you plan on getting back and it will revert back to the original policy automatically. If you don't plan on driving your car, buy a small trickle charger like this: Battery Maintainer and hook it up to keep the battery fully charged and ready. These also work great for motorcycles. Also, great neighbors are invaluable, take good care of them. 150,000 house, 5% interest, 30 year fixed Year Interest Principal Balance 2011 $7,449.74 $2,213.05 $147,786.95 2012 $7,336.52 $2,326.27 $145,460.68 2013 $7,217.50 $2,445.29 $143,015.39 Edited January 13, 2011 by Whitman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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