We don't recommend it. It's a gamble.... John Paul used his VA Loan to purchase his first home for $55,000 as an E3 in 2010 in Panama City Beach, FL. While home shopping he asked his realtor, Cindy Chavira (who is one of the greatest realtors and human beings I've ever met), "When is the right time to buy?" She responded with "Now." He thought, "Ok Cindy, that's what you're supposed to say..." However, after being involved in the mortgage industry and seeing historically low rates in the 2's and 3's and now experiencing the market with rates 4 x's that - he realized she's right. If you can afford it, "Now" is the time to buy. Why? There are advantages and disadvantages when rates are low & when rates are high... RATES ARE DROPPING or they are "LOW" - Advantages #1 - You can afford more ($/sq ft) home Disadvantages #1 - Everyone can afford more ($/sq ft) home #2 - More competition = more offers on homes #3 - More offers on homes = higher home sale prices #4 - A much more stressful shopping environment When interest rates are dropping, you have a lower mortgage payment and you can afford more home. This is your advantage. Which is awesome! Unfortunately, this advantage applies to everyone else. As rates drop, the pool of individuals that can now afford to make an offer on the home you love grows exponentially. But if you get your offer accepted in this environment, it's awesome! Remember this fact - there is an inverse relationship between interest rates and the amount of individuals home shopping. When rates drop, everybody can shop. When rates go up, fewer people can shop. When rates were in the 2's & 3's in 2021 it was not uncommon to see 10-15 offers on every home being sold. We shopped with one family for 2 years straight before they got an accepted offer. Was it worth it for them? Absolutely. But it required a significant amount of resilience on the family's part. When rates drop, you have more competition. Remember this other fact - there is an inverse relationship between interest rates and how quickly homes appreciate. This is the law of supply and demand. The more demand (more families making offers on a particular home) the higher the sales price will be for said home. This means that in order to get an offer accepted, offers had to be higher than the price the seller's originally asked for or "listed" their homes for. We saw appreciation drive 20% in some parts of the country in 2020 and 2021. This means a home that cost $500,000 in 2020 - would now be worth $720,000+ in 2024. And know this - home appreciation and valuation (what you have to pay to get the home) is not declining, it's just slowed down. When rates drop, the home you want costs more. RATES ARE CLIMBING or they are "HIGH" - Disadvantages #1 - Your dollar doesn't stretch as far Advantages #1 - Fewer families can afford to shop #2 - Less competition = greater likelihood of your offer being accepted #3 - Greater likelihood of getting "Seller Credit" #4 - Slower increase in home prices #5 - Less stressful shopping environment When interest rates are climbing, you have a higher mortgage payment; just like everyone else that's in the market to purchase a home. This thins out the herd, if you will. You have less competition because fewer people can afford to make offers on the home you want. Less competition means a greater likelihood of your offer being accepted. Less competition means motivated sellers. Motivated sellers mean the potential for seller credits (money the seller may be willing to offer to help you cover your closing costs). Less competition means a slow down in the increase of home prices. If you can get your offer accepted in this environment you will be able to take advantage of a) eventually refinancing when rates drop and you will b) be the recipient of all the appreciation that occurs on your home while rates are dropping. Even if rates never drop, your home is still appreciating in value; so while you are paying off your debt (mortgage), the value of your home is increasing. NOW IS ALWAYS THE TIME TO BUY. The sooner you buy, the sooner your home begins to appreciate. Your homes equity becomes a giant emergency fund for you. Then you refi to a lower rate when rates drop. And if they don't drop who cares - you're smart and didn't buy too much home for your budget. Good for you!

BLUF: Work with a realtor that knows how to present VA offers and with a loan team that specializes in getting your offer accepted and combats any ignorance that may hinder your offer from being accepted. If your Loan Officer or Real Estate Agent is telling you not to use your VA Loan when you have full entitlement it's because they're ignorant, greedy, lazy, or all of the above (We we're going to say it's because they suck, but that's not professional, so we won't). Did you know Loan Officers can make 3x's the amount on a Conventional Loan than they can on a VA Loan? Did you know the majority of realtors are misinformed on VA offers and think the appraisal is harder, always comes in undervalue, and that their sellers will have to pay your closing costs? "Excuse" them both and come work with my team. We will pair you with an awesome realtor that is willing to fight for you and knows how to present a VA offer. When your offers go out to seller's agents, my team will call them and educate them as to why they should accept your offer (outside of the fact that your sacrifice affords them the life they live). This phone call from our team to the listing agent is significant and effective. This is where we lovingly put an educational war head right on a misinformed forehead. Hey, they don't know what they don't know, right? The VA Home Loan Benefit is one of the greatest ENTITLEMENTS you earn. That's right. You're entitled to it. Unfortunately, your entitlement is subject to the level of knowledge your realty team has on the VA Home Loan. Work with industry professionals that know your benefit.

Take your monthly BAH. Multiply that by 12 months. Multiply that by 4 years (average time at a Duty Station). Ex. $3,000 BAH/mo x 12mo x 4yrs = $144,000 You are either giving this to some third party company that is managing base housing, to your landlord, OR it's going toward growing an asset. If you buy smart, odds are the worse case scenario is you sell your home in 4 years and break even. Which equates to $144,000 in your pocket. Let's do some conservative math over a 20 year military career. Ex. $3,000 BAH/mo x 12mo x 20yrs = $720,000 Did you give all that to Balfour Beatty? Or a landlord? Did you pay your own mortgage or someone else's? Yikes!

Yes. It all depends on the county loan limit of the county you're buying in AND how much entitlement you've already used on your COE (Certificate of Eligibility). Ex. If the county you're in has a $500,000 county loan limit, you could hypothetically own (5) $100,000 homes in that county using your VA Home Loan Benefit. The caveat is that the VA Home Loan is a Primary Residence loan, so you would have to occupy each home AND show a reason you needed to upgrade to the next home. Ex. of an upgrade is moving closer to work, moving closer to a child's school, increasing sq. footage etc. You could buy a $200,000 home in that county and then a larger $300,0000 home after you fulfilled your occupancy requirements. BTW - VA occupancy requirements are subordinate to orders and TDY's that come after you close on your home. Reach out to our team for more information.

Yes, if you meet the following criteria: Discharged with Honorable, General, or Medical designation Active Duty: Served for 24 consecutive months Guard & Reserve: Must show 6 COMPLETE years of service (meaning earned full points for each year for at least 6 years of service). Serving for 6 calendar years means nothing if you haven't accrued full points for each year.

The VA Entitlement Fee is a fee the VA designates and it's the same regardless of the lender you're working with. This fee goes toward helping other Active Duty members and Veterans utilize their VA Home Loan Benefit. First time use (purchase or cash out refinance): 2.15% Subsequent use (purchase or cash out refinance): 3.3% Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL): 0.5% Loan Assumption: 0.5% The VA Funding Fee is "rolled" (or added) to your loan amount whether you're purchasing or refinancing. How do I get rid of the VA Funding Fee? 1 - Earn a purple heart 2 - Have at least a 10% service connected VA disability rating (this is super significant and you need to talk to John Paul about this - he'll share my story with you on how to succeed in getting the rating you deserve).

The Debt Service Coverage Ratio is a loan that is qualified from the income or proposed income the property being purchased can generate. The buyers income has nothing to do with qualifying for the loan. The DSCR is for investment property (non-owner occupied) purchases. When the appraisal is accomplished for the property, the appraiser uses comparable properties in the area to determine how much rent could hypothetically be charged for the property the buyer is seeking to purchase. Some lenders will take the higher of either the current rents being received or the projected rent schedule for the area. Your credit score and the ratio between the proposed/rents received and the projected mortgage payment determine the terms of the loan (interest rate, down payment amount, reserve requirements). You must be prepared to come with a 15-35% down payment as well as the ability to show 3-6 months of reserves (the proposed mortgage payment on the property being purchased x 6 in the bank or certain retirement accounts). Some lenders will allow gift funds from friends or family to be used for the down payment and for reserves. Call for more information.

Your Family Law/Divorce Law Team while fully competent to represent you through your divorce proceeding is (usually) NOT licensed or qualified to determine you or your spouses ability to refinance a home or purchase a home post divorce. You are required by law to be a LICENSED mortgage loan originator to do that as your credit, debt, income & assets all have a relationship with your qualified Interest Rate (fun fact if anyone that isn’t licensed talks to you about an interest rate they’re technically breaking the law). Those factors plus your Interest Rate determine your ability to refinance or purchase. Often times a divorce decree will state the spouse that is keeping the house or “house spouse” has 6 to 12 months (or even longer) to refinance the home post divorce finalization - to remove the “out spouse” from title and mortgage and or to pay the “out spouse” from the equity in the home. Here are several questions that we now have to answer (that need to be answered during discovery)… How do you know if the house spouse’s income will qualify for the refinance? If alimony/support/maintenance are being received when do they qualify as income? How long into the future (duration of payment) do those payments need to be received to qualify as income? What are rates going to be in 6-12 months and will the house spouse no longer qualify to refinance? What damage can occur to the out spouse’s credit if the house spouse fails to make mortgage payments? What unknown conditions (ex. cracked foundation) that an appraiser (they aren’t an inspector - they’re an appraiser) might miss will disqualify or devalue the home during the actual refinance? What liens could be placed during or after the divorce proceeding by a disgruntled spouse (we’ve seen forgeries happen and HELOCs taken out in both spouses names by one spouse and all the equity drained in the home)? Here’s the bottom line. If your income is not qualified to refinance or purchase before the divorce proceeding is finalized - during the discovery period - how do you know you can accomplish the refinance or purchase? And if you can't accomplish the refinance you may then be FORCED TO SELL. We are designated and trained to provide FREE divorce guidance DURING discovery. Why? Because there’s way too much to discover post mediation. And we have the stories to prove it. Our hearts go out to all who are going through a divorce.

Why not? But you should work with us to see if you qualify to do it with the ALL IN ONE LOAN (AIO) first. On a 30 Year Fixed Rate mortgage - when you make that additional principal payment you no longer have access to those funds unless you apply for a SECOND mortgage. And that's not bad - but it's not the safest way to aggressively pay down your mortgage. With the AIO you have access to those additional payments you make - 24/7 - in case of opportunity or emergency - and you will likely pay your home loan off much faster with the AIO. That means taking interest payments from the banks account and putting them back in YOUR account. You will also have access to more equity than when taking out a traditional HELOC. For some individuals and families that are in VERY HIGH tax brackets - writing off mortgage interest may make sense. However the lending industry has fed the rest of us (and your CPA has bought) the concept of, "You need to write off interest on your taxes to lessen your tax burden." Every mortgage interest dollar you write off equates to 0.30 cents or less in real dollars. So for every dollar you give your lender in interest payments, the government gives you back <0.30 cents. For the average American, this is KOOL AID; stop drinking it. Ask us how to pay less in interest and put more back in your pocket.

It's not happening. As of January 2024 - 78% of U.S. homeowners have an interest rate under 5%. This means the majority of the home owners can easily afford their mortgage payments - which means no bubble. This also means less inventory as some people feel forced to keep their home with such a low rate. The only way a bubble would occur is if everyone of these <5%ers took out home equity loans (HELOCS) and couldn't make their combined mortgage payments. While that is a possibility it is very highly unlikely.

This is a great program but BE CAREFUL. If you refinance, sell, or vacate your home and turn it into a rental you have to pay back the amount granted to you IMMEDIATELY.