FAQs for Veterans

To know if you are eligible you would send for a VA certificate of eligibility. Most lenders will do this for you. You will need to present your DD214 (discharge paper from the VA) and sign a form requesting this.
The VA now has an Automatic Certificate of Eligibility which takes about 48 hours to get. I do this for my clients but you also do it on your own.

If you have used your VA before, the loan must have been satisfactorily paid in full, then you can
have your eligibility reinstated. I check this for my clients but you can also do it yourself.

Yes you can! The draw back is that if you have never managed units before, then the VA will not use the units’ rents to help you qualify (Fannie Mae, Freddie mac and FHA do).

Yes and no. The VA charges a funding fee which is paid to the VA so that they have a pool of money to offset the losses from foreclosed loans. The Funding Fee is their version of Mortgage insurance (aka PMI).

This week I added Chatelaine Condos in Torrance to VA’s approved condo list because I have a veteran who lives there and needs to refi to pay off $40,000 in debt, and lower his rate WHILE IN BANKRUPTCY. Yes! A Veteran can refi while in the midst of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Yes, the VA allows veterans to refinance or buy less than 2 years after a short sale. This veteran is saving $1500 per month because his interest-only loan from 2005 was going into the 20-year period and the rate is 6.5%. WOW! He was facing having to sell his home because he couldn’t afford the increase in payment. I love helping veterans, especially those who didn’t even know they could refinance with their VA eligibility.