Get out your VA Loan Home calculator. It’s time to decide if this is the year you will purchase a home and is it in your best interest to use your VA Home Loan benefit.
Last year alone there were over 600,000 home loans guaranteed by the Veterans Administration. Since this veteran benefit was created more than 70 years ago, some 22 million veterans have taken advantage of all the VA Home Loan has to offer.
ZERO $$$$ DOWN!
There are many benefits to purchasing a home using the VA Home Loan program. One of the most popular and widely known benefits is you can get a home loan with no money down. It often takes people years of saving to get the required down payment when using a traditional home loan. This benefit alone can make the difference in whether someone can become a homeowner or is left waiting for the elusive “when the time is right.”
NO PMI – ADD THAT TO YOUR VA LOAN HOME CALCULATOR!
Not having to purchase mortgage insurance is another huge upside to using a VA home loan. Private mortgage insurance or PMI typically costs between .05% and .01% of the home’s purchase price each year. So someone who purchases a $300,000 home with less than 20% down and a 1% PMI would pay approximately $1,000 a year or just over $83 a month.
COMPETITIVE INTEREST RATE ADDED TO YOUR VA LOAN HOME CALCULATOR
The interest rate on a VA Loan is very competitive. Though the loan is made through a private lender, it is backed by the U.S. Government, so interest rates tend to be lower than a conventional mortgage.
There isn’t a mortgage out there that doesn’t have fees and closing costs. But the Veterans Administration places limits on how much military veterans can be charged when it comes to these expenses. Additionally, some of these fees must be covered by other parties in the home sale transaction.
S-T-R-E-T-C-H
Flexibility is one of the great advantages to the VA Home Loan. Homeowners can sell or refinance at any time without having to pay a prepayment penalty or early-exit fee. And it is one of the few loans out there which can be “assumed” by other VA Loan-eligible home buyers.
HAVE THE VA HOME LOAN FOR LIFE!
The VA home loan is not a one-time benefit. It can be reused over and over again, and it is possible to have more than one active VA loan at the same time.
This extraordinary benefit is available to qualifying veterans and active duty members. But this article is just the tip of the iceberg! What questions do you have about VA Loans?
By Carla Olivo, PCSgrades Director of Strategic Communications
