United States veterans can often find themselves coming up against barriers when they finish their service. Homeownership shouldn’t be one of them. That’s the driving principle behind the VA home loan benefit.
Once this was introduced, it opened up the doors for an affordable home loan for veterans. You might expect that a Veteran mortgage loan wouldn’t confer many advantages other than that. If you do, then you could be surprised.
Veterans are entitled to multiple benefits when buying a house. While you’ll need to be eligible for the program, that will more than likely be the case. If you’re not sure what these are, then you could be even more surprised.
At The Lindley Team, we believe in making the veteran mortgage loan process as easy as possible. Working with us on your home financing needs will not only help you access these benefits but do so as smoothly and comfortably as possible.
Some home loans for veterans benefits will be more obvious than others.
Benefits Veterans Get When Buying A Home
No Down Payment
Not having to put a down payment on your new home might be the biggest advantage of the veteran mortgage loan process. While there is an upper limit to how significant your loan can be, this can be higher than you’d expect. These also change every year, so you may need to keep up to date with them.
For non-veterans, a minimum of 5% will be needed as a downpayment. FHA receivers will have to pay 3.5%. Both of these figures could be quite high, and it may take you years to save up that kind of money.
With the VA home loan benefit, however, you could skip this process entirely. That will save you a significant amount of time, alongside the usual scrimping and saving that non-veterans would typically expect.
Looser Credit Requirements
Credit scores are often one of the most significant barriers to a mortgage. Most people will not be eligible for a mortgage if their score is too low. It can often take years to improve this to a reasonable standard.
As a veteran, you’ll have a much lower barrier to overcome. While you’ll still need to have a minimum credit score, this will be much lower than other people. That makes it much easier to secure financing.
It’s worth noting that not every veteran can overcome this hurdle. If you currently can’t, it shouldn’t take you too long to improve your credit score to the point where you qualify for the loan.
No Private Mortgage Insurance
Many non-veterans who apply for a mortgage will have to get private mortgage insurance. That’ll typically be the case for anybody who puts more than 20% of the property price down as a deposit. Naturally, that adds up to a significant amount of money.
Neither of these options is ideal. As a veteran, you wouldn’t have to choose between them. VA loans don’t need private mortgage insurance, regardless of how much of a down payment you make. That’s even if you decide to make a down payment.
There is a mandatory funding fee, however, which funds the Department of Veterans Affairs. You might be exempt from this if you have a service-connected disability.
Forgiving DTI Ratios
A person’s debt to income (DTI) ratio will be one of the major factors in a bank’s decision to give them a mortgage. If someone spends more than 41% of their income on paying off major debts, then a bank usually won’t provide them with a mortgage. Under that, they should be eligible to varying degrees.
Going for a home loan for veterans, however, will let you go much higher than this figure. In some cases, you could spend as much as 55% of your income paying off major debts. You’ll have to meet certain other criteria to do so. That usually revolves around hitting certain benchmarks alongside your credit score.
Foreclosure & Bankruptcy
Foreclosure on a previous property and bankruptcy are typical reasons why you wouldn’t be eligible for a mortgage. While you might be able to get one eventually, this will often be years or decades away. At least, that would be the case if you weren’t a veteran.
In contrast to others, you can apply for a veteran mortgage loan a year after you’ve declared bankruptcy. That’ll only be under certain circumstances, however. The same can be said for foreclosures, as you could get a home loan for veterans two years after you were foreclosed on.
Even if you were to go for FHA financing, you could still be expected to wait much longer before you are eligible for it.
How The Lindley Team Helps Veterans Buying Homes
Navigating the veteran home loan process can be difficult and confusing. It’s worth working with a professional to guide you through it. The Lindley Team is here to help with all of your home financing needs.
Our team of highly-trained professionals will work with you to determine your needs. We’ll help you through each step of your home buying journey in a friendly and professional standard.
What’s stopping you from getting the home of your dreams?
Wrapping Up
You might assume that getting a home loan for veterans would be difficult and frustrating. It doesn’t have to be. Instead, it could be much easier than you’d think. There’ll also be quite a few benefits to using the VA home loan benefit, as the above highlights.
That’s on top of the fact that you’ll own a home, with the repayments being much more affordable than you might have imagined. Once you’ve gotten there, you’ll be living the American dream, so what’s stopping you from taking advantage of a veteran mortgage loan?
There shouldn’t be any barriers between you and homeownership. By working with The Lindley Team, you’ll make the mortgage application process as simple as possible. Our team of highly-trained experts specializes in giving you a high-quality and friendly service.
If you’re ready to get started on your homeownership journey, then contact us to see how we can help you today.
If you need home financing or have any questions about the lending process, please visit our website and contact us today for more information.
