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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]10. VA loans. We found a great house at around $400K, yes it needed some work but good location, good commute. Could not have done it without a VA loan. (no down payment.) [/quote]

we used a VA Loan in 2011, after being told to avoid them like the plague in 2003 (we bought that place with an 80/15/5 conventional).  We have great credit scores and decent income, but our down payment to buy up was going to be the profit from the first property.  Being able to use the VA Loan allowed us flexibility in case our TH hadn't sold right away and we could put down a small amount at first but then adjust the loan after we got the money from the TH (you don't have to refinance within a sizable grace period - I think it was 3 months?)  We had been told the VA inspectors are more strict, but that didn't turn out to be the case.  And the people we bought from were thrilled to sell their house to a vet's family.

In the end, we wound up selling our TH within 3 days on the market and closing on both properties on the same day.  We put 10% down because we were renovating and needed some of the TH profit money to do the immediate repairs we wanted to do.

There was one downside - we replaced our roof after a year but were unable to get a home equity loan to do so because the banks were insisting on at least 20% equity.  We wound up using Fairfax Credit Union to get a Home Equity Line after waiting out the market a year (property values went up enough to help us) and paying off the 0% credit card just before the promotional period was over.  Phew.[/quote]

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