I guess Bank of America is going to be begging for a taxpayer funded bailout after they give all these mortgages to people who can't afford to pay...

[Toddsterpatriot]

Nope, it was still a net loss. A handout is a handout. I don't agree with any of them.

Nope, it was still a net loss.

Can you show the math you used to come up with a net loss?

A handout is a handout.

A repaid loan isn't a handout.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Most mortgages are guaranteed by the government.

Are they guaranteeing the Bank of America mortgages in the OP?

 

[Concerned American]

It's not risky at all. The service member has no skin in the game, his mortgage is paid by Uncle Sam via his BAQ and all the equity goes into his pocket. My Navy son in law bought three different houses that way while on active duty. He retired as a E-7. I knew of several NCOs who had bought multiple houses over the years and turned them into rental properties when they were transferred. They rented them through the base housing office to other troops, it was no risk since the Army guaranteed the rent and that any damages would be paid for by the renter. A call to a unit commander gets quick results when a renter is in default on rent or doesn't want to pay for damages when he moves out. All the owner has to do is refinance the house as rental property which frees up his VA benefit to be reused at his new duty station.

My dad, grandfather and two brothers did exactly the same thing in the same circumstances. I was single and barracks bound so I wasn't able to pull it off, but as you say, I was only concerned with partying during those years anyway.

 

[AZrailwhale]

I guess jarheads move more often. Considering how few bases they have, how is that possible if you were not at the same place 2 or 3 times in a career?

IO would guess an Embassy Marine would move fairly often all over the world. However Fleet Marines usually spend their entire careers on either the west coast at Pendelton, or the east coast at Quantico. Here is a list of all Domestic Marine Bases:
"Marine Barracks – Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps Headquarters, Henderson Hall – Arlington, VA
Marine Corps Base – Quantico, VA
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point – Havelock, NC
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Station New River – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Stations – Beaufort, SC
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Albany, GA
Marine Corps Reserve Support Center – Kansas City, MO
Marine Corps Air Station – Yuma, AZ
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Barstow, CA
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center – Twentynine Palms, CA
Marine Corps Air Station – Miramar, CA
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton – Oceanside, CA
Marine Corps Recruit Depot – San Diego, CA
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Honolulu, HI"

 

[Concerned American]

Can you show the math you used to come up with a net loss?

Have your taxes ever gone down? No. That is why, government givaways.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It's not risky at all. The service member has no skin in the game, his mortgage is paid by Uncle Sam via his BAQ and all the equity goes into his pocket. My Navy son in law bought three different houses that way while on active duty. He retired as a E-7. I knew of several NCOs who had bought multiple houses over the years and turned them into rental properties when they were transferred. They rented them through the base housing office to other troops, it was no risk since the Army guaranteed the rent and that any damages would be paid for by the renter. A call to a unit commander gets quick results when a renter is in default on rent or doesn't want to pay for damages when he moves out. All the owner has to do is refinance the house as rental property which frees up his VA benefit to be reused at his new duty station.

Why did you quote my post? i agree with you! The Flogging Croc is the one who says it is impossible and no one does it.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Have your taxes ever gone down? No. That is why, government givaways.

So no math?

 

[AZrailwhale]

They don't build houses that small unless they are portable mini-homes. You had to go outside to have room to change your mind.

I never had an apartment smaller than six hundred square feet. I know of a lot of older houses about that size.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The odds are that a mortgage for a house or condo with the same square footage in her neighborhood would cost about the same as her rent. The difference is that she would be responsible for maintenance and the profits (equity) would be going into her pocket instead of the landlord's.
One of my co-workers who retired about the same time I did was complaining about always being broke because his rent was so high. I pointed out that I was living rent-free in a paid off house and I had advised him to buy a condo or townhome fifteen years ago and he could be living rent-free as well if he had. At the time he refused because he didn't want to have to budget for repairs and taxes. He wanted the money for new cars, collector guitars that he didn't even have insured and partying.

The problem is if you're only going to live somewhere for a few years, you don't gain anything by buying a house. Most of your first mortgage payments are interest and you gain little equity unless you're in an area where housing prices constantly rise quite a bit.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

IO would guess an Embassy Marine would move fairly often all over the world. However Fleet Marines usually spend their entire careers on either the west coast at Pendelton, or the east coast at Quantico. Here is a list of all Domestic Marine Bases:
"Marine Barracks – Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps Headquarters, Henderson Hall – Arlington, VA
Marine Corps Base – Quantico, VA
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point – Havelock, NC
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Station New River – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Stations – Beaufort, SC
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Albany, GA
Marine Corps Reserve Support Center – Kansas City, MO
Marine Corps Air Station – Yuma, AZ
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Barstow, CA
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center – Twentynine Palms, CA
Marine Corps Air Station – Miramar, CA
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton – Oceanside, CA
Marine Corps Recruit Depot – San Diego, CA
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Honolulu, HI"

Quantico? East coast Marines are at Camp Lejeune! my last ship in the Navy was a Gator freighter.

The Flogging Croc was a Marine airedale!

 

[Concerned American]

IO would guess an Embassy Marine would move fairly often all over the world. However Fleet Marines usually spend their entire careers on either the west coast at Pendelton, or the east coast at Quantico. Here is a list of all Domestic Marine Bases:
"Marine Barracks – Washington, D.C.
Marine Corps Headquarters, Henderson Hall – Arlington, VA
Marine Corps Base – Quantico, VA
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point – Havelock, NC
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Station New River – Jacksonville, NC
Marine Corps Air Stations – Beaufort, SC
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Albany, GA
Marine Corps Reserve Support Center – Kansas City, MO
Marine Corps Air Station – Yuma, AZ
Marine Corps Logistics Base – Barstow, CA
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center – Twentynine Palms, CA
Marine Corps Air Station – Miramar, CA
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton – Oceanside, CA
Marine Corps Recruit Depot – San Diego, CA
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Honolulu, HI"

What happened to MCAS Kaneohe, HI and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, NC. Doesn't El Toro exist anymore? There are also a host of others overseas. A couple on Okinawa and MCAS Iwakuni, Japan. Probably more that I don't know about and some of these bases I've listed may have be closed. It has been a long time since I paid attention.

 

[Concerned American]

unless you're in an area where housing prices constantly rise quite a bit.

With a couple of short exceptions that rebounded, property has appreciated almost non-stop since I purchased my first place in 1976. If the market is down--rent it out to another GI when you transfer--use the base housing authority to rent it out for you.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I never had an apartment smaller than six hundred square feet. I know of a lot of older houses about that size.

Oh, come on! I grew up in a house with 900 square feet and it had 3 bedrooms. It was built in 1963.

 

[Concerned American]

So no math?

Whatever. The housing debacle was a money loser for the government with all of the government guaranteed loans that were defaulted on. It really doesn't amount to a hill of beans if one program paid back--the majority did not. If you believe the creative accounting that comes out of congress, you probably think the Build Back Better program was beneficial and not a democrat pork program as well. I've devoted enough time debating a point that has no end. Thanks.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

With a couple of short exceptions that rebounded, property has appreciated almost non-stop since I purchased my first place in 1976. If the market is down--rent it out to another GI when you transfer--use the base housing authority to rent it out for you.

Well sure because then you own the place for several years. I've never been in the service but if you're moving around every three to five years, you're better off renting instead of the paperwork hassles and closing costs of buying and selling houses all the time. Even if you gain a little it wouldn't be worth all the problems. Housing markets change, interest rates change, neighborhoods change. Much more risk owning than renting where you can pack your bags and leave when you want or need to leave.

 

[AZrailwhale]

In one of my posts, I made this exact point. Single GIs live in barracks and don't get housing allowance. However my point stands that married personnel get housing allowances. Lower enlisted married GIs get to live in non-standard housing on base which was usually remodeled old barracks (I ETSd in 1972) and NCOs could get Wherry housing if it was available. My family didn't like either option and we always chose to buy offbase and either sell or rent it out when we transferred. We figured it was a no brainer--that housing allowance transferred right into our pockets when we sold along with whatever appreciation was built as well.

One place I was stationed where people fought to get on base housing rather than BAQ was Presidio San Francisco. The worst houses were duplex's and triplexes for lower grade enlisted and NCOs and the senior officer's housing were essentially mansions built by the State of California in the thirties as part of the deal for the easement for access to the Golden Gate to build the bridge. The State finally got smart and repaired the decades of damage and is renting them out now for some serious coin considering there is nowhere in San Francisco where you can get similar sized lots or views in many cases. Presidio is beautiful, open, well landscaped and uncrowded. It looks from the website that they are even renting some housing on Fort Baker on the North side of the Golden Gate.

 

[Concerned American]

Quantico?

Where is Marine Corps OCS? Last I heard it was in Quantico.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Why did you quote my post? i agree with you! The Flogging Croc is the one who says it is impossible and no one does it.

I was amplifying your post and agreeing with you.

 

[Concerned American]

I've never been in the service but if you're moving around every three to five years, you're better off renting instead of the paperwork hassles and closing costs of buying and selling houses all the time.

My dad NEVER spent more than two years in a duty station and he always bought homes off base and he always made money on the purchases. My grandfather and two brothers did the same--if I had not been single and lower enlisted, I would have done the same, but single GIs must live in the barracks and don't get housing allowances.

 

[Concerned American]

Presidio is beautiful, open, well landscaped and uncrowded. It looks from the website that they are even renting some housing on Fort Baker on the North side of the Golden Gate.

I lived 90 miles east of SF for 45 years and I agree the Presidio is a beautiful place--one of the prettiest on the SF peninsula. Fort Baker would have also been very nice, but if you had to commute across the GG every day, that could be a problem. I understand the bridge toll is $20 each direction. Forty bucks a day is a little spendy. It used to be that only northbound paid and all the other bay area bridges charged westbound only.