Posted on 10/25/2011 11:12:21 AM PDT by jettester
I am looking to buy a home in the State of Illinois and wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with the on-line VA Loan programs that are available? Any in particular? Pros and cons of going this route?
I hope some people chime in on this thread. I bought a home with a VA home loan 7 months ago. Since then, every single day I get a “pre-approved VA refinance, ACT NOW BEFORE THE LAW CHANGES” letter in the mail from various companies. There appear to be about 4 or 5 who send out at least one letter per week. Just judging by the volume of mail I have to assume people are doing this. I don’t know why I would refi, except that my rate was 4.875-ish APR and that could go down a half point. But I am quite certain there would be a few thousand tacked on for “fees” and then that gets bundled over 30 years. I just throw the mail straight in the trash but I wonder if anyone has insight on it.
I arranged a va loan for my father two years ago via valoans.com . It was fairly painless and the mortgage broker was available for questions and responded quickly. They can obtain your DD214 and VA certificate of eligibility at no cost to you if you do not already have them as they are required for VA loans. I had his DD214 but having them handle the VA certificate was helpful. I would imagine that the other VA mortgage companies will do the same for you. His mortgage ended up being through US Bank.
If you have a disability rating greater than 10% you will not have to pay the VA funding fee. This fee is 1.4% for first time users and 2.8% for second time users with no money down. Just let them know if you have a disability rating.
The mortgage broker we used arranged the VA appraiser and a VA approved pest inspector (it’s required to check for termite damage, if I remember correctly). My dad was able to close within in a month.
The current 30 year rate is 4% and the 15 year rate is 3.25%. Good time to be buying!
Best of luck with your new home.
The VA offers a ‘streamline refinance’ where all the costs are rolled into the mortgage. I looked into this for my dad, who took out a 15 year VA mortgage, but it was not worth it with his current interest rate. The costs were substantial. There are a number of online calculators you can use to make the comparison.
The unfortunate part is after getting quotes from other brokers other than the one I used originally, the flood of VA refinance junk mail started and has never stopped. I did not have the problem with the original broker (valoans.com). It could also be that US Bank is sharing personal information to advertisers.
Tell him “It’s the gubmint, Stupid”. If that doesn’t answer your question, you enter 8into negotiations with this program at your own risk”.
Just moved into our new home in July. We used VAmortgagecenter.com, and found them to be extremely helpful. Neal, our rep, walked us through the process, answered all of our questions, and returned phone calls, emails, etc. very quickly. The only aggravation we had was with the underwriting department...make multiple copies of EVERYTHING, and be prepared to resubmit it all at least twice.
For that aggravation, I received a 30 year fixed, nothing down, no closing cost mortgage @4.5 APR. Who said there were no benefits to being an old jarhead? :-)
Good luck!!
Thank you all for your feedback.
I had used my VA loan to buy a house I went thru a local broker his bank was VA approved. It was simple they did all the verification as long as you have your DD214
I locked in @the 3.75 30 year loan
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