Has anyone here ever used the VA home loan program? (military)

[vivilasvegas]

How much is the loan for? Are you automatically approved, or is there a credit check? Did you find this an easy route to a home loan, or are there better ways?

Thanks.

 

[AllyandJack]

You have to go through a bank - same as with a regular mortgage. They do a credit check and require the same information as if it was a conventional mortgage. They are a bit more forgiving on credit issues and also allow you to borrow a higher percentage of your income (most banks go with 30%, but with a VA loan, it could go as high as 45%).

A lot of sellers don't like to sell to people using VA loans because they are responsible for some of the closing costs (they will usually increase the price of the house to make this up in the end) and the VA can be REALLY picky about inspections and make the seller fix silly problems.

If you are going to use it, start the paperwork process now. It took many months to get the paperwork in for us and, in fact, they didn't send it in time for us to close and we had to re-work our entire loan.

Our limit was $250,000, but I think it varies depending on where you buy and what the housing market is in your area.

Call around and talk to a few lenders who handle VA loans. See what their options are. Maybe it's your best option, maybe not, but a lender is the best person to tell you what the various options are.

Good luck!

 

[tinkerrn]

my DH used one to buy his house right before we started dating. He voiced to me the other day that we wished he'd gone to a mortage broker instead. I'd do a lot of research before hand.

 

[janette]

We bought our first house using a VA mortgage. The qualifications are a little different, we wouldn't have qualified at the time for a conventional mortgage but had no problem with the VA mortgage actually moved into our first house with about $50 out of pocket. The interest rates do tend to be a little higher than you can get from a conventional loan but you won't pay PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) which is usually required for any mortgage with less then 20% down.

This was about 20 years ago so some things might have changed.

 

[malibuconlee]

Here's a link to a website for VA Loans . we had one for our first house back in 2001. The first thing we did was to send off for our certificate of eligibility. I see that the lenders can do that electronically now. Good luck!!

ETA: if you have really good credit it may be beneficial to see about doing a loan for 80% of the house, and a second loan for the other 20% if you're looking at doing little to no money down. I'd be interested in seeing the price difference between the two options since the 20% loan is usually at a slightly higher rate, but then again so are VA loans. Either way will keep you from paying PMI if you don't have the 20% to get a conventional mortgage.

I would advise anyone to get pre-approved prior to looking.