The VA NO-NO
I'm Tom Harris, Realtor, broker-president of Integrity Home & Finance and author/publisher
of Military Bargain Homes and Homes For Veterans Magazine, as well as Foreclosures Magazine.
And I want to be your Realtor.
We are your gateway to buying a home for NO Money Down and with NO Closing Costs -- Guaranteed! This is what we call the classic Integrity VA NO-NO. And we can get one going for YOU!
Too good to be true? Not really. Read on...
Here are the details:
NO DOWN PAYMENT: First of all, if you are a veteran or active duty military and use VA financing for your home loan, you can buy for NO Money Down if you purchase below $417,000. In fact, there are only two loan programs available today where you can buy for No Money Down. They are VA and the USDA's Rural Housing Program. (For certain qualifing first-time homebuyers, there are some Bond Programs that will provide down payment assistance -- call us at (904) 997-8064 for more details.)
USDA has income and area restrictions. VA doesn't. And if you've been in the service and have received an Honorable Discharge (or are still on active duty), you are eligible for VA financing.
Which brings up another point. Even though you are "eligible" for VA financing, you still need to "qualify" for a VA loan. Qualifying involves an analysis of your debt, income, employment and credit history. This is what we do during the Pre-Qualification process and is the very first thing you need to do to begin your homebuying journey.
CLOSING COSTS: As far as closing costs go, it's important for you to realize that ALL loans have closing costs. The only question is who pays them?
Every buyer and every seller have their own basket of closing costs. The great thing that sets VA apart from other loan programs is that VA allows the seller to pay all of your (the buyer's) closing costs. But the important thing to remember is: THEY DON'T HAVE TO! They're just "allowed" to.
This is where offer negotiation comes in. You must ask for the seller to pay your closing costs, and then give them the incentive to do so.Closingf costs usually run between 3.5% to 4.5% of the purchase price. That means on a $150,000 purchase, your closing costs are around $5,200. If you have this much cash laying around, and are willing to part with it, then no problem. But with most of my buyers, getting all the closing costs paid for you is of utmost importance.
As both a real estate company AND a VA mortgage broker, we have a lot more latitude when it comes to negotiating closing costs. In fact, we are the only company I know of that will GUARANTEE a full VA NO-NO for our customers. All you need to do is use us as both your Realtor and your VA mortgage broker.
Nothing wrong with that, right? After all, we are the experts. We have been doing this for over 22 years. We are the publisher of Homes For Veterans Magazine and Military Bargain Homes. We have made the absolute commitment to the military homebuying community, more than any other real estate or mortgage company. And all of our services to you are FREE.
So why wouldn't you want to use us, even if we didn't guarantee you a VA NO-NO?
But we do. So let's get together and get you a home for NO Money out of your pocket at closing. Simply fill out our Loan Pre-Qualification Worksheet and we'll take it from there. You don't need to know the entire process from A to Z. That's what we do for you. You just relax and let us handle all of the details...!
Call us today at (904) 997-8064 if you have ANY questions at all about any aspect of the homebuying and financing process. There is a lot of misinformation and confusion out there about real estate these days. We'll help explain it all.
I'm Tom Harris, Realtor, broker-president of Integrity Home & Finance and author/publisher of Homes For Veterans Magazine and Military Bargain Homes. And I want to be your Realtor.
