Posted on Feb 2, 2017
When using your VA Loan, what is the #1 thing you are looking for in a loan officer and the company providing you that service?
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Personal Finance Financial Services Benefits Veteran Benefits Advisor VA Loan
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 7
Experience with closing VA loans. Lots of different requirements for a VA vs regular mortgage loan (Including FANNY MAY/MAC). You don't want some loan officer who is at his first dance
SGT Dave Tracy
Too true!
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
SGT Dave Tracy - Sounds like the voice of experience!
SGT Dave Tracy
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen - Yessir it is. I posted that experience elsewhere on this same thread if you want to read my cautionary tale.
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
SGT Dave Tracy - Will do. Headed out soon, so will check it out tomorrow.
Find a lender who has experience with the VA home loan program. They aren't as prevalent as they once were, as there are fewer SMs and vets buying homes as there used to be in generations past. Each backed loan program has their own unique requirements; I work for the Dept. of Agriculture, Rural Development, and our guaranteed home loan program is different from VA, which is different from FHA, etc.. If you're dealing with someone who isn't well versed in the intricacies of the VA home loan program, it could bite you. Trust me. I learned that the hard way.
Some of the larger institutions have specialty loan departments, and they are trained in specific types of loan programs. I used to work for the dreaded Wells (effing) Fargo Home Mortgage in Minneapolis, specializing in cash out & rate/term refinancing for borrowers in the state of Texas(!), because their laws and regulations were unique enough to warrant specialists for those customers. That doesn't mean your local small town bank lending officer or the mortgage broker your using doesn't know the ins & outs of the VA home loan program, but you definitely want to ask.
Some of the larger institutions have specialty loan departments, and they are trained in specific types of loan programs. I used to work for the dreaded Wells (effing) Fargo Home Mortgage in Minneapolis, specializing in cash out & rate/term refinancing for borrowers in the state of Texas(!), because their laws and regulations were unique enough to warrant specialists for those customers. That doesn't mean your local small town bank lending officer or the mortgage broker your using doesn't know the ins & outs of the VA home loan program, but you definitely want to ask.
SGT Dave Tracy
Follow up. When I said I learned the hard way, I mean this:
With almost 6 months before ETSed, I sent my family back to MN to get a home and get established, while I stayed at Ft. Bliss. I was made to go to the field with just 3 weeks until terminal leave. I turned in all issued equipment, did my medical, and was all but ready to go, but was sent to the field anyway. My wife found a house and our offer was accepted. It was a Herculean task to get out of the field to get the limited Power of Attorney for my wife to sign for me as well as to get out of the field so I could be on a conference call during the actual close.
I called in, and was told there was an issue; that issue blew up the close. You see, the VA has a condition that if you're within X number of months of leaving the military, you don't qualify, and will have to wait until you're at your new job for a minimum of 30 days before they can re-underwrite your loan. Our mortgage broker, a friend of my wife's friend who was our realtor, didn't know this, nor did the lender she was working through, and the deal fell apart...AT CLOSE!
I woke up that morning in the back of an LMTV thinking my family back home would be moving into our new house that day. That afternoon I returned to that LMTV thinking I had wasted a lot of time--not much money as what few paid-outside-of-close items we paid for, the broker reimbursed us for--on a house we weren't qualified by VA policy to buy in the 1st damn place, and NO ONE figured that out until everyone was sitting down at the closing table!
That was a FML moment.
With almost 6 months before ETSed, I sent my family back to MN to get a home and get established, while I stayed at Ft. Bliss. I was made to go to the field with just 3 weeks until terminal leave. I turned in all issued equipment, did my medical, and was all but ready to go, but was sent to the field anyway. My wife found a house and our offer was accepted. It was a Herculean task to get out of the field to get the limited Power of Attorney for my wife to sign for me as well as to get out of the field so I could be on a conference call during the actual close.
I called in, and was told there was an issue; that issue blew up the close. You see, the VA has a condition that if you're within X number of months of leaving the military, you don't qualify, and will have to wait until you're at your new job for a minimum of 30 days before they can re-underwrite your loan. Our mortgage broker, a friend of my wife's friend who was our realtor, didn't know this, nor did the lender she was working through, and the deal fell apart...AT CLOSE!
I woke up that morning in the back of an LMTV thinking my family back home would be moving into our new house that day. That afternoon I returned to that LMTV thinking I had wasted a lot of time--not much money as what few paid-outside-of-close items we paid for, the broker reimbursed us for--on a house we weren't qualified by VA policy to buy in the 1st damn place, and NO ONE figured that out until everyone was sitting down at the closing table!
That was a FML moment.
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
SGT Dave Tracy - Used VA home loans 3 times but never heard of that rule. But then we were always at our new station and not ETSing. That's a good one for those on active duty to file away. Thanks for the story.
One of the things I learned to ask is.. Do you sell your loans?
If so (most do) show me the last 6 years, percentage of loans sold, in what amounts, in what month of the loan repay.
My first home loan was with a bank I was happy to deal with, that loan was sold less then a year in to B of A, a bank I would not piss on if it caught fire, said loan was then refinanced with a bank I trusted.
Second home loan, same deal but sold to Wells Fargo, again not my choice in lending institutions. so I again refinanced at another place...
Third home loan (hey, dont hate, Im a slow learner) I realized I need to ask those questions up front.
If so (most do) show me the last 6 years, percentage of loans sold, in what amounts, in what month of the loan repay.
My first home loan was with a bank I was happy to deal with, that loan was sold less then a year in to B of A, a bank I would not piss on if it caught fire, said loan was then refinanced with a bank I trusted.
Second home loan, same deal but sold to Wells Fargo, again not my choice in lending institutions. so I again refinanced at another place...
Third home loan (hey, dont hate, Im a slow learner) I realized I need to ask those questions up front.
SGT Dave Tracy
As you said, most sell the loans, and for good reason. If not, they run out of capital to create new loans; especially small to midsized lending institutions. Truth is, if they retain the loan, its generally for one of two reasons: It's part of their own investment/risk management strategy, though generally not indicative of the bulk of loans the institution makes or they have a garbage product no one will buy on the secondary market. Also, people should understand, their loan may have been sold, but servicing is retained by the originating lender. So if you like your originating lender, don't get too hung up on who will buy the loan as who will service it.
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