Tell me about VA home loans

[phillmolly]

My DH and I are thinking about buying a new house, however we are not even sure if we would be able to, first thing we would have to figure out is what to do with our current home, according to our SEV, our house vaule is within a 1k or so of our mortgage balance, however houses in the area are selling for about 20k less than what we owe. We have thought about renting it out for now but we would probally only be able to get enough to cover the mortgage, we would still have to pay taxes out of pocket. My DH is a vet so we can get a VA loan and as I understand, we wouldn't need a down payment. What other info do we need to know?? We don't have any other debt besides a car payment, so I am pretty sure our D/I ratio can handle two mortgage payments. TIA!

 

[My_3_Mi_Princesses]

Hi there. We got a VA loan last year for our house. Basically you still have to qualify for the VA loan through a lender (we used Wells Fargo). You do not need a downpayment for the actual loan and do not have to pay the PMI mortgage insurance. There is a fee added on to the loan something like 2% of the loan, and with a small downpayment that goes down to like 1.5%. I forgot the actual percentages but you can look them up on the VA site.

So if you plan to stay in your new house for just a few years, then it makes better sense to go with a regular loan and pay the PMI, but if you plan to stay long term then the VA loan is better. So that is one thing to consider.

One other thing that tripped us up was that if your building a new house in a new subdivision you have to make sure the subdivision gets 'certified' by the VA, belive this is similar to a FHA certification. Without this certification the VA will not approve the loan.

If you have any questions please ask!