/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1704178
Forgot to add, use the VA loans to qualify for a loan. Use the money you saved to put a nice down payment on a house. Use your GI Bill payments to pay the mortgage. I was frugal as shit in the Army so I had a fat wad saved up but I also did 4 years. I put 20% down on a place (in California no less), bought a used truck, and still had enough left over to have several months of operating money in case I lost my income for some reason. I got a 15-year mortgage and used 4 years of GI Bill money to pay that fucker down. I only had 8 years with of principle left on it by the time I graduated. At that point, I had to scale back my payments because it took me several months to get a job and a year or so to build my emergency fund back up (shoot for 6 months of emergency funds).

I ended up moving so I sold the place when I was about 3 years from paying it off. I moved to a place out in the sticks so I was "able" to buy the place outright. I didn't. I got another VA loan and used the money to refurbish the place. Again, a 15-year term but, because I put a huge down payment on it, the monthly payments were next to nothing. I saved up for a few years and just paid it off way early. I can tell you make that last mortgage payment feels like winning the fucking lottery.