Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
VA Home Loan
Does anybody have experience using the VA Home Loan? My H served in the military, and we are thinking of using the VA Home loan to buy our first house. What was your experience? Is there anything we should anticipate? Any advice or suggestions? TIA!
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Re: VA Home Loan
Actually PP's not correct. PP may be confusing VA loans with FHA loans. VA loans do not have the same standards as FHA loans. FHA is very particular about the types of homes they'll finance - tiny little flaws hold up FHA loans. That's not true for VAs. VAs are the same as conventional loans in their inspection requirements. I wouldn't try to buy a fixer with a VA, but a home in average condition will be fine.
The biggest thing I can tell you is that the paperwork is a BEAR. The loan is fabulous because it offers advantages that no other loan available offers, but you have to jump through some serious hoops to get it. My biggest advice, and I think this is more crucial than anything else during your home buying process, is to choose a lender who's experienced with VAs. Your process will go horribly if you pick someone who doesn't do VAs all that often. You need to find someone who does multiple VAs every month. The paperwork requirements for the lender are unreal (the gov't, of course), so you need to find someone who knows what they're doing and has good working relationships with the VA people.
You can use your VA loan multiple times, you just have to pay a larger funding fee each time, so don't let anyone tell you "one and done."
If you're not located near a military base, my understanding from being on here for years is that it's very hard to get the certificate of eligibility. Start working on the certificate ASAP because my understanding is that it takes a long time.
Let me know if you have other questions. It's hard to answer open ended questions like this.
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Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
Not true. We sold our house earlier this year, to buyers that were using a VA loan. Our house was in really good shape, we were planning on staying for much longer but ended up listing it due to new jobs. We listed it in December (middle of MN winter). Anyways their appraiser or someone with the bank would not approve their loan unless we stained the deck, painted some trim around a door (because the paint was chipping), replaced a dented garage door (DENTED not cracked), and a piece of molding that went around the door - which was all like that when we bought this place. We did stain and paint, which they probably will end up having to strip down and stain again because there is no way it stuck in 20-30 degree weather
We only lived in the house for 3 years and it was built in 1999 to give you an idea. Also we bought it using a Rural Development loan (which has similar standards to an FHA loan) and had no issues with any of this (including the garage door). So I guess it probably depends on the appraiser/bank and what kind of mood they are in.
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VA loans are not bad if you know they take time. I would NOT try to close in less than 45 days, just to save your sanity. They aren't that much worse than a conventional, but as pp said, there is more paperwork. And yes, there ARE certain inspection issues that will hold up a VA loan that wouldn't hold up a conventional. Your best bet is to go with someone who does them all the time, and they should be able to give you a good idea of those issues.
Just a note: the loan is not THROUGH the VA, but GUARANTEED by the VA, so you are free to choose your own lender, as long as they do VA loans. Some do not.
The certificate of eligibility actually isn't that hard to get if you know how to do so. You can now get it online through the VA's website, and the mortgage company can get it themselves as well. But I would start on that first, as it can take time if anything comes up.
Don't let anyone tell you VA loans aren't worth it, because they can be. You just have to stay on top of it, and so does your loan officer. I also suggest going with someone locally. A friend of mine has a saying that when dealing with the biggest purchase of your life, you'll want someone close enough to at the end either shake their hand or choke them, lol!
Btw, if you want the straight skinny, check out their website: http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/
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