Your service comes with benefits to help you build financial freedom for the future and now. Get professional investment guidance for military members here.
Aside from the satisfaction of knowing that you are preserving our freedom and protecting our nation, serving our country comes with many benefits. One of the biggest benefits of military members is the opportunity to move towards financial freedom.
If you are a qualified service member, you have one of the most powerful wealth-building tools at your disposal that can help you earn passive income now while you are still serving our country and long into the future.
What are these tools that are exclusive to qualified military members? The VA loan, which can help you purchase a house with $0 down, can help you to acquire your first real estate investment. And it can launch you into building a rental portfolio that supports you and your family in any market for the rest of your life.
Wondering how to put these tools to use? Keep reading to take your investment education to the next level.
Why Real Estate Is the Best Vehicle for Financial Freedom
Real estate is where most millionaires are made. And even if you don’t need to become a millionaire, real estate is the best tool for achieving financial freedom. But why is it so powerful?
It allows you to build wealth in numerous ways. Say you own a rental property. Your main goal with that property should be to get a good deal so that your monthly revenue (rent) exceeds your monthly expenses on the property. When it does, you are earning positive cash flow.
This cash flow is passive income, and it’s the foundation of financial freedom. The more passive cash flow you can acquire, the sooner you can free yourself from needing to work for a paycheck.
On top of cash flow, you also have tenants paying down the mortgage on your property. So each month, your debt on the home is paid down, increasing your equity, and thus, your net worth.
And since managing rental real estate is favorable in the government’s eyes, since you are providing housing solutions to the public, they provide you with tons of tax breaks. Real estate offers some of the most incredible tax savings.
And the cherry on top? Real estate appreciates an average of 3.5% to 3.8% per year. So if you can acquire multiple properties, all of which are cash flowing, having the debt paid down, and appreciating, you can start building rapid wealth.
What are VA Loans?
VA loans are unique to military service members. If you qualify for a VA loan, you can begin to take advantage of rental real estate without having a ton of money saved up in advance.
The main benefit is that these mortgages are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Because of this, these loans don’t require a down payment. No other mortgage program is available that offers this, making it increasingly valuable to be a member of the military.
And normally, when borrowers put less than 20% down when buying a home, they are required to have private mortgage insurance (PMI), which is an additional monthly expense. But for VA loans, it isn’t required. You’ll also get access to some of the lowest interest rates available, helping you to save thousands over the life of each loan.
Once you’ve earned the VA loan benefit, you can use it for the rest of your life. And if you do it right, you can have multiple VA loans at one time.
Ways to Use a VA Loan
So how can you use a VA loan to start investing today? Here are some of the best strategies.
House Hacking With a VA Loan
One of the best methods of launching a real estate portfolio is house hacking. This is when you buy a multi-unit home, like a duplex, triplex, or quadplex, and live in one unit while renting out the others.
This essentially allows you to live mortgage-free and possibly even make money to live in your home. And the best part is that even though you are earning income, you still qualify for a residential mortgage since it’s also your primary residence.
Plus, you can use the expected rental income from the property to help you qualify for the loan. And you don’t have to stay on the property forever. You can eventually move out, renting all units out.
VA Renovation Loan
Another option is the VA renovation loan, otherwise known as the VA rehab loan. With this loan, you can buy a property that needs work. This means you can probably get a really good deal and finance the rehab costs into the mortgage.
By going this route, you can likely boost your equity in the home right away. And you can also use it in conjunction with house hacking if you choose to buy a small multifamily property.
Using VA Loans to Build a Portfolio
Your goal as an investor should be to acquire as many rental units as possible to earn passive cash flow. While there are many regulations regarding what you can and can’t do with a VA loan, there are options for acquiring multiple properties.
Since VA loans are intended for properties that you occupy, you can refinance a multifamily home that you currently live in, then use a new VA loan to purchase and move into another multifamily property, repeating the process. In some instances, you might be able to have multiple outstanding VA loans.
The Military Member’s Financial Freedom Roadmap
Are you ready to start moving towards financial freedom today so that you don’t have to spend as many years staring at the military pay chart or looking for jobs?
Then put your benefits of working in the military for use and learn how to use a VA loan to jumpstart your real estate investing career today. Building multiple streams of passive income is key to living life on your terms. And the best part is, we’ve created the blueprint for you to follow to make the process as easy as possible.
You can join our military real estate investing academy today to secure your financial future and build real wealth in real estate while still serving your current term.
