There are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

In a community property state any property acquired during a marriage and any debts incurred are the responsibility of each married couple equally. For the purpose of obtaining a VA loan in a community property state, both spouses’ debts are considered, even though one spouse may or may not be a co-borrower. For this reason a credit check is required, because all debts are listed on the credit report.

If one spouse is not a co-borrower, his/her income will not be considered, and the income of the spouse applying for the loan must support all the debts of each.

To qualify for a VA loan you must have an income that supports the mortgage payment as well as all other debts. For active duty personnel your base pay, housing allowance and food allowance counts for this purpose. If you have special pays that are temporary such as hazard pay for deployed locations, this cannot be used.

Additional your spouse’s income can be use if she is applying as a co-borrower.

For the purpose of getting qualified, we increase your BAH and food allowance pay by 25%. This is done because you don’t pay taxes on these entitlements.

If you are separating from active duty within 12 months of the closing date, then you MUST prove that you will be employed and able to meet your mortgage obligations. If you are already separated or retired, then 2 months of recent pay stub activity is all that is required.

If you receive retirement pay or VA disability pay this counts as income.

To get qualified or to get answers to your questions, contact us today!

It only takes our staff 10 minutes to get a veteran pre qualified for a VA loan. All you need to do is complete the pre qualification worksheet and email or fax it back to us and we can get started.

http://va-loans.com/Pre-Qual-Purchase-gen.pdf

Discount points is a fee you pay the lender to get a better rate. For instance the going rate may be 5.75% but the lender may offer you 5.5% and say its with 1 point, or 1% of the loan amount. Its completely up to you if you choose to pay points to get a better rate, or pay nothing and still get a good rate.

Some lenders when quoting VA interest rates won’t give you a choice, they simply want you to pay the points because doing do means more profit for them.

We have seen allot of refinance applications since the interest rate drop in December. Most applicants are trying to refinance an already low interest rate into a teaser rate seen on advertisements all over the web. The truth is, VA interest rates are hovering between 5-5.5 %. Yesterday’s rates climbed to 5.75%. To refinance a loan into this range a home owner would have a rate of 7% or higher before the cost is worth the benefit. Typically on the average home price you will want to save 1.5% on a refinance and plan to stay in the home several years. However with most military homeowner moving after just 3-4 years, we often recommend against refinancing.

If your shopping for a va loan and have contacted several websites, one thing you will learn really fast, is that everyone wants your business. If you are contacting multiple websites hoping that someone will contact you back, you’re in for a big  surprise.  In today’s declining housing market not only are real estate agents desperate for a sale, but so are loan officers. Loan officers make money when people like you buy homes. So if you apply or even contact a lender, you can bet they are going to contact you back. However, you will notice that more people will contact you than your expect. That’s because many online VA loan companies are not mortgage brokers at all. They are what we call “Mortgage Lead Generating Companies”. They get your name, number and email and sell it to multiple lenders and loan officers around the country. You may never know it, until people from companies you have never heard of, begin contacting you. And trust me, they will contact you. Day or night, and they keep calling. You may be in San Diego and you some chipper guy calls you at 4.a.m because he’s in Tampa Florida and just bought your number from a lead company. To him your next month’s car payment! How impersonal is that!

Its not uncommon for mortgage leads to get sold a couple dozen times for weeks or even months. We hear stories from previous clients that were contacted by loan officers months after they had purchased their home.

So please be careful who you contact and know if they represent a real mortgage company or if they are just harvesting names to sell to dozens of hungry brokers.

VA Loan qualification

When considering a va home loan many veterans ask “Do I qualify for a va loan”. The short answer is if you served time in the military you are eligible for a va loan under the VA program, but that does not guarantee the lender will loan the money. There are three main factors that determines if an applicant qualifies for a va loan.

1.       VA Eligibility – The member must be eligible for va benefits. Most anyone that served on active duty, guard or reserve honorably will most likely be eligible for the va program. But this only means the Department OF Veteran Affairs will issue the va certificate. This does not guarantee you qualify for the loan.

2.       Debt to Income Ratio – The VA allows veteran with as much as 41% debt to qualify. This means the lender offering the money is allowed to fund the loan even if you have  41% of your income going to debts.

3.       Credit History – Veterans with poor credit can still get a loan but its difficult. The two largest factors affecting your credit worthiness, according to the VA is if filed for bankruptcy in the last three years and if you have any 30 day late payments reflecting on your credit report. If you have a history of paying your bills on time, but have poor credit because of other reasons, you may still qualify.

If you want to check your VA qualification, please try our VA Loan Qualification worksheet. You can download this form and get an idea if you may qualify even before you speak to a loan officer.

It’s a new year and new opportunities. The economy is down but so are home prices and va interest rates. For Veterans this makes a buying frenzy, because they have a steady income and their va loan benefits to take advantage of the low costs of home ownership. I’ll take a moment to caution veterans that buying a home in these conditions are great! However, selling a home in these conditions ids very difficult. So active duty members looking to buy a home should careful consider if the reward is worth the risk. When you relocate in 2-3 years, you may take a significant loss on your home if the economy hasn’t improved by them.

But for all those retirees that are looking to settle down in the same spot and grow roots, now is YOUR time. Contact us today about your new home in 2009!

Best VA rate of 2008

The markets have driven the VA Loan rate down to levels we have not seen in a long time. Starting in Early December the VA rate dropped below 6% and has continued to decline. Over the last two weeks we have seen 5% for a fixed rate va loan. Now today those rates have dropped again. We are seeing rates between 4.875% and 5%.

These rates should last into early January 2009, but there is never a guarantee. If your shopping for a home, apply and lock in the best va rate of the year!

A month ago we said that 6% was considered a good rate. However with the current market conditions we are now saying 5.25% is a great rate to lock. If you are buying a home in the next 60 days, I strongly recommend you lock in your rate. Currently we are seeing rates approach the 5.0% mark which is truly an incredible rate to have. The difference 1% makes on a $200,000 loan is $126 per month!

The loan officers working with va-loans.com work hard to find the best va rate from dozens of local and national lenders nationwide. Contact us today and let us find you the best va rate.

In the past two weeks we have seen the best va rates all year. What a great way to end 2008 and start 2009, with a low fixed va rate for your new home. There are thousands of military families preparing for purchasing a home in 2009 becuase home prices have dropped and rates are low.

Inquire now about our low va rate mortgages.

Rates fell significantly yesterday on favorable bond market reaction to the elections. Rates are down to 5.875% from 6.50%. They could continue to slide today to 5.75%. If you’re not locked you need to be. If you lender has you locked at a higher rate, contact us today and let us lock you with a low va rate loan.

If you qualify the VA loan is usually much better than any other loan product. However, occasionally there are circumstances where an FHA makes more sense.

Let’s compare the two:

VA                                                                          FHA

$0 Down Payment                                            3.25% Down Payment

No Mortgage Insurance                                 .5% Mortgage insurance

* VA funding fee 2.15%                                   None

Low credit score approval                             Low credit score approval is possible

Lower interest rates                                        -

*the funding fee can be paid by the seller, third party, or finance with the loan. If you have service connected disabilities, the funding fee may be waived.

Va rates are usually ¼ - ½ better.

An FHA loan may be a better option in one of these circumstances:

- Your VA entitlement is used for an existing home you plan to keep.

- You’re a subsequent user of the VA so your fee is 3.3% of the loan. If cash is available apply the 3% towards the FHA down payment and closing costs.

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