Week 4 – VA Loans VA loans are a great loan program for our active and past military veterans. It allows for as little as 0% down, lower Fico, For more information to see if this loan is right for you, email me Scott@GreenMeansGrow.com
VA Loans – What Most Realtors Don’t Know are the tricks we get to use with VA loans. The loan environment is constantly changing. Because of that, sometimes Lenders don’t know the newest Real Estate stuff, and RE Agents aren’t up to date with loan stuff. So it’s not surprising that I sometimes hear agents being worried that VA loans are somehow a disadvantage in the buying process. I have 5 reason that a VA loan is superior to nearly every other loan out there. But I’ll just highlight one of my favorites here. LTV Flexibility What the heck does that mean? Well, when an appraisal is made on a property, the lower of the appraised value and the sales price becomes the 100% value mark for the lender. For example, if the purchase price is 400k, but the appraisal only comes in at 375k – what happens? 4 things can happen 1- The seller sells it for 375k 2- The buyer buys it for 400k 3- They split the difference – $387,500 4- Everyone walks away For #s 2 & 3 – there is a loan implication. With a regular loan, if you planned n coming in with 10% down, then your loan amount was originally $360k. But now your max lona amount with 10% down (based on $375k) is $337,500. The buyer needs to bring in the rest
I find that a lot of what I do in my initial consultation with a new client is correct things that they’ve “heard from a friend” or read online. Sometimes this is more of an issue of the changing lending environment than it is the source being wrong. But what I find more concerning is that even Real Estate Agents and other Financial Professionals get this stuff wrong too. This is especially true when it comes to VA products and uses. There are some major Misunderstandings about VA Loans out there. These misunderstandings can mean that you or someone you care about could be leaving hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the table. For example, did you know that: *You can refinance out of a conventional loan into a VA loan, to save a ton of $ *VA loans can go well above the other loan limits – into and above 1 Million dollars *VA loans are no harder or slower to get than any other loan These are just a few of the misunderstandings I come across every week. Folks tell me that just what I know about VA loans has saved them thousands of dollars. So, if you’d like to learn more about some creative tricks for using VA loans to your advantage click here to send me an email. Or you can click my name below to
Thanks to some of my wonderful news clients that are FHA approved home buyer’s, the topic of finding an “attached” home, aka; Condo or Townhome, came up recently. I figured that if they had questions regarding buying a home as an FHA buyer, so must a bunch of other folks. This blog post is a quick and easy piece of information for not only FHA buyers, but VA buyers as well. Here’s the important piece to remember: If you are FHA or VA, and looking at condos or town homes, remember: The complex MUST BE APPROVED. As in, the HOA association, not only filed for approval but it was accepted and also very important: It has NOT expired. Many times listing agents (aka, the agent helping to SELL the home,) will list FHA or VA under the terms, along with Cash or a Conventional loan. However, this is not always accurate. Therefore, it’s very important that detail is cross checked before getting your heart set on a place, only to find out your financing will not allow the purchase. How to avoid this pitfall? Having a agent you TRUST, to research this information, before you see it. Are you currently looking to buy? Do you need more information or have questions specific to FHA or VA approved complexes? Email by clicking my name below, or call me right away so
Looking to get your foot in the door (of your new home)? If you’re a renter who’s tired of paying someone else’s mortgage, now may be the time to pursue the American dream of homeownership. In fact, the days of needing a 20% down payment are long gone. While you can always elect to put down the full 20% or more, there are now many alternatives available. Here’s what you want to know if buying a house is in your future. In the mortgage industry, 20% down is considered the benchmark down payment for looking strong on paper as a home buyer. While this a general standard for financial strength, it is by no means a requirement, nor is it necessarily expected. However, keep in mind that your purchase offer amount – your buying power — drives negotiation. How strong you are on paper does help, but when you make an offer to buy a home, the seller of the property has no idea of your financial strength other than what your real estate agent tells them and what’s on your pre-approval letter. Need pre-approved? We can help. Get Full article Send me an Email Sam Logan
How to use a VA Loan instead of a Jumbo Loan: As home prices continue to rise, I’m seeing a lot of my clients find challenges in their loan amounts. That is, in San Diego county the Conforming Loan Limits are 546,250. Beyond that you are looking at Jumbo Loans. What I’ve found is that many of my clients have VA eligibility, but simply never used it. This is likely due to VA Loans historically being less competitive and harder to use. Well that’s no longer the case, and if you have VA Loan Eligibility, it might be time to rethink your strategy. Let’s look at an example. I recently helped some clients that wanted to refinance. Their existing loan is 675k. That would put them into Jumbo territory. In this case they would have needed 25% equity, a higher credit score, a higher rate, and a bunch of $ in the bank. By asking the right questions I found out that they had a VA eligibility that they had never used. “We just never needed it, as we always had a down payment”. In this case we were able to refi them out of their existing conventional loan, despite having only 10% equity in the property. This would have been impossible to do with a Jumbo loan. In addition, their interest rate was about .625% better with the
Yes! We do government loans. I was at a friend’s home on the 4th of July who asked me what the minimum down payment requirement is for a home purchase here in San Diego. He was surprised to hear me say 3.5%. He was even more surprised to hear that if an individual is VA eligible they can finance 100% of the purchase price. While my friend is not a veteran he knows someone who is which means he qualifies for the best home loan anywhere. You may not be a veteran who can qualify for a VA loan and you may not want an FHA loan so it’s important to know there are also conventional loan options that finance up to 95% of the purchase price and allow the 5% down payment to be gift funds virtually making this option 100% financing. But wait, don’t be so quick to dismiss FHA. Many times for those who have limited funds available for down payment FHA financing offers them more purchase power. Here is a quick-hitter list of benefits government loans offer: FHA: 3.5% down payment (.5% down payment with CHDAP 2nd TD) 580 minimum credit score No reserves required Cash out refinances to 85% loan-to-value Transferrable appraisal VA: 100% financing No mortgage insurance Lowest interest rates Purchase and cash out options Eligible properties include SFR, modular homes, PUDs,
For those Veterans eligible for VA Loans I have some great news – VA Loans just got Better! If you’ve seen any of my videos or posts before, you know that I’m a huge advocate of the VA Loan. There are too many reasons to list here, but the primary reasons are * Lower than Conventional Rates * Ease of Process * No Money Down * No Monthly/Annual MI Ok, so how could it get any better? Well, one thing is that the VA has something called Non-Allowable Fees. These fees cannot be charged to the Veteran. Sounds liek a good deal right? How could that be a problem? The problem is that some of these Non-Allowable Fees are standard fees for services required in a Real Estate transaction. For Example, the Escrow Fee. Escrow is part every Purchase and Refinance transaction in CA. However, the Veteran is technically not allowed to pay for it. So in the past the Veteran Buyer had to ask the Seller to pay those fees which had a potential impact on whether their offer would be accepted or not. Now that’s no longer a problem. We now have several options to combat this. The most amazing being a Lender that pays ALL of the VA Non-Allowable fees for the Veteran. Imagine that, a Lender that pays your fees for you! I’m excited to see Lenders finally moving
VA loans are still the best financing option out there and in my dozen years as a Mortgage Planner there is no loan I enjoy originating more. Recently, we’ve seen even more enhancements to this loan program and I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of the existing benefits of this type of loan while also highlighting some of the improvements. For our active and retired military just what are the Benefits of VA? Lets take a look. Zero Down Purchases No Monthly Mortgage Insurance Lowest Monthly Payment No Prepayment Penalties The Mortgage is Assumable Competitive Interest Rates & Closing Fees 100% LTV on Rate and Term Refinances 90% Cash out Refinances Credit Scores as low as 620 DTI up to 60% with Approve Eligible Findings – NEW!!! Fixed rate only If FICO score is < 640 and LTV > 95%, DTI is capped at 45% Same Sex marriages are now allowed in certain states. VA must approve prior to submission to underwriting. We are good to go here in CA. – NEW!!! Did you know we have a lender that pays for all VA non-allowable fees for the veteran? This is a big deal as non-allowable fees are typically part of the negotiation with the seller. Now a seller will not have to take this into account when considering an offer
With all the challenging news 2014 has brought the lending world, it’s great to get some good news! The 2014 VA Loan Limits have increased. What this means is that those who qualify for VA loans can now buy with Zero Down to higher limits. For Example – San Diego went from $500,000 to $527,500 -Orange County went from $668,750 to $687,500 These numbers will allow more Veterans to take advantage of one of the best loan programs in existence, and a real benefit to those who have served. For a full list of the New Loan Limits for VA or any other program CLICK HERE and shoot me a quick email with your request. Also, if your a glutton for super dry reading, here’s a direct link to the VA’s website. Have a great week! Jeremy Beck | Mortgage Planner | Bringer of Good News
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