Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

I finally received my eligibility letter from the va and Im looking for pointers and tips. this will be my first house. im trying to find out as much as i can about home buying before i start talking to lenders/realtors, so of course i turn to hmt for help :-*

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

Get it inspected by a professional not your buddy carpenter.What is a VA loan?

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

I am going through one now and it is a pain in the ass. THey want to know everythig about your bank account mad papers to sign but I got a good rate.

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

its all on the va website....
http://www.homeloans.va.gov/
Bacially, since you already have the elidagility(sp) form, go out and find a house, agree on a price and write up a purchase plan with "with the approval from the VA" conditions. THen you go to your bank or where ever your gonna do your financing and tell them you are going through the VA. They will take it all from there. Henry did the same thing I believe and he said his was rather quick.

im in the process of doing the exact same thing right now as I will probably be a homeowner within the next year. Cant wait either.

Quick note, I have been looking alot on www.lendingtree.com Lending tree pretty much is a source for a ---- ton of banks/credit unions to go to to try to earn your business. So when you fill out an application, the app is sent to more than one bank/credit union. anyways, so go there and fill out an application and get pre-approved, they will hook you up wiht several banks that will help you out with the VA.

One other credit union that you might want to look into is USAA. they have always helped me out insurance (car and renters) wise. (from my understanding anyone with anything other than a dishonorable discharge can get into USAA) USAA is a 100% military/DOD insurance/bank etc. etc. and generally very helpful.

hopefully I was a help
-frank

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

The only reason to buy a house is to make money on it. Look for one that's been on the market forever (so you can hustle), look for someone in forclosure, or find someone who just got divorced or had someone die in the family. These are the houses you get cheap and may need a little work, but it'll be worth it when you sell hit.

I'm not sure how great of an actual research tool it is, but there's a website zillow.com that you can find the approzimate price of any house you want, find out the sq ft, how many bedrooms/baths, and you can see the "birds eye view" that is closer than any google earth.

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

Take your time and understand EVERYTHING you sign....getting a good deal makes sure that not only you make money, but in case "something" happens you can turn the property quickly.

Specific tip: Watch out if the realitor has a "buddy" do an appraisal, their has been a rash of inflated appraisals latley

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

I got my house with a VA loan. Don't really remember too much about it but there were things that were different about then a normal loan. It almost 4 years ago so I don't really remember too much about it. Didn't have to put any money down and a nice interest rate ever when my credit wasn't that great at the time. I never knew you did time rene?

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

VA loans are a pain in the ass, ---- load of paperwork but i guess it's worth it if you can't qualify for any other type of loan. everytime i go to sell somebody a house and they say there using a VA loan it's usually a good sign that it is goign to be a very dificult transaction and the house pretty much has to be in great condition.

it's alot of paperwork but good rates. see if you can qualify for a first time home buyer loan in your area. i know here they have all kinds of programs for first time buyers. 100% loan and rates as low as 5.375% and your credit doesn't even have to be that great. i got a guy qualified about a week after he filed for bancrupcy.

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

thanks fellas. i know i have a lot of research and learning to do. i hope to have my ---- together and be in a house by mid next year. should be plenty of time.

Ive also been told to do this instead of using my va loan. someone suggested i use a first time buyer program for the first house and after when im ready for something better, to use it then. i really have to weigh my options right now.

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

you can actually use the first time home buyer programs at anytime in your life as long as it has been over 3 years since you have claimed a home on your taxes ;).

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

Yup.
The wife and I are hoping to find a house and live in it for ~5-7 years and then sell it and find a house to live in for a long time.
We are hoping to find a house that is in need of a little work (painting, i'd love to build my own garage, we want somethign with alot of stained woodwork (or something that we can put our own woodwork into), decent front porch, and a fireplace. thats about all we want, and looking through websites and talking to a few realtors they ALL say our goals arent acheivable and accually very easily acheivable. We cant wait to buy a house.

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

whats considered a "long time on the market" and where would i find houses that are about to be foreclosed on?

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

wtf is a va loan

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

VA
Veterans assistance

look at the link I posted above ;)



as for forclosed homes, google it. All of the sites I come accross, you gotta pay a subscription to check out the homes. Get ahold of banks and such. 9 times out of 10 you can get a home pretty dam cheap, especially if you find a home that someone has paid on for quite a long time and then just stopped payin on it, banks will only ask for the remaining balance of the loan....look into it man!

Re: Anyone here that has bought a house with their VA loan?
 

there are forclosed houses on the market but they are actually harder to get then regular homes. the myth that you can get a forclosed home for a dramatically discounted price is pretty much wrong. there are people that will sell there home for a littl cheaper if it about to be forclosed on but were talking maybe 5-10k less then market value just to get it gone fast. if it already forclosed on then the bank sells it at fair market value, as is where is and you get no property disclosures because they know nothing about it since they recently aquired it. they turn the water and other utilities off and let it sit till it sells, it costs them next to nothign to hold on to it till somebody offers close to full price and they are the hardest deals to get together since they are so difficult to work with. most of the time they won't even respond to an offer less then full price.
around here if a house has been on the market for over 90 days sometimes you can negotiate on the price a little more, all depending on the seller's financial possition and how bad they need to get out from under it or want to sell.