How Veterans Can Buy Homes & Invest in Real Estate (2025 Guide) Part 2
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How Veterans Can Buy Homes & Invest in Real Estate (2025 Guide) Part 2
[00:00:00] Okay, so maybe you're not interested in building wealth and owning multiple properties, but did you ever know that just owning a home can actually start a family legacy of wealth? If you're interested in that, watch part two of the VA Loan Wealth Building Interview with Kellen. Yeah, I love it and I'm totally with you. In my mind, I see it as a huge blessing to give back and I know that we're on the same page with that, so it's just exciting for me to Totally, to give back and it makes me think. You had mentioned the homeless factor that sometimes veterans deal with. We had just closed on a, helped a family Sweet, sweet family.
Yes, yes. A couple weeks ago. And she had the wife was [00:01:00] the, the veteran had, had dealt with that. Do you wanna dive in and talk about their story a little bit? Yeah, let's talk about that. And, and honestly, this was an amazing story and I worked with them. Funny thing, I met them. We figured it out. It's been almost three years.
Wow. From when I first met them. That's incredible. And they called me because they saw a sign on one of my listings and I showed them the house and we talked and I finally got them to reach out to a lender and they reached out to you. She had a really bad experience previously with buying, and she almost had the house and then suddenly it just was taken, pulled out from underneath her.
It was like, Nope, you don't get to have it. She didn't really know why, and I didn't really get into it, but she was pretty scared about moving forward again, thinking she was gonna lose out again. And they worked with your credit repair people for quite a while. So yeah, why don't you pick up [00:02:00] and talk about what happened once they were in your arena, so to speak.
Yeah, yeah. Once you passed 'em over to our side, we started on the credit repair process with a third party company, and it was pretty amazing. After we had anticipated, it'd probably take, six to 12 months, but I think it only took about three months, and their credit was in a much better position. So when they reached out to me, I was thinking, you're probably gonna need some more time.
But we went ahead and we checked credit and sure enough it had improved way faster than what we anticipated. And we initially, we got them pre-qualified and out shopping with you. And it's interesting you brought up the, the fear that she had and. I didn't know that part about the other home falling through.
'cause every time I talked with [00:03:00] her, which was probably once she was under contract, maybe once, at least once a week, probably, you know, maybe two or three, depending on what was going on. She'd always just ask Kellen how sure are we that this is gonna go through? is this, when are, when do we know it's ours?
Like when do we have the complete confidences as ours. And she would ask that all the time. And I told her, you know, everything's looking really good. Everything on your side looks great. We're just waiting for the appraisal now, and we're just waiting for the final approval from underwriting. And, so having that context is interesting.
And I had told you this, and it just had made me made my life really, when we had finally funded on their home, I called her [00:04:00] to congratulate her and she just started crying and I was confused. I usually get some, you know, cheers, some hoorahs excitement, but she was just crying and I thought, oh man, what did we do? Oh. And she said, Kellen, this. It changes everything for me. I have been homeless multiple times in my life as a child and as an adult with children and knowing that I have a place to come home to, and that stability means everything. Knowing that we have a roof over our head that nobody can kick us out of, that this is our place is life changing.
And I started crying. I, I couldn't hold it back. And I said, Hey, you gotta, this story is great, but you are you killing me with the [00:05:00] waterworks over here on my end. And so I really appreciate the great leg work that you did and referring them to us so that we could. Make the dream team amen. Woo woo. To help them into home.
The cool thing about this, and this is the other cool thing, and I work in an area where we have a lot of veterans. It's a very desirous area to retire to, and we have a very good, VA hospital. Close by. So if you're, in the Camp Verde area, it's, you know, 45 minutes to an hour depending where in the Verde Valley you are.
If you're in Prescott or the Quad Cities, it's, you know, half an hour or so. So that's a huge draw. So I deal with a lot of veterans and in this case, in this scenario, and no, it's not about wealth building though. In a way it is because now. We have someone who is dealing with homelessness, feeling, unsettled as a veteran in our country.
Just feeling [00:06:00] not secure is the best way I can put it. And for her and her family to have a place of security, buying a house in and of itself. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about this right now for them, in and of itself is wealth building. In and of itself, buying a house is wealth building.
Now I'm gonna know Rich Dad, poor Dad says, you don't really own your house till you own your house. It's, you're, you're, you're not making money. But I know Rich Dad, poor dad and whatever, and that's not the philosophy that we're talking about. We're talking about they're building some equity in something that eventually they can choose to sell and get.
Something different. Something that meets their needs at that time in their life, or they could keep it, rent it and go buy another house that meets their needs at that time in their [00:07:00] life. And that in itself, just that opportunity and knowing that and having that security. And you know, if something happens, you got two houses, you can let one go and go live in the other one.
You know, she will never have to be homeless again. Is my. Take on it. And the cool thing is, is that the other party, the seller is also was, is he is a veteran. I think he's actually active, I think he's in the National Guard right now. And they, moved and we're considering renting it out, but it just was becoming, a little too much for them.
But just knowing that it was being. Sold by a veteran to a veteran. It just made both parties have that sort of warm comradery regardless. That I don't see on other, you know, transactions. There's just something that across all the branches happens when you know that other person's a veteran.
It's just [00:08:00] amazing. Yeah, just that connection that. Deeper brotherhood Or sisterhood. That's wonderful. Yeah. So it's, it's one of those things that getting our veterans into homes is building future wealth for them. Whether they're going do any kind of rental, if they're gonna, you know, buy a duplex or whatever, getting into a home.
I have a gentleman that actually we closed right after I got back from Mexico, in. Oh God. What month are we? August. In August. So it's only been a month. And he was homeless. He had, he, he, things had happened. He had to have a place to live. And then it just, it just was bad. The guy, the person who owned the house died and there was a whole lot of craziness in regards to who owned the house, and he basically got kicked out and we were in the middle of.
[00:09:00] Looking for a house for him. And so he didn't wanna go rent something and so he ended up choosing, choosing in the heat of the Arizona summer to camp. And I'm like, okay. But he, you know, he was like, I used to work in the forestry service. It doesn't bother me, bothers me, but I'm like, okay. So for him, yes, it was hot, but it was like, it was a better choice because then he got into a house and he wasn't wasting his monthly.
Income and now he doesn't have to worry about just like this gal, you know, the the woman veteran. He doesn't have to worry about the landlord kicking him out or any of that stuff. It's his It's, I mean, he is so happy and she's so happy. And it's like that's a gift, that's a gift that we give our veterans, to keep them and their families.
In a home. And again, it is investing and creating wealth because now he's in a [00:10:00] house and he's building equity, which we're gonna have a whole conversation about equity as well. So what does that mean, you know? So yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about that. I did want to mention, yeah, next time. Next time.
I did wanna talk about just with as far as numbers when buying the home, like you said. They don't have instant wealth, but on average homes appreciate, on a low average, we'll say 3%. And so if somebody bought, that's what I use at 300,000, then at the end of that first year, they've have, it's 300 worth 309,000.
And so let's say that they keep it for four years, so. Four times nine. Was that 48? Yeah, but it's, it's four times nine. Compounded 36. There we go. Yeah. It's not just a straight 3%, [00:11:00] right. Percent on, okay, start at 300. Then the next year it's 309 times 3% and the next year. So it's a compounded thing, which means it grows faster.
Definitely. And I just think that, again, if, if people can't. If, if you're a veteran and you're like, I have this really big family, or I'm anticipating having a bigger family, you don't have to buy the four bedroom house today. You can buy a smaller home, live in it for four years as your kids are growing up or the babies are coming and in four years, five years now you've got some decent equity and you.
Buy the bigger house. You know, you, you can buy it with no money down or you can take the equity and put some towards the house, but still using your VA loan. So it's, it's a process. And again, just the fact that they don't ever have to put any money down [00:12:00] just makes it. You know, obviously if you're trying to buy a bigger house and you wanna keep your mortgage a little bit lower, having that equity from the first one and using it to buy that next house does help.
But they're not required to. Right. Yeah. And I guess, is there any other items that you wanted to chat about? Or We could definitely talk about some stories too. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think again, I, like I said, I work with so many veterans and, most of them are not looking at wealth building even though, ultimately, like I said, I really think home ownership in and of itself is wealth building, right?
Yeah. Because eventually if you live in your home long enough, you will pay down the mortgage. To a point where your, your, payments are minimal and or paid off, and you can choose at that point to sell your house, live in it, and that's your inheritance to your [00:13:00] children that you may not have been able to do any other way.
I mean, to me that is wealth building, being able to pass it on to the next generation, you know? Just different things like that. And I'm trying to think, one of my, I mean. I have a veteran who wanted to be in a house so bad, so bad, and he, here's kind of the scenario. It was just crazy. I'm just gonna do it.
And again, it, it gives them, it gave them life, Freedoms that they didn't have once they were able to buy a house. So here I have a veteran and his girlfriend who's pregnant, and in the course of looking at houses, they get married. But where they ended up living in a bedroom of a friend's house.
I didn't, I didn't even get all the backstory. I just couldn't even, I was like, oh my gosh. And then, yeah, then we're under contract for a house. And it was the house that, I just [00:14:00] helped them sell. And something bizarre happened. I can't even, oh, it was the insurance. He, we couldn't something with the insurance.
We couldn't get homeowner's insurance. And literally, you guys, this was so crazy. The lender he was working with denied his loan. On closing day while he was in the hospital holding his wife's hand having a baby. Wow. That sucked. That was not cool. Wow. I was like, are you freaking kidding me? So that's awful.
Thank goodness. I have great relationships with my local lenders and I completely got on the horn and called one of my local lenders and said, can you help us now? At least the lenders that denied him were willing to share the paperwork with the new lender, and we kept moving along. And the cool part is the seller really wanted.
This veteran to get the house he really [00:15:00] was in. He was very invested in this happening too. So I was invested. The seller was invested, the agent was invested, and my client was like, okay. We went out and looked. We couldn't find anything that was comparable in the price point that this house was. It was like, oh my gosh, really?
So we went back and the new lender was able to. Pull it all together and we were able to get him in that property. Baby in hand, new wife in hand about two months after the baby was born. Wow. They were able to get out of that bedroom with, you know, all that stuff you have with babies. Oh my lord. They were in a bedroom.
Oh, I can't imagine. It sounds awful stuff everywhere and. They were absolutely ecstatic. And to me, again, that is such a blessing because they got [00:16:00] seller concessions. They got a gift from their parents for something that they needed, like money, gift, and, they didn't have to bring any down payment.
And here they are in this. It was a completely remodeled home. It was completely, they didn't have to do anything, just move in and live in it. And here they are, this young couple with their little baby moving into this house, and it was just an amazing thing. That's incredible. Yeah, and it makes me happy to, we've told a couple stories about young veterans buying homes and that makes me so happy that they are utilizing that.
I have a gentleman that I'm working with right now and he's 78 and he is using his VA benefits for the first time to get a home. And I told him, I am shocked that you haven't used it before. 'cause he is bought a couple other homes. And he said, really? I [00:17:00] didn't really know I how to work or whatever.
And. So I'm so grateful that we're doing this to get the message out that veterans, we are here to help. Let's help you build your wealth. Let's make you millionaires over the years through real estate. Let's help you, whatever your goals are. We want to help you in accomplishing those.
Right, right. Well, and I know that some of my older veterans, and this is true for the sellers too, they thought that they could only use their VA, Ben, their, what do you call it again? Your eligibility. Eligibility once. Right. And I don't know where that, are they entitlement, I'm sorry, entitlement.
Yeah. This entitlement. Once. And so they're like, well, I bought a house many, many years ago. I can't use my VA, again. Right. I can't do it VA alone. And so that has been quite a learning curve, especially with my older, veterans that are like in their seventies and stuff because they're like, well. We already used it, we can't use [00:18:00] it again.
Right. So yes, educating them that you can use it more than once. That yes, you can have more than one VA loan at a time. They're like, what? Right. How does that work? So it's, that's why I'm doing this. I want my veterans to know their benefits. I want them to know how they can get into a house, how they can build wealth.
Just because you're a veteran, you get benefits that the rest of us, you know, Other people don't get, and I strongly encourage you to use it because you, you know, again, you put your life and limb on the line for us. And I, I just can't respect that enough and honor that enough. And, it's a small way that I can give back to them.
Yeah. And I'll just put in a little verbiage on entitlement. I usually will tell my veterans to think of entitlement, [00:19:00] like a reusable ticket. once the VA loan is paid off, or you refinance into a non VA loan, so you sell it or refinance, you just fill out a short VA form and ask the Leonard to update the certificate of eligibility.
And you're, you can get your benefit back. So if you do refinance into another type of loan or you sell, the home, then you can't have that portion of the entitlement restored. And there's a lot of, a lot of home options to a lot of homes that you can get within that entitlement still. So talk with your lender.
Talk with us. We'll help you figure out what options are available to you. Absolutely. We are here for you. So with that being said, if you have like the [00:20:00] information that Kellen and I have talked about, but you're like, I heard you talk about equity, what does equity mean? Stay tuned. Kellen and I will be back and we're gonna talk about equity because I know that a lot of people are confused about what that is.
How do you determine what equity is and all of those lovely, confusing things. So that's gonna be on one of our next videos, but if you like today's video, please go back. If you miss part one, go back and look at part one, and then you can also go and look at other wealth building videos that I've done.
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