VA Home Loan - Tips and Timeline?

[CS1983]

1500 is our rent total, including garbage and HOA fees, etc. -- not sure if sewer is part of our water or not. I'd need to re-look at our lease. We pay utilities (water/gas/electric).

I'm pretty anti-HOA unless they're hands off and only do certain, needed things. I could care less if my neighbor has a hot tub in the back of a rusted out El Camino while blasting Skynyrd.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Use a buyer's broker rather than just picking an agent from ads. They are often the same person, the difference is that a buyer's broker has fidiuciary responsibility to you the buyer while an agent technically works for the seller. That can affect their obligation to pursue or disclose certain information. I have a couple people in the Springs that I trust a lot.

VA Loan is nice if you don't have a large amount for downpayment but you can often find better terms with a traditional loan if you have good credit and the 20% (or more) downpayment. Not having to do the downpayment can be convenient if you need the additional cash flow to fix up or furnish the house (e.g., new appliances) but if you don't need to do that then you should think about the overall cost after rates and fees.

I used a VA loan for my very first house purchase and the agent was familiar enough with them that it was really no stress and I had all the eligibility paperwork done and qualifiers in hand before we finished looking at prospective houses. In fact, I would advise you figure out your loan details before even looking at places so you have the comfort of knowing what you can or are willing to pay and have the assurety of pre-approval on the loan while you begin the negotiation process. You may find it worthwhile to talk to a mortgage broker to compare the VA loan versus other types of loans in terms of overall cost, fees, etc.

[Skip]

Using the example above, if you can comfortably afford $1,500 a month, and you get a mortgage of $1,364, I'd either still pay $1,500 a month, which will end up as just over an additional payment a year and could take as much as 10 years off a 30-year note, or I'd put that money directly into savings for maintenance. Could even split the difference and do both.

^ Smart man!

OP, if you are going for a rural lot, you can call your insurance company and ask for a quote. For city lots, most people can guestimate exactly what you'd pay with standard replacement, liability, deductible, etc... But land + distance from fire = ?$

Also consider the property taxes portion of your escrow will be tax deductible. So not a 100% recovery, but multiply by your effective Fed tax rate and you'll be getting that piece back (or "saving" off of taxes due). Same on interest. Of course, those are year-end adjustments and don't help your monthly out-of-pocket costs of ownership.

[Irving]

We bought our place through some First Time home buyer program, and a soon as I could, when I got to 80/20 loan to value, I refinanced into a traditional 30-year to get rid of the PMI. I just remembered that VA loans apparently don't require PMI, but it's still a relevant tip to help you remember that if you have to settle for some term you don't love, you can work to change it later. Paying the extra on the mortgage helped to reduce the time it took to get to 80/20.

[Skip]

We bought our place through some First Time home buyer program, and a soon as I could, when I got to 80/20 loan to value, I refinanced into a traditional 30-year to get rid of the PMI. I just remembered that VA loans apparently don't require PMI, but it's still a relevant tip to help you remember that if you have to settle for some term you don't love, you can work to change it later. Paying the extra on the mortgage helped to reduce the time it took to get to 80/20.

After "too big to fail" PMI is a scam IMHO. Everything it taxpayer backed anyway, so why force borrows (taxpayers) to pay a premium?

[Wulf202]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...CNC4jwPH_ofQDw
"Karls mortgage calculator" app is the best I've seen for plugging in payments mortgages pmi charts and amortization

[MarkCO]

PMI has always been a scam of epic proportions. The house is the collateral. If the risk is too high, the lender should not loan.

[RonMexico]

Apply for your VA approval letter now.
Gave that to my lender and didn't have any problem. Quick simple and I wish I used a VA on my first home

[Mick-Boy]

We're going through a similar process right now. Baby #3 on the way, bigger house needed, etc. We're buying on a VA loan (3.25%). Our process was a little unorthodox because my wife found the house she wanted the day I left for Afghanistan (I was not thrilled..) so everything from my end has been esigned/printed and mailed)

As I understand it, the biggest delay with VA loans is the appraisal process, which can run a few weeks. As far as the Etc. on your list, just to give you an idea;

OCT 27 Pre-qualification letter received/Loan application submitted
NOV 1 Loan assigned to processing
NOV 10 Loan sent to underwriting
NOV 11 Loan Approved
NOV 21 Loan Assigned to appraiser
DEC 5 Appraisal complete
DEC 8 Loan sent to title company

We'll close as soon as my PoA shows up in CO. All in it's going to have been a 7-8 week process from offer to closing.

[skoodge]

The reason for PMI, and it's cutoff at 80% LTV on conventional loans, is that when the borrower defaults on the loan and the lender forecloses on the house, the lender then has to resell the house to get their money back. But, foreclosure sales usually only sell for 80% of their value; so the difference between the sale price and the defaulted loan amount is paid for by the PMI company. Essentially youre paying insurance to make sure the lender doesn't lose money in case you default on the loan. Typical insurance "scam", your money protects someone else. FHA loans are the same concept, but you pay PMI for the life of the loan. This is because FHA is usually used for borrowers with lower credit, etc.

Also, yes from what I've heard around the office, VA appraisals are a bit backed up because so many people are buying houses right now, and there are only so many appraisers that are licensed to do VA appraisals. They're just booked up. But depending on the lender, your appraisal, and you getting the requested documents to your LO, loans can take anywhere from a week to months to close.

I highly recommend, while in the process of your loan, do NOT open any new credit cards, car loans, bank loans, etc; or go on a spending spree with your credit cards. This can throw your debt to income ratio to high for approval. You'd be surprised how many people get a new CC mid-loan process, then charge the crap out of it, or buy a new car, then wonder why there are problems.

Also, I recommend shopping around for rates. Once they pull your credit score, you have 30 days to get it pulled as many times as you want/need, within the same industry (i.e. other mortgage brokers only, car loans or credit cards are a different industry), with out getting another hit on your score. I think most people go with the first lender they talk to because they don't know that, and the lender wont tell you that. So, 30 days, shop around.

Good luck!