In 1990 I got a va loan certificate but never used it then I got in touch with the va and they sent me a new one last year.

Can someone either give me a good link about the process and how it works and/or tell me the pros and cons today of using it.

Back in 1990 everyone told me it was a pain in the arse to use and slowed the whole process down etc due to the inspections and getting a home up to par to pass the inspection etc.

Any info would be highly appreciated thanks!

Loan Guaranty Service, Dept of Veterans Affairs

We used it in 98 to buy our first home. Choose your lender wisely, do NOT use Countrywide. Very Bad. We have used Chase several times, never had any problems with them. When you start the process, let the lender know you are going with VA, that way you do not have to pay PMI. There are only a couple more forms to fill out, not a big deal. With the market the way it is now, it would probably help to have the VA Loan, I would definately recommend it.

We used it and it didn't get in the way at all. Had to wait for inspections, but that was OK with us...We thought it was a big help...

I've used it a couple of times. If you sell the home and move, thus paying off the loan, you can use it again. Likewise, there was no bother and it didn't slow things down at all. In my opinion, you really WANT a home inspection, anyway.

Besides, if you're preparing to buy a house in this market, I seriously doubt anyone is going to turn their nose up at your method of financing.

Be advised that there IS a maximum amount that you can get a VA loan for. Not sure what it is right now, but when I lived in AK in 2002, it was something like 250K, which was about 2/3 of what we needed in order to not end up living in squalor.

Just bought a house a couple months ago and it was impossable to find a lender that would give a loan using the VA certifacete. The one lender I did find that did was wells fargo, but they are a bit(h to qualify with.
We ended up getting an FHA guarunted loan and using flagstar.
And scmerle is right, countrywide is horrable, especialy trying to buy one of there forcloased homes (and there are manyy)

quote:

Originally posted by revrnd:
Just bought a house a couple months ago and it was impossable to find a lender that would give a loan using the VA certifacete. The one lender I did find that did was wells fargo, but they are a bit(h to qualify with.
We ended up getting an FHA guarunted loan and using flagstar.
And scmerle is right, countrywide is horrable, especialy trying to buy one of there forcloased homes (and there are manyy)

Why are they horrible? I would think that if they had forclosed homes they would be happy to off load them? Or is it because they want to hold on to the property until values start to rise to make a profit????

quote:

Originally posted by SgtWaltzMCIWS:

quote:

Originally posted by revrnd:
Just bought a house a couple months ago and it was impossable to find a lender that would give a loan using the VA certifacete. The one lender I did find that did was wells fargo, but they are a bit(h to qualify with.
We ended up getting an FHA guarunted loan and using flagstar.
And scmerle is right, countrywide is horrable, especialy trying to buy one of there forcloased homes (and there are manyy)

Why are they horrible? I would think that if they had forclosed homes they would be happy to off load them? Or is it because they want to hold on to the property until values start to rise to make a profit????

Better Business Bureau

Go here, interesting reading.

We had to get the lawyers involved numorous times because they would sign a purchase agreement then the day of the closing would turn around and refuse to release the property. Even though the agreement is signed, the title company can't/wont continue with the sale. It took actualy filing paperwork in court for breach of contract to get them to follow through with there legaly binding agreement.

Thank you all for sharing info with me.
Gives me a little heads up and I appreciate it!
Semper Fi

Be careful with the interest rate. On my first VA loan the interest was 8%.Everyone else was paying 6.6%. This was in 2000. We only put the 1 dollar down. I got out of that loan by selling the house. Now my new house I have a conventional loan at 5.59%.

S/F

quote:

Originally posted by 12742559:
Be careful with the interest rate. On my first VA loan the interest was 8%.Everyone else was paying 6.6%. This was in 2000. We only put the 1 dollar down. I got out of that loan by selling the house. Now my new house I have a conventional loan at 5.59%.

S/F

Just checked the 2 major credit unions that service the Marine Corps,
N- 30 yr VA 5.75% No points
M- 30 yr VA 5.875% No points

Like I said earlier, do some research on the lenders you may go with. The rates change every, if not a couple of times a day.

Changing a little bit, I have always been told that you can use your VA loan once, with one exception. If you sell your home to another vet using there VA loan you get yours back. Don't know if there is truth to that, anyone else know one way or the other?

That's funny because out here in Texas, the lenders LOVE the VA loan! With the VA loan, you don't have to pay the property tax! (Which is about $7,000 -$8,000 a year for regular civilians) Texas is one state that loves the military and they have streamlined the VA home loan process. Heck, I am impressed with the amount of house you can get here for your money..$150,000-$200,000 dollars can get you you around 3,200-4,200 square feet and you will be in excellent neighborhood with outstanding schools! My family loves absolutely loves it out here in Texas (West Houston-Katy area) and I have officially changed my home of record to Texas!

quote:

Originally posted by revrnd:
Just bought a house a couple months ago and it was impossable to find a lender that would give a loan using the VA certifacete. The one lender I did find that did was wells fargo, but they are a bit(h to qualify with.
We ended up getting an FHA guarunted loan and using flagstar.
And scmerle is right, countrywide is horrable, especialy trying to buy one of there forcloased homes (and there are manyy)

quote:

With the VA loan, you don't have to pay the property tax! (Which is about $7,000 -$8,000 a year for regular civilians)

You might want to check on that - it seems too good to be true. You might be talking about not having to pay PMI (Mortgage Insurance) when using a VA loan, but I doubt it would have anything to do with whether or not you pay property taxes. If there are property tax exemptions for service members in Texas, I don't think it would matter if you were using a VA guaranteed loan or what lender you were using (for example many states have property tax exemptions for disabled veterans).

I don't know if it would matter what state your in or not. The lenders and banks I talked to before getting one of those broker componeys that do the leg work for you were pretty clear that they wont work with va loans with wells fargo being the exception. The broker said they were runing into the same thing and that is why they got us an FHA and all of those banks had no problem acepting us.

quote:

Changing a little bit, I have always been told that you can use your VA loan once, with one exception. If you sell your home to another vet using there VA loan you get yours back. Don't know if there is truth to that, anyone else know one way or the other?

You can use a VA loan again if you sell your home and pay your VA loan off in full (which most do when they sell a home, anyway...). It does not have to be to another vet using a VA loan. I have done this a couple of times.

quote:

Originally posted by reconstan:
Thank you all for sharing info with me.
Gives me a little heads up and I appreciate it!
Semper Fi

I didn't know that unemployment checks are enough to pay for a house.

best home loan there is.

the only drawback is the limit (currently $417k) which if you live in CA can narrow down where you live dramtically. but in most states, that will get you more than what you need.

you pay no PMI (mortgage insurance-not homeowners insurace) that is required if you do not put 20% on the homes value down.

your home will be inspected before you close which is a good thing. this protects you, your lender, and the VA. you will not inherit a money pit and the VA will not back a loan on a money pit.

you have very little to do with who services the loan. home loans are sold by lenders as securities alot of the time.(see also the mortgage industry's effect on the economy) you may originate the loan with Chase, but it may be sold to Wells Fargo, or whoever.

The VA loan itself doesn't get you out of property taxes. that depends on the laws for exemptions in your state or county. Texas is a very vet friendly state, but i'm not sure if vets get a free ride on property taxes (which are very high because Texas has not state tax).

however, almost everywhere in the U.S. has at least a partial property tax exemption for vets. how it usually works is that they take a certain dollar amount off of your assessed value. this can save hundreds or thousands of dollars in property taxes that either you or your loan servicer collects via escrow.

check with your county assessors office for details in regards to veteran property tax exemptions.

S hit i'm moving to Texas...

Maryland Tax Benefits

Maryland Property Tax Exemption
Property Tax Exemption:

A property tax exemption is available to the following individuals, for their primary residence located in the State of Maryland:

Veterans who are 100 percent disabled for service-connected causes. The exemption passes to the veteran’s spouse upon his or her death.

Surviving spouse of active duty military personnel who died in the line of duty.

Surviving spouse of a totally disabled veteran

A spouse who receives the dependency and indemnity compensation