I am a Certified Veterans Lending Specialist (CVLS) and take great pride in being a VA Home Loan expert. As a CVLS, I have been trained on advanced topics like proving eligibility for everyone including reservists and surviving spouses; restoring entitlement and the different restorations, truths about VA appraisals and the Tidewater Initiative, Joint Loans for non-married and non-occupant co-borrowers.
The VA Home Loan has suffered from negative publicity, misunderstandings, and misconceptions. The VA Home Loan is a Benefit you earned by serving our country. Don’t let someone that doesn’t understand how the benefit works talk you out of taking advantage of this great loan!
Let’s break down some of these misconceptions:
Veteran misconceptions:
- Think their eligibility has expired.
- Think they can only use their eligibility once.
- Think it is only for active-duty military.
- Think it is harder to qualify for a VA Home Loan.
- Think they can’t have more than one VA Home Loan at a time.
- Think they are ineligible because they have a previously compromised VA Home Loan (foreclosure, short sale, etc.)
🔝 ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE FALSE! 🔝
Seller misconceptions:
- Believe it will cost them more money because there are certain fees the Veteran is not allowed to pay.
- While there are costs that the VA prohibits lenders from charging Veterans, if an expense falls into the non-allowable fees category, it doesn’t mean the seller has to cover those fees. The reality is, in some cases, the VA loan fees are paid by the seller. But often, the lender or real estate agent, or combination of both, will pick up the tab.
- Believe that, because in some scenarios there is no down payment required, the buyer is not well qualified.
- The reality is, since there is no down payment requirement, veteran buyers have more purchasing power. Unlike many loan programs, a lower credit score, bankruptcy or foreclosure does not disqualify Veteran borrowers.
- Believe it takes longer to close.
- The reality is, we can close a VA Home Loan as fast as quickly as any other loan type.
- Believe the appraisal will come in low or have crazy repair requirements.
- Although there are Minimum Property Requirements, to ensure the home is a safe investment for the Veteran, the reality is, appraisers have the same goal no matter what type of loan is involved.
