VA home loans

[Sparky]

I really want to move out of my crappy rental so ideas are going through my mind. Can someone explain the VA home loan process? Is it easier or harder to do? What kind of credit do you need. Self employed and such. Thanks

[motohooligan]

My wife and I just got a VA loan. Our realtor had a lady that only did VA loans. So we signed some papers and it was easy peasy. My wife is active duty, and we have really good credit, so I don't really know the other details.

[Troublco]

Credit wise, it's about the same as any other loan. The one up-front difference is you need to have a certificate of eligibility, which you can get from the VA. Other than that, it can make it tremendously easier to purchase a home. No down, all you pay is fees; and a number of those you can see if the seller will pay or split like any other home purchase. The nice thing is, it isn't a one-time deal. But, you don't start out with any equity unless you happen on a deal where the property is appraised at more than you're paying for it.

Here's a link to some info:

http://benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/purchasecashout.asp

and here's the Denver regional office page:

http://www.benefits.va.gov/denver/index.asp

[TennVol]

It's even easier if you have a VA disability since you are exempt from the VA funding fee. I saved quite a bit on my refi.

[JMBD2112]

We're about to buy a house too. We were told we would just have to pay closing costs that normally don't go over $1200

[spongejosh]

The major benefits of a VA loan are no down payment and no mortgage insurance. We just went to the lending provider our realtor suggested and told her we would like to do a VA loan. She had me get the eligibility letter from the VA and then everything else was like normal. I don't see it as any different from the non VA process except for the benefits. Your lender should do everything for you.

[brobar]

Having a home built up in Weld County... it is our first home and we are using a VA loan. Still about 2 months from closing, but so far the process has been pretty painless. The only VA specific paperwork was a Member 2 or 4 DD214, an eligibility paper, and one other piece the lender gave us. No down payment (though we did do an earnest payment). As mentioned... no mortgage insurance required... and certain fees are capped (like I think a lender can't charge more than 1% for an "origination fee").

As long as you are credit-worthy and can show honorable discharge... it doesn't seem like it is any more difficult than any other loan would be and it definitely has its upsides!

[JohnnyEgo]

We did it through our credit union (Navy Federal), who were no strangers to the process. Our realtor that they recommended was also familiar with the process. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. A lot of papers to sign, but that is about it. The seller and the credit union paid all of the closing costs and fees. We put down some earnest money to have the basement finished, and got it all back at closing. Over-all, it was a pretty painless process.

[HoneyBadger]

I just closed on a house we had built with a VA loan last Monday! Piece of cake! We used CB&T Mortgage and they did an excellent job. We ended up getting a ton of money back at closing because we chose 3.25% with -1pt. We were able to pay all the closing costs, and had about $10k left over.... so we paid off Mrs HoneyBadger's car and part of a student loan she had. We also got the $4k earnest money that we had to put down initially back. Closing on our house was like Christmas!

[generalmeow]

For whatever it's worth, we just went through this from the seller side, and had what was almost a full price offer from someone wanting to use a VA loan. Our agent advised us to turn it down, because our house was in need of a new roof (everybody knew this up front), which we didn't want to pay for. Our agent was pretty sure we'd go through the whole process and the deal wouldn't be approved by a VA lender because of the roof. They want to see a house in excellent overall health.

It was a little bit hard to turn down the offer because of what we thought might happen, but we were getting plenty of action on the house so we felt comfortable someone else would come along shortly (they did).

I don't know how this info helps anyone, except if you're trying to use a VA loan and the house needs work on something like a roof, it evidently might be tough to make the deal go through without it being fixed prior to the sale.