INVESTOR STORIES
VETERANS BUY AMERICA
Loan Turned to Own STARTING WITH A VA LOAN, ERIC UPCHURCH BUILT A REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO WITH ZERO EQUITY.
by Jeff Edwards
M
aking it clear that the United States would care for its vet- erans, Abraham Lincoln coined what would later become the Veterans Administration motto by saying, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan.” With these words in mind, veterans who serve honor- ably find themselves with a variety of benefits before them when they discharge. Some will take advantage of the G.I. Bill and advance their ca- reers through education. Meanwhile, others will make good use of the VA home loan program and build an ever-growing real estate empire. Army veteran Eric Upchurch (pic- tured above) chose the latter path. Stumbling into real estate through the purchase of his first home in 2006 with a VA loan, Upchurch took that first purchase with zero eq- uity and turned it into hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than ten years. Some 13 years after he took his first VA loan, Upchurch is invest- ing in multimillion-dollar real estate ventures with no end in sight. Taking
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the way, he eventually graduated from the University of California San- ta Barbara in 2004. Unsure of what path to take next, his family’s lineage of patriotic service weighed heavily on him in the post 9-11 era. In possession of a college degree, the Army allowed him to enlist at the initial rank of E-4 with MOS of 15 Golf, Aircraft Structural Repairman. Eric graduated boot camp and was heading to his initial training school with one date in mind — his wedding in the summer of 2005. With the date and location already set, if Upchurch were to fail a test or suffer an injury requiring him to be rolled back to a later class, he would miss his wed- ding. Motivated to let nothing stand in the way of his upcoming nuptials,
a path available to all veterans, but misunderstood by most, Upchurch has shown just what is possible when “Veterans Buy America.”
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Despite having a strong family lineage of military service, Upchurch took the long and winding road to the uniform. Graduating high school in 1998, he and a friend moved from the cornfields of Iowa to sunny California to live the dream. Their initial goal was to break into the culinary world and make it as chefs. While he was met with some success in that arena, it turns out this wouldn’t be his path to riches. Working various jobs along
12 | think realty housing news report :: june / july 2019
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