A Navy Vet discusses her cross-country move from Florida to San Diego and how she used her VA loan for Veterans to buy a home in America’s Finest City.
To listen to this week’s awesome episode regarding using. the VA loan for Veterans, click below!
Join us as we embark on a fascinating conversation with Rebekka, a Navy Veteran who takes us on her journey in the military. Hear about her unique experiences, starting as an undesignated airman, working as a plane captain on F-18s, and her transition to a personnel specialist. She also provides a detailed explanation about the color-coded shirt system in the Navy, and the implications of the Marine Corps phasing out F-18s. This candid talk offers insights into the operations and systems in the Navy, all from the perspective of a female veteran.
Journey with us as we follow Rebecca from Florida to California, detailing her personal experiences, the differences in culture, and the vibe of each state. She opens up about her experience in house hunting, finding a realtor for her VA loan, and the reasons behind her decision to move back to California. We also discuss her transition in changing schools for her children, the education standards in Florida and California, and the benefits of attending an Early College High School.
In the final segment of our chat, we get into the nitty-gritty of real estate. As someone who has owned three homes, Rebecca shares her experience in using the VA loan, the benefits it brings, and common misconceptions surrounding it. She also provides invaluable tips on finding the right real estate agent and questions to ask during the home buying process. This episode is a treasure trove of information for veterans looking to utilize their VA loan for Veterans, parents navigating school transitions for their kids, and anyone interested in the real-life experiences of a Navy veteran.
Prefer to read the transcript and hear all about this awesome Navy Vet’s experience move and home purchase in San Diego using her VA loan for Veterans? Here you go!
VA Loan for Veterans
0:00:38 – Nait
Welcome back to Real Bats Podcast. Yeah, I am one of your hosts, Nait Schirmer. We have Marine Corps veteran extraordinaire Brian Britton to my right I tried my media mist and we have a very special guest, Rebekka. How are you Doing well? How are you Doing well? How was your drive down?
0:00:59 – Rebekka
I was a little bit of traffic, but it was okay. Okay.
0:01:01 – Brian
Yeah, what time did you? Left at what Like nine or something.
0:01:05 – Rebekka
Just before nine. Just before nine, okay yeah.
0:01:07 – Brian
Hopefully missed, like most of the rush hour right.
0:01:09 – Rebekka
Yeah, thankfully.
0:01:10 – Brian
Yeah, it’s good, right on. So Rebecca is a Navy vet, recently purchased a house up in Temecula with us. We helped her out. It was pretty cool. But yeah, tell us about yourself Navy history. What did you do in the Navy? What’s your favorite thing that you did in the Navy? Let’s hear it.
0:01:29 – Rebekka
Okay, so yeah, I was in the Navy from 2013 to 2017. I started as an undesignated airman. Sweet.
0:01:37 – Brian
Hell yeah.
0:01:38 – Nait
Paint walls and stuff. Yeah, I was going to say is that true that you do a lot of painting?
0:01:42 – Rebekka
Well, undesignated seamen do, but I was an undesignated airman, so I was working on F-18s. I was stationed at NAS LeMore just near Fresno, and I was like a plane captain for about a year and a half.
0:01:56 – Nait
That sounds cool. Yeah, sounds really cool.
0:01:58 – Rebekka
So it’s like a brown shirt on the boat and I didn’t actually get to go on the boat, but it’s you know. You final check the airplane, you make sure everything’s good to go. You’re in communication with the pilot, you do all the hand signals to launch the jet off the flight line and then off the boat.
0:02:16 – Nait
So when you say brown shirt, what’s the difference between the different color shirts?
0:02:22 – Rebekka
Yeah, all the different occupations have different color shirts so that we can recognize, you know on the boat or even on the flight line, what somebody does. So brown shirts are the plane captain, so you know if you have to co-op somebody and ask them a question about the airplane, at that moment they’ll know. And then you know. There’s like green shirts and white shirts, red shirts are the AOs, that sort of thing.
0:02:44 – Brian
So if you have a brown shirt, you’re basically in charge of everybody. Get to bus everybody around, no.
0:02:50 – Rebekka
Well, I mean, you know the most about the jet and about what’s going on, sure, but yeah, you’re the go-to person in the moment, right on.
0:02:58 – Nait
So, as Ananda is how did you get to that level? Did they just see that you were smart and you were on top of things, or just like?
0:03:07 – Rebekka
No, that’s like really entry level actually. So I didn’t go into the Navy with a job or a rate. I had to strike a rate in order to like be promoted. But Undesignated Airmen is low and it’s the right at the beginning. And then playing captain you get to do that when you first join a squadron and it’s everyone goes into the line, check and then you like learn about the jet and about how the squadron works and everything like that. But playing captain is the very beginning. That’s the start.
0:03:40 – Nait
That’s so wild to me.
0:03:41 – Brian
Yeah, that’s such an important job and the title too playing captain like sounds like you’re in charge of everything.
0:03:48 – Rebekka
Yeah, your thing, but now it’s the very beginning and you learn a lot, though. You learn so much about the jet, you learn anything from. You know taking measurements for the tire pressure, the struts. You learn about a little bit about ordinance, you know where it’s placed and everything like that. You learn about, like the gosh, what were they called? Again, it’s been a while.
0:04:18 – Brian
The fly boomy things yeah.
0:04:21 – Rebekka
Yeah, you like learn about the materials for the jet and you know where all the screws are and in all that.
0:04:28 – Brian
So yeah, basically get a good round idea of, like how the whole thing works, kind of deal. Yeah, so yeah, you can get a good one. Yeah, yeah, all right. So yeah, that’s the end of the video. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you, all right.
0:04:33 – Rebekka
Thank you so much, thanks for watching Bye and also gives you an opportunity, especially when you’re an undesirable airman, like I was. It gives you an opportunity to learn all the different rates. So you get to go and shadow the AOs, you get to go and shadow the mechs and see if that’s kind of a job that you want to do or not.
0:04:49 – Brian
That’s cool, so you get to kind of dip your feet in before you decide what direction you want to go. Yeah, so what did you end up doing?
0:04:55 – Rebekka
So I actually struck out of the aviation side and I ended up going to the seaside and I became a personnel specialist, which is HR. Oh, right on, oh yeah, that’s right. Yeah, tell me that that’s funny.
0:05:09 – Brian
So I’ve just recently one of our one of our clients is a marine pilot and he was trying to or they were. He was just finishing up flight school or whatever it’s called, and he was waiting basically to find out whether he was going to be on F-18s or F-22s. Well, he just found out that he’s going to F-22s because the Marine Corps is phasing out F-18s, like it’s not going to be a thing anymore for the Marine Corps. I thought it was wild, because those things are badass, dude, those are cool ass airplanes. Yeah, do a lot of freaking hell, death and destruction on bad guys with them things. You know what I mean? Yeah, that was really cool.
0:05:45 – Rebekka
We had super hornets that our squadron was. That’s super hornets squadron.
0:05:48 – Nait
Nice, is that the 35? No, it’s F-18 or F-18.
0:05:51 – Brian
Oh, okay, yeah. So yeah, is the Navy. Do you know if the Navy’s going to those? What are they like? Fifth generation fighters or something?
0:05:59 – Rebekka
Yeah, I don’t know, Probably though.
0:06:00 – Brian
Yeah, everybody’s doing it, right, all the cool kids are doing it. So I mean, the Air Force has their F, what F? I think 22s, the Marines, the F-35s or something like that.
0:06:12 – Rebekka
Yeah, I think they do. Or did I get that backwards?
0:06:15 – Brian
I don’t know, I was a grunt and I’d fucking things fly in the sky. I’m like yay good guys.
0:06:19 – Rebekka
Yeah, actually it’s funny, the Navy actually has more airplanes than the Air Force does. Yeah, yeah.
0:06:26 – Brian
Yeah, the Navy is a larger Air Force than the Air Force.
0:06:31 – Nait
Yeah, I mean same with the Army. Apparently, the Army has more boats than the Navy does.
0:06:36 – Rebekka
Oh, wow, didn’t know that. What like row boats and stuff.
0:06:40 – Brian
What do you guys like think you’re crossing the Potomac still?
0:06:45 – Nait
We got boats, not ships. Sure, I guess there’s a difference.
0:06:48 – Brian
I just watched. I’ve been kind of like nerding out on YouTube and on like history, like you know, war history and stuff like that lately and one of the videos I just watched a lot of the posts that are something like that was what if the entire world went to war with the United States, who would win? And like they projected just from our military power that we would just wipe the fucking like mop the floor with everybody. I thought that was kind of cool.
0:07:15 – Rebekka
Yeah, not surprised, yeah yeah.
0:07:18 – Brian
Anyway, so you went to HR.
0:07:21 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:07:21 – Brian
And then how long did you do that?
0:07:23 – Rebekka
Just over two years, and then I got out.
0:07:25 – Brian
Okay.
0:07:25 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:07:26 – Brian
And then what college afterwards, or something.
0:07:28 – Rebekka
No, so actually I went to Cal State Northridge in a graduate in 2012.
0:07:33 – Nait
And then I joined the Navy and I joined enlisted and then yeah, you had a four, you had a bachelor’s degree and then you went enlisted.
0:07:42 – Rebekka
I did yes why?
0:07:43 – Nait
didn’t you want to go commission side?
0:07:46 – Rebekka
I think it was. I just really wanted to see what the military was all about. And then I’m not the first person in my family to join the military. My dad was in the Air Force, my brother was active duty Marine at the time and both my grandfathers were Navy. So I just really wanted to, like, join the military. And then I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, even with even after I got my degree, so just kind of wanted to get my feet wet and then see if I wanted to cross over to be an officer or if I wanted to even continue being in the military. So, yeah, I just went enlisted and I did. I do think that was. The best choice, though for me was to go enlisted and then yeah.
And then, after I struck a rate, I got transferred down here to San Diego and worked at right off 32nd Street and PSD. So I was a personnel specialist there for just over two years.
0:08:38 – Brian
Right on Bummer having to get moved down to San Diego on yeah.
0:08:42 – Rebekka
Yeah, I was so excited when I got my orders to go down there to come down here. So oh I bet yeah.
0:08:47 – Brian
Yeah, that’s funny man. I feel like I mean, because I was at Pendleton, I feel like I was so lucky to be stationed here. I mean, the Marine Corps has got some cool duty stations, but they also have places like 29 Palms. Yeah, I’m really thankful that I didn’t go there, because Pendleton’s a shit man. Even now, like, I’ll still go up there every once in a while. I feel like it’s just kind of home away from home type thing, you know.
0:09:07 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:09:07 – Brian
Yeah, that’s funny, anyway, so okay. So then you got out. How was the transition in the Civ did for you?
0:09:14 – Rebekka
It was actually really hard. Yeah, you know you go from being told what to do, where to be every single day to kind of having whatever schedule you wanted. Mm-hmm, that was really difficult and I did to get to do a transition classroom and getting out of the military and I did it twice and I still feel like I had more to learn. But I mean, it worked out eventually, but it was really hard at first.
0:09:37 – Brian
Yeah.
0:09:38 – Rebekka
Trying to figure out what career to go into, and all that.
0:09:40 – Brian
I feel like that’s a thing for a lot of people too, like a lot of people have problems when they get out. I mean myself included. I, when I got out of the Marine Corps I was in the same boat. I was like I don’t care what I do, I just care that it’s not here anymore.
Yeah, you know what I mean. So I mean, of course, proud to have served and proud to be a Marine and all that kind of stuff, but still, at some point you’re like let’s do something new. You know what I mean, yeah, so, but yeah, I think, yeah, for me it was a little bit tough as well, just getting out, not having a direction and then, like, fell into a construction job that I hated for a while and stuff like that, you know. So, yeah, but I think that’s a commonality with you. Know people that are service members, that they get out and they don’t know what to do next. You know, because, just like me, a lot of people will you know jump ship before the next one’s close enough to land on. You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what did you end up doing?
0:10:32 – Rebekka
So I ended up moving to DC and then Washington DC and I became a federal contractor for the Coast Guard and I was admin like an administrative specialist out there for them and I did that for about a year.
0:10:47 – Brian
Okay.
0:10:48 – Rebekka
And then I came out of the workforce and became a full-time stay-at-home mom for two years.
0:10:52 – Brian
Okay, so, yeah, cool, and then. So when you came to us, you were living in Florida, so you went from San Diego to DC and then did you go directly to Florida from there.
0:11:03 – Rebekka
No, I was married and my husband and I moved to Colorado and we lived there for three years.
0:11:09 – Brian
Yeah, okay, yeah.
0:11:10 – Rebekka
And then my daughters and I moved out to Florida about. I think it was like two years ago now we moved out there, and then we finally came home.
0:11:20 – Brian
Feels good to be back on.
0:11:21 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:11:21 – Brian
Yeah, that’s cool man. Yeah, so what was it that brought you out to Florida? Was it that your family’s there and stuff?
0:11:28 – Rebekka
Yeah, my family. They all moved from California to Florida. So my parents, my brother and my sister, my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and then my grandparents and my aunts and uncles Everybody lives in Florida now. Nice so yeah, I wanted to be around family and it was great, but there’s nothing like home.
0:11:46 – Brian
Yeah, for sure. So you’re one of the few people that leave California and then come back.
0:11:52 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:11:53 – Brian
Right. So we’ve. The thing is like in our industry because we, you know, watch and see where people are going and where people are coming from and stuff like that. So a lot of people that have left California in the past like several years, because everybody knows there’s been a big exit from this state, but a lot of people are starting to move back. We’ve noticed that. You know they miss the weather, you know they go through winter. They move somewhere north and they go through winter. One time realize how terrible you know shoveling snow out of a driveway is and are like, nope, I’m back. So what was it? Because I mean, obviously you don’t run into that kind of stuff in Florida, but what was it that made you want to come back to California?
0:12:27 – Rebekka
I think, just growing up here, I mean there’s nothing like California and I lived in several different states but there’s nothing like Calcland, nothing like home. And then I just really wanted to come back and reconnect with old friends and family out here that I still have here. I just like the culture and the vibe and the way I could raise my daughters out here too.
0:12:50 – Brian
So, yeah, and the weather, that doesn’t hurt. Going to the beach on Christmas and whatnot. Yeah, probably will.
0:12:58 – Rebekka
And the water is actually nice. In Florida the water is really hot. That’s totally different.
0:13:03 – Brian
Yeah, you get out and you’re more sweaty than you were when you got here. Yeah, yeah, that’s funny, so cool. Well, you’re back, that’s awesome. Welcome home, yeah, thanks.
0:13:14 – Nait
Yep.
0:13:15 – Rebekka
You got a really cool home too, by the way. Yeah, I love it, my daughters do too, and the outside is really nice. You can be in and outside all the time. So, yeah, it’s great.
0:13:25 – Brian
Did we figure out the kitchen thing yet?
0:13:28 – Rebekka
No, I just gave up on it, that’s all right.
0:13:31 – Brian
I mean, it’s yours to do with it when you want. So talk about that, because when you got to Florida you bought a house out there and then, pretty quick, decided that you wanted to move back to California. So you ended up selling your house out there and then moving back here and buying another one. So talk about how that whole process went.
0:13:49 – Rebekka
Yeah, so in Florida I was able to put up my house for sale. I think I put it up for sale in April With just a local realtor out there that was a family friend, and then at the same time I was working with you and with Kyle about trying to find a home out here. So it was kind of hard because I was a little scared that my house in Florida wasn’t going to sell. But I ended up selling, getting an offer on it about a month or so after.
0:14:18 – Brian
Yeah, I was going to say it took a little bit of time, right yeah the market changed out in Florida.
0:14:22 – Rebekka
right as I put it on, right as I put it on.
0:14:25 – Brian
Of course yeah.
0:14:27 – Rebekka
Yeah, and then working with you guys. You guys just made it so much easier for me to tour homes virtually and find a place where I wanted to live and find a place out here.
0:14:40 – Brian
So Cool, yeah, we try to do our best to make things easier for people and stuff. And two, you were one of our clients and this happens quite a bit that isn’t here. You weren’t here for showings. The first time you actually stepped foot on your house was when I got to hand you your keys.
0:14:57 – Rebekka
Yeah, well, I had toured it A couple, like a week or so before with Nait.
0:15:00 – Brian
Oh, that’s right.
0:15:01 – Rebekka
Yeah, yeah, it was like a couple days before I got the keys. That was the first time, yeah.
0:15:06 – Brian
So how? Let me ask this, how did you find us and how did you talk about because I’m sure it was kind of stressful with you being on the other side of the country, with us going and looking at houses and stuff. So talk about how did that go for you.
0:15:21 – Rebekka
Yeah. So I knew I was going to use my VA loan to purchase, so I just googled best realtors in San Diego for veterans and you guys came up.
0:15:31 – Nait
Perfect, yeah, I read your reviews.
0:15:33 – Rebekka
And then I was like OK, I’ll contact you. And I think it was only a couple days later that I got on a phone call with you and we were able to set something up.
0:15:42 – Brian
Yeah.
0:15:43 – Rebekka
Yeah, so it was really easy just to look you up and find out where I could the best realtor in the area. Wow Listen, the best realtor in the area.
0:15:59 – Nait
That’s awesome.
0:16:00 – Brian
Well, thank you, I appreciate it. No, and it was awesome working with you. We had to blast the whole time, so it was really cool. So we got your purchase out here was a little bit interesting, like a little bit different than other people, because we’re an escrow on another property before. So we went and looked at the place, liked it, got the offer, wrote an offer, got it accepted, did our home inspection and found a whole bunch of stuff that was like real DIY on that right. Yeah, that’s right.
0:16:32 – Nait
Yeah, so I know that it was that condo.
0:16:34 – Brian
Yeah.
0:16:34 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:16:35 – Brian
It was nice, but the guy that was selling it had done a bunch of work himself and a lot of it you could definitely tell. You know what I mean. So and I know at some point you had kind of gotten a little bit discouraged about that house. So what were some of the issues that you saw that kind of made you like lose some steam about that property?
0:16:55 – Rebekka
I think the major thing was the safety issues in the house that I was a little concerned about, and then a lot, like you said, the DIY work. I didn’t want to have to go and do the rework, yeah. And then I just felt like for the price point and the H-Away that was attached to it and then the problems that were coming with it probably wasn’t the best thing for us. Yeah, yeah, so I think that was a good call to step away from that.
0:17:24 – Brian
Yeah, I think so too. And yeah, especially with what we were able to get you into, because the house that we got you into we’d written an offer on that one prior to writing an offer on this one and we got beat out by somebody else, right?
0:17:35 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:17:36 – Brian
Well then, so right as she’s getting ready to, not right as you’re. Basically, it seemed like we’re moving towards like let’s cancel and find a different house. I get a phone call from the listing agent on the one that we had written the offer prior, and we’re like, hey, we’re falling out of escrow. Do you guys still want it? I was like, let me call my client. Yeah, like, probably let me call her. So then I called you. We had a conversation about it and ended up being able to get you into that place, and I mean, dude, that house is so freaking cool. I’m stoked that you got into that one. Better, though, because the condo was nice. It wasn’t a nice complex, it wasn’t terrible. Like I said, the DIY work on it was just like there’s a lot of things that probably needed to be redone, at least for me, like my freaking ADD brain would stare at gaps in molding all day, every day, and that’s all I would see there you know what I mean.
Yeah, so, but yeah, how did that? So talk about, like, how did that go when we got out of the first one? We were able to walk away from the first one and then jumped into the second one. How did that go for you?
0:18:39 – Rebekka
Yeah, it was really exciting. Actually it just felt right. The condo just didn’t feel right after a while and it just was kind of feeling discouraged also about moving to California Because I was like, well, if I can’t find a place to live, maybe it’s not the right time to come. But we were actually leaving Florida. I think we had actually already left Florida when the whole transition happened. But getting the news for that house was great and then everything just started to fall into place. It was so easy for me and it was just, I felt, like a sign, like it was a great, great news to have and it’s a single family home with a nice yard and everything that we wanted for my girls.
0:19:21 – Brian
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah, I remember there was a few conversations that we had about the house. You ended up buying where you were on the road and we had to talk while you were driving, but you guys did it right. You guys did a whole road trip, didn’t you yeah?
0:19:33 – Rebekka
we did. We made a whole couple of weeks out of it.
0:19:35 – Brian
That’s awesome. Where did?
0:19:38 – Rebekka
y’all go, we went. So we started in Florida, then we went to Georgia. We stayed a few days in Nashville, which was really cool actually, we had to see the Grand Ole Opry Nice, yeah, it was really cool.
0:19:50 – Brian
And then I have a family Mojang, Mojang, Mojang.
0:19:54 – Rebekka
Didn’t get to do that, but then we went over to Oklahoma. We had a family friend that lives out in Oklahoma City. We stayed with her for a few days Actually, she’s from California and I want to try to hot her’s grow up, so it was pretty cool. And then from there we went to, I think, albuquerque, texas, albuquerque, and then stayed a day in Arizona. So Flagstaff, arizona which was really nice, and then we made our way out to San Diego.
0:20:25 – Brian
And you were here for what? Like a week or two before we were able to close Esper on that property.
0:20:30 – Rebekka
Yeah, I just got an Airbnb out on Palm Springs. It was hot, but we were used to the heat anyway, so my girls just spent every day at the pool. Yeah, it was perfect. It was like a little mini vacation while we were waiting on the house to wrap up.
0:20:44 – Brian
That’s awesome, dude. It’s cool that you’re able to do that too. Like I mean, I’ve had a similar situation when we sold our last house in Oklahoma, moved back to Sant’e. There was like one weekend where, like there was like two or three days where we had to be out of our house on a certain date and then we weren’t able to move into our next place until like three days later. So we just did the same thing Just went and got an Airbnb on the beach and we were beach bumps for a couple of days. It was pretty cool.
0:21:12 – Rebekka
Yeah, yeah, it made everything just a lot simpler and easier, and I have two really young daughters, so for them it was perfect.
0:21:20 – Brian
Yeah. And two, being used to that heat, I mean I feel like the desert heats a little bit easier just because it’s dry, versus like you guys out in Florida. You guys got that humidity man. That’s a killer for people.
0:21:32 – Rebekka
Yeah, that’s one reason we left too, because the humidity I couldn’t deal with it. Neither could my daughters. It’s a lot. So coming back out to California, you know it’s dry right here. It’s still a little bit humid here and there but yeah, we get a little bit like in August, september we get a little bit of humidity, but nothing like that, you know.
0:21:50 – Brian
So, yeah, I was. I personally, I love Florida. I think we talked about that a little bit. That’s like my second favorite state. It’s awesome. I love how, like, you can walk down the street wearing a boot as a hat, with a goddamn like rocket launcher over your shoulder, and nobody will look at you weird, because that’s just normal out there kind of thing. Florida man’s from there, my personal hero.
0:22:12 – Nait
Just throwing that out there. I mean, you kind of need a rocket launcher for all the gators around there.
0:22:17 – Brian
Right.
0:22:18 – Nait
Yeah, did you ever see where they’re gators in your neighborhood?
0:22:21 – Rebekka
Yeah, I mean, we had a few lakes in our neighborhood and they just chill they just walk around.
0:22:25 – Nait
So like you can’t even take your kids in the water right.
0:22:27 – Rebekka
No, that was another reason we wanted to move back out here, because we can actually like go to the lake and have fun. Cannot go to the lake in Florida, though the locals do go into the lake.
0:22:37 – Nait
That’s wild to me.
0:22:38 – Brian
Well, we lost another kid time to have a new one. That’s, how many conversations did we have about me just bugging out about the fact that they have f**king dinosaurs there?
0:22:47 – Rebekka
Yeah, so many yeah.
0:22:49 – Brian
That’s so funny, dude.
0:22:50 – Rebekka
It’s funny on the way here my daughters kept going are you sure there’s no alligators in California? No, there’s not. Yeah.
0:22:57 – Brian
That’s fucking awesome dude. I love it so okay. So then we I think originally we were trying to look around the San Diego like North County area, and then you decided to change tactics and bump up to Temecula instead. So what was a driving factor for you about that?
0:23:16 – Rebekka
It’s more affordable right now in Temecula and the schools are just as good as in San Diego. So I really wanted a single family home that I didn’t have to move again in the next couple of years and that my kids could grow up in. So that was kind of. The driving factor for me was more space for my kids and just a good school district.
0:23:37 – Brian
Yeah, and you work remote right.
0:23:39 – Rebekka
Yeah, I do. Yeah, so that’s super easy, you can go anywhere, kind of thing yeah.
0:23:42 – Brian
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah, I like Temecula and it’s. I mean too what you get up there versus what you can get in San Diego. I mean same price point. You’re looking at like a 900 square foot box.
0:23:53 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:23:53 – Brian
And the ghetto, versus up there you’re looking at like a three, four bedroom nice house with a yard and cool neighborhood and all that kind of stuff.
0:24:00 – Rebekka
Yeah if it was just me, I would have just stayed in San Diego.
0:24:02 – Nait
but having my girls in school right now, it’s just better for us, yeah that’s good, and I haven’t seen the stats, but according to all the people that I know, they say that the schools in Temecula are better.
0:24:15 – Rebekka
That’s what everyone says. Even my neighbors are like yeah, the schools are so much better out here. So I mean we’re in an A-rated school district Very cool yeah the elementary schools are all highly rated, and the middle schools and then all the high schools are really good, and they have a few private schools out there too.
0:24:30 – Nait
Nice, yeah, I mean, except for Santee. I know Santee is a good school. I went to Brian’s daughter’s graduation and they had, like what, 40 valedictorians yeah.
0:24:41 – Brian
I mean, these kids had like 4.6 GPAs.
0:24:43 – Nait
Wow.
0:24:46 – Brian
Don’t get that, because I feel like when I was in school, like I graduated in 0-2. There was no above 4.0. Like that’s as much as you can get. I could be wrong, I don’t know. I wasn’t like any kind of valedictor shit. I graduated with a 1.8 GPA. I wasn’t the best student, but I didn’t know that getting over a 4.0 was even a thing until when my daughter started going to school and she’s talking about her friends got like 4.3 GPAs. I’m like how, how?
0:25:13 – Nait
do you? Yeah, the AP, they’ve had that. I mean they had that in the 90s when I was going to school. But I mean, not only were these kids above 4.0 averages, they had jobs, they were volunteering. One guy was like three sports, varsity letter and three sports.
0:25:34 – Brian
How do you like?
0:25:35 – Nait
do you sleep?
0:25:36 – Brian
Yeah, where does your time come from?
0:25:37 – Nait
I don’t know. I’m proud of those kids.
0:25:39 – Rebekka
Yeah, it’s totally different. I graduated in 2008 and it’s completely different now. Even my high school it’s called like an early college high school now it was just a regular high school when I was there.
0:25:51 – Brian
Oh wow, Early college.
0:25:53 – Rebekka
Does that?
0:25:53 – Brian
just, they just rebranded themselves to sound fancy or what.
0:25:56 – Rebekka
No, the kids actually get to get associate’s degrees in high school.
0:26:00 – Brian
What really yeah?
0:26:01 – Rebekka
they connected with the local community college.
0:26:03 – Brian
That’s cool.
0:26:04 – Rebekka
It’s completely different. I mean, I had to go to a regular four year university to get a degree and these kids are walking out as juniors in college.
0:26:11 – Nait
Yeah, she is. That’s crazy. My cousin went to Temecula High, or one of the high schools in Temecula, and she got accepted to the Honors College at Arizona State and she got in as a junior.
0:26:26 – Rebekka
Yeah, it’s like wow, if I could have done that, that would have been great.
0:26:29 – Nait
Right.
0:26:30 – Rebekka
Yeah, just could have avoided like four All my first two years of college. Could have avoided that and just graduated in two years. That would have been great.
0:26:39 – Nait
Yeah.
0:26:39 – Rebekka
But yeah, now even my cousins that live out in Florida they one of them, she already had like college credits too. She’s got to start college as a sophomore. And the other one, she had gone to college as well, but she had over 4.0 graduating.
0:26:57 – Nait
Nice.
0:26:58 – Rebekka
Yeah, completely different than when I was there.
0:27:00 – Nait
Right, yeah. So what grades are your kids in right now?
0:27:05 – Rebekka
Kindergarten and second grade.
0:27:07 – Nait
OK, yeah, so still elementary school.
0:27:11 – Rebekka
Yeah, my younger one, her name’s Kenzie, she’s five and my seven-year-old is Brinley. Yeah, and they’re in kindergarten second and they’re having a great time. It was a really easy transition for my second grader, which I’m really grateful for.
0:27:24 – Nait
Yeah, that’s huge.
0:27:25 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:27:26 – Brian
Yeah, that’s good, because I feel like there’s a lot with kids when they’re transitioning from one school to the next it’s kind of hard, because they have their friends, they have their little circle, there’s little groups and stuff like that, and for a lot of kids I think it’s difficult to bump from one district even to the next, or one school in the same district to the next kind of thing. You know what I mean. Yeah, it’s good that they had a nice easy transition at school.
0:27:48 – Rebekka
Yeah, and that’s why I wanted to move now too is because my younger one is starting kindergarten, so I didn’t want to have two kids in the middle of elementary school and then decide like let’s move. Just had to have one of my kids deal with a hard transition, but actually she’s doing great, that’s good. Yeah, that’s cool.
0:28:04 – Nait
I wanted to touch on that too, because I don’t think we have too much. How was that transition from one school in another state to the schools here in Southern California? I mean, how far advanced did you have to do it and any advice that you might have for other parents?
0:28:22 – Rebekka
Yeah, so I was actually worried because Florida and California have the highest rated public education in the country, which is great, but they have different standards. So I thought so I was actually really worried about my daughter being able to transition into California schools from Florida schools. It was actually really easy. It’s the same standards, the same level. Actually she’s probably ahead of some of our kids in certain areas and on the same track or right behind in other subjects. But yeah, it was really easy. And then all I had to do was just notify the schools in Florida that my daughters weren’t going to be attending there anymore and give them the contact information for the school out here in California, and then they kind of dealt with all that, sent records and everything.
0:29:12 – Nait
OK.
0:29:12 – Rebekka
But I registered them for school at the end of July and we started the second week of August, so it was really last minute. Yeah, yeah.
0:29:22 – Nait
But everything went smoothly.
0:29:23 – Rebekka
Yeah yeah, they got to get into their classes and didn’t have to switch teachers or anything like that, so it was really easy.
0:29:29 – Nait
OK, that’s good Glad to hear that.
0:29:32 – Brian
So how does it feel to be home?
0:29:34 – Rebekka
Feels great. Yeah, we haven’t been everywhere yet, but everything is going well. We’ve seen a lot of friends and family, got to catch up with a lot of people. We’ve been out to Palmdale area and Santa Clarita. Most of we come out to San Diego almost every weekend. Oh nice, yeah. So got to see lots of people. It’s been great.
0:29:54 – Brian
It’s cool coming out and have a drink at the air or something.
0:29:56 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:29:57 – Brian
Yeah, yeah, we’re both down here. So, yeah, yeah, that’s awesome, man, I’m stoked for you that, because I mean, this whole thing seems like it just started with an idea and then we were able to kind of push it all the way through and get you out here and get you happy and be back home, kind of thing. So, yeah, yeah, I’m really happy for you. I’m glad that we’re thankful that we were able to be a part of it too. That was awesome.
0:30:17 – Rebekka
Yeah, I know, thank you. I just wanted a fresh start for me and the girls, and you guys made it a lot easier and I feel like this was the best choice, the right choice to come back.
0:30:26 – Brian
Yeah, that’s cool. So how many let me shift gears a little bit how many houses have you owned in your lifetime?
0:30:33 – Rebekka
This is my third house.
0:30:34 – Brian
Third house OK, cool, so you’re a vet when it comes to that stuff too, right? So if you had, say, some advice that you wanted to give to somebody who’s either thinking about buying their first home or thinking about that they have their first home and they want to sell, or whatever the case may be, do you have some advice or some pointers or some pro tips that you might be able to share with people?
0:30:57 – Rebekka
Yeah, I think for me it worked to get connected with people in the real estate industry. Just look somebody up or, if you have friends or family in the real estate, try to ask them questions and then if you’re going to use the VA loan, really try to understand that process and that helps by, you know, finding a broker or a realtor. You know a bank or something like that that will help with that. So my first house was a new build, so that was we didn’t even use a realtor.
we probably should have, but we just went and talked to, you know, the people there and they were able to set us up and then from there, in my next two houses I used a realtor, which was the best decision, but connecting with somebody that is an expert with using VA, I think, was the best decision I made.
0:31:53 – Nait
Yeah, did you use the VA loan (for Veterans) for every house?
0:31:56 – Rebekka
I did yeah.
0:31:57 – Nait
Nice Three times. That’s awesome yeah.
0:32:00 – Rebekka
And so there’s, like you know, rumors out there that you can only use your VA loan once, but that’s not true, yeah, so, yeah, I mean I didn’t keep any of my other homes I probably could have and then, you know, bought again. But I sold my first two homes to buy the next house, which reset my VA loan every single time. Yeah, that’s awesome.
0:32:23 – Brian
Yeah, that is one of the common misconceptions that people have. That, well, because then there’s a reason for it. Like the VA loan came about right after World War II, right, so that you know vets coming home from World War II could own a piece of what they just fought for, right, yeah, so back then it was you could only use it once and you, once you bought a house with it, you had to live in that house through the life of the loan, like you couldn’t refinance, you couldn’t sell it, that was just your house. Well now I mean we’re talking about the late 40s, early 50s, right, so fast forward, 70 years. There’s been a couple of changes here and there, right, yeah, one of them being that you can refinance as many times as you want. It’s super easy to refi a VA loan. You can sell your house, you can use it as much times as you want, you can have as many VA loans on as many houses as you want, like there’s a lot of benefits that come to it. That that’s.
But it’s the same thing. It’s just bum scoop, it’s just old info that people are passing. That you know. It’s not the case anymore. You know what I mean. So you brought up. I appreciate you bringing that up. That’s good points for sure, so okay. So if you had to, if you had to interview, like, say, you’ve never bought a home before and you wanted to use your VA loan to buy a house and you wanted to interview an agent, or you were telling, or somebody was in that situation and they wanted to interview some agents what kind of questions would you advise somebody to ask?
0:33:40 – Rebekka
I would for sure ask if they have any experience using the VA loan and then, if they do, that’s great. If not, I would probably find a different agent, just because the VA loan has so many different. You know rules and regulations. You really want someone well versed in that. But you know, if they do just find out, you know ask any question that you have really like can I refinance after a certain amount of time? And or you know what? What’s the threshold on how many? You know how much money I can spend with the VA loan and how long does it take. What are the inspection requirements, that sort of thing. But I would definitely. I think my number one question would be like do you have any experience using the VA loan for Veterans? And then can you just like tell me everything that you know?
0:34:27 – Brian
Yeah.
So that you know, because it’s important to like understand what you’re doing in the first place, like what you’re buying, no doubt, and it’s good points that you bring up, because even though we’re in San Diego and you know we have what the entire first Marine division here, minus like a couple of units here and there we have what’s the, the freaking half of the Navy’s here, what is it like the fifth fleet or something? Yeah, I’m not sure, I don’t know whatever, but the freaking half the Navy’s here. We got elements of the third Marine air wing at Miramar, like there’s huge number of military personnel here, like, and on top of that, our veteran population is like ginormous also, right.
0:35:05 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:35:06 – Brian
And there’s so many agents in San Diego that have no f**king idea what they’re doing with the VA loan (for Veterans) it blows my mind, dude, like how is it that’s?
it’s such a big segment of the of the market. You know people that rate the VA loan, that you know that can buy a house with a VA loan and there’s so many realtors out there have no idea what they’re doing with it. You know that have old information. I mean, shoot, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to educate agents while we’re writing offers for our clients that are using their V loan. How many times you know talking to listing agents, well, my clients don’t want to pay for blah, blah, blah. They don’t want to cover your client’s closing costs, so they’re not going to go VA. Well, it’s not a requirement. That’s again old, old info, right that by or VA buyers used to, you know, decades ago, not be able to pay their closing costs. It had to be a seller thing. Obviously they can now, right, because we all did.
0:35:56 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:35:57 – Brian
But. But you know that’s that’s such a good piece of advice. There is just making sure that you know. You know whoever you’re working with is is well, first with the VA loan, because just stuff like that. I mean, how many agents, how many times have you talked to an agent that you had to like educate them which? Is always weird, probably half the time Because you have to do it politely, right.
Like you have to be like, hey, idiot, that’s not right. But you can’t say that, because civilians don’t like that shit. You know, they kind of. They kind of tend to not be happy when you call them idiots for some reason. I don’t know what their problem is. Maybe they shouldn’t be idiots, no, but yeah, that’s, that’s good advice. I appreciate that. What else do you think?
0:36:36 – Rebekka
I think also, it’s important to connect with a lender that has also worked with the VA loan for Veterans before. Yeah, I mean my lender. He taught me a lot about it as well, so, yeah, I really liked working with them. You know there’s so many you know banks and lenders out there that you just have to be vigilant of what you’re, you know who you’re working with, and I got connected with my lender, kyle, through you guys.
And that was the best decision for me, too, because that made my home buying process a lot smoother as well.
0:37:06 – Brian
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he’s. Kyle’s a rock star, that’s for sure. He does really good work and we’re always happy to work with him on these deals. So yeah it’s good stuff. Cool, anything else you want to throw out there. What does the world need to know about Rebekkia?
0:37:21 – Rebekka
Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I think that if you’re looking to come back to California, San Diego Temecula is the best place to go. Yeah, I agree.
0:37:29 – Brian
Yeah, I’m from Ventura, originally Ventura County, originally Simi Valley specific. But when I was stationed at Pendleton I was like, dude, San Diego is where I need to be. Like the same thing, I moved back home for a couple of years after the Marine Corps and I was like, ah, this ain’t cutting it, time to go.
0:37:45 – Rebekka
Yeah, it’s not even that far, which is a total different way of life out here.
0:37:48 – Brian
Such a different vibe, dude. Yeah, it’s such a different vibe and I feel like Temecula is like an extension of San Diego. Most of the people that live there work down here. Who? Are from down here. They just bought up there because it’s cheaper right.
0:37:59 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:37:59 – Brian
The community is not that gnarly, it’s just up the hill.
0:38:02 – Rebekka
Yeah, actually a lot of my kids, friends, parents and everything they all work out here.
0:38:08 – Brian
Yeah.
0:38:09 – Rebekka
So, and most of them are from here, and then the ones that aren’t. They’ve been Temecula residents their whole life.
0:38:15 – Brian
Right.
0:38:15 – Rebekka
Yeah, but it’s not a bad community at all. It took me an hour to get out here.
0:38:20 – Brian
Even with traffic it’s not so bad, yeah, I think it’s the time of day too.
Yeah Well, yeah, that like trying to make that drive up on like a Friday afternoon, especially on a holiday weekend or something like that. You’re like, eh, it’s probably just wait a few hours till everything calms down, because it does kind of turn into a parking lot at times on the 15. Yeah, just getting into Temecula until it splits the 15 and the 215. Through that area it can just get so slow. You know, it blows my mind because I mean we’re up there all the time with work and stuff like that. Plus, I love it up there. My old wife and I will go do like weekends, little mini staycations, just go up into one country and hang out there for a few days or whatever. But when it’s like one o’clock in the afternoon on a Sunday and you’re on the 15 South and traffic is just not moving, I just don’t get it. I guess it blows my mind because the freeways what like five lanes wide on either direction, right, it’s freaking crazy.
0:39:17 – Rebekka
Yeah, we come down every Saturday morning because my kids ice skate out here.
0:39:21 – Nait
Oh, cool and wait, there’s an ice skating rink here in. Poway oh okay, there you go yeah.
0:39:28 – Rebekka
So in the traffic, if we leave like 10 minutes before you know we normally leave, or Tim and Slate, then we get caught up in traffic. But it still only takes, you know, an hour or so to get here. But I mean, the view is so pretty it doesn’t even matter.
0:39:40 – Brian
Totally Sitting and stopped traffic being like oh, look at these mountains. Yeah, beautiful. Yeah, I love that drive. I do not mind going up there, I don’t care how long it takes. I mean, you know what? I’m sitting in traffic. I mean traffic’s annoying, but just that drive up there is, just like you said, it’s beautiful, you know.
0:39:56 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:39:58 – Brian
The whole Palmwood Valley. Everything’s all like just you can see so much stuff. The drive up to Fallbrook is really cool, like yeah, it’s awesome.
0:40:05 – Rebekka
Yeah, it’s definitely worth. It’s definitely worth going up there and, you know, even just exploring. Even if you don’t buy out there, it’s definitely worth going to.
0:40:13 – Brian
Yeah.
0:40:13 – Rebekka
It’s a really nice city.
0:40:14 – Brian
A lot of cool stuff there, for sure.
0:40:16 – Rebekka
Yeah.
0:40:16 – Brian
A lot of good off road chops. I’m just saying, yeah, anyway, cool. All right, yeah, I think we’re about at time. Huh, yeah I think so. About wraps us up.
0:40:27 – Nait
That was a good episode. Thank you, Rebekka, for joining us, and for all the information and giving us the shoutout. Appreciate that.
0:40:36 – Rebekka
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely.
0:40:38 – Brian
It’s good to see you. Glad we’re back reunited. Yeah, me too, so cool.
0:40:43 – Nait
Let’s call it Nate. All right, on behalf of RealVets. Thank you very much, Adios. All right, off to work. We’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah, bye, bye, see you tomorrow, bye.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
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