Need some info on VA Mortgage

[PimpJuice]

Looking at buying a house in the next 6 months. Can anyone suggest a loan provider of VA mortgages that they had a good experience with?

Are there any significant negatives to consider by going with a VA mortgage?

Thanks,

Schwetty

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA. The only negative IMO is you have to sell to a service member with VA eligibility to get your eligibility back. I have no idea why.

 

[PimpJuice]

Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA. The only negative IMO is you have to sell to a service member with VA eligibility to get your eligibility back. I have no idea why.

In other words, if you sell your house to Joe Blow, you essentially lose eligibililty forever?

That's probably not a huge deal to me but seems like a dumb policy.

Any bennies on the interest rate or other fees?

 

[propilot]

Make sure you do your homework. I bought a new home in March and after comparing VA to conventional, went with conventional. Fees and interest rates were lower...

 

[CatfishVT9]

That's only if you let someone assume the mortgage. If they get a new loan, your "liability and eligibility" is freed up. Interest rates are the same at NFCU.

 

[dispatchguy]

For me, the nice thing about having a VA loan was not having to pay any closing costs; we left our closing with the keys, our lives signed away, and around 3500 or 4000 in free unplanned cash; wide screen TV and a stainless steel fridge and a stainless steel stove...

Another nice thing about going with a VA loan was that the VA will not let you get mixed up with the variable rate crap shoot, the interest only crap shoot, or anything else like that.

Another nice thing was that the VA will not let you sign a mortgage for a dump; they mandated a home inspection prior to closing.

I would do it again, if we ever decide we have to move..

 

[CatfishVT9]

Here's an additional bennie I just found out about. If this is your second or subsequent VA loan, you have to come up with a 3% "funding fee". I had just applied for a conventional refinance and it looked like I might not get the numbers I needed since I will roll in an equity loan. Paying that off is "cash out" and they only loan (conventional) 75% of the appraised value. The NFCU loan officer asked if I was receiving disability (which I thought was odd) then he explained that if you have 10% or more disability, they waive the funding fee. On a 300k loan, that's a 10 grand savings! Sign me up!

And if I recall correctly, VA still will finance 100% of the appraised value.

Pimp Juice, if you've flown Hummers and lived on a Carrier, your hearing probably qualifies you.:beer:

 

[rice]

VA will also reduce the funding fee if you put an additional 5% down. Conventional loans typically require 20% down and have a max debt to income ratio of about 28% if you have FICO scores at or above 740. The VA will allow you to go as high as 41% debt to income with no money down (up to the max of $417k depending upon your state & county) and they will work with FICO scores as low as 650.

 

[T-1GUY]

I can't say enough good things about Penfed.org I refinanced with them about six months ago and got a 20 year fixed rate @ 4.5% with no origination fee and 1/2 a point. Their closing costs were pretty much non-existent, they cover almost everything, unlike my original VA Loan where I got hammered with the 3% fee and several thousand in closing costs. The only thing a VA loan has over a conventional right now is the ability to avoid PMI with 100% financing. If you can put down 20%, I would go conventional... Just my 2 cents...

 

[FNG24]

Pen Fed Origination

T-1,
Will they wave the origination fee. I called them today after seeing your post and they wanted 6k origination fee on a 270k refi. WTF over? Thanks for the gouge.