Home Purchase Loan

[Charleese]

Hi All,

Sorry if this is posted in wrong forum.  Please remove and replace in right forum.  

I have a vet who wants to purchase a home loan to put a home in SC on vacant land that he and his wife own.  Questions: 1. Would the VA allow him to do that or does he have to buy a home already built on other land.  2. Has anyone on forum ever purchase a home and placed it on the property that they own? If so what all did they have to do to get their VA loan?  3.  Did they have to use their land as collateral?

Thank You in advance for your replies to these questions.

[rpowell01]

A lot of people get it wrong about the VA Home Loan. Its really NOT a loan, just a guarantee on the loan. The VA will guarantee the loan up to a maximum limit which I cannot remember off the top of head. So if the loan goes in default or foreclosure the VA will pay off loan. Then the VA will end up with the home & land and they will auction it off.

If a veteran owns the land then most of the time the land will become part of the loan as collateral. What the VA Loan does is gives the Veteran Low interest Rate (because its guarantee to be paid off no matter what) and it helps to waive any down payment or very low down payment. Myself I did not use this and I now wish I had to get a lower interest rate. Myself I used my State's SHIP program that gave me something like $24,000 grant that was my down payment on the home. The way the SHIP program works is different in each county in each state as the county sets up how it works. Example: where I live here in Florida we have to stay in our home for 20 years before the $24,000 is forgiven. After 20 years I can sell the home and do whatever I want. After 15 years, if we sell our home we have to pay back 25% and after 10 years we would have to pay back 50%. Our county set it up like this because people would get the SHIP money then sell the home after 5 years. Well they screwed it up for many people afterwards.

I went the SHIP route because it gave me the down payment on my home and currently I only owe 13 more years on my home and land. It was a 30 year loan that started January 2007. Every 5 years the Bank refinances it and lowers our interest rate. But instead of lowering our payments I told the bank to keep the payment the same. What this does is it took 7 years off the loan. This is why I only have 13 years left currently. This is going to change after I pay off my bass boat and my SUV which is an extra $1,000 I will put on my home!!!!

Sorry I changed subjects but I wanted to give a broad way to show things.

So remember the VA Loan is just a guarantee, you still have to go to a bank or company to get it mortgage. You can print the certificate from eBenefits, it should be on there.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Rob

Edited December 12, 2017 by rpowell01

[Berta]

Many survivors of veterans as well have this benefit-

which haqs been enhanced for them:

https://www.military.com/money/va-loans/va-loan-eligibility-expands-for-surviving-spouses.html

I  was thinking of aqdding on a room to my home some years ago and called the VA home loan people to get the Certificate of Eligibility application.

I was astonished at what happened next.

The woman who helped me asked if I had a lender in mine. I could only think  of a federal credit union I am in, but I had no idea how much I needed as the plans for the addition were still up in the air with me.... ( a room to hold my book collection  and PC but also another room to heat, cool in summer, and clean...plus prop tax increase)

Within minutes after the VA Loan woman told me, she would send my COE to the credit union (She checked via my C file # to make sure I was eligible) and within a few more more minutes , my credit union called me up to see how much I needed!

As it was -my first specifications would not hold up with the code enforce ment officer who suggested a different way I could add on. We have septic tanks here in the boonies and I had planned a trap door  in the room , over the actual tank lid and plenty of windows where the septic guys could pull their hose through clean the tank out when needed....every 5 years or so. The Code guy liked the way I planned it but  these taks cannot have a structure above them , due to settlement and weight of structures,  and the alternative way would have been a smaller room-

so I bought a kindle instead and gave many of my books away. My point here is -the VA loan people seem to know what they are doing (so unlike calling Peggy)

and I had no idea until today that these loans for survivors have been enhanced by a broader eligibility criteria and posted the link from Mil.com above.

Rpowell is right:

"So remember the VA Loan is just a guarantee, you still have to go to a bank or company to get it mortgage. You can print the certificate from eBenefits, it should be on there."

My experience was years ago, before the COE could be on ebenefits. This is also good info to know.

 

 

 

 

[Guest L]

Berta has great insight in that post - I just purchased in TX and we have something that is an alternative to using the  VA home loan ( which I now believe is up to $400,000) It is called Texas Veterans Land Board they may have one similar in your state. It is NOT to just buy land, I have utilized it 3 times to buy homes.  This may be an alternative if the financing options do not fit your needs. also I recommend a finance company called First Choice - Nation wide - Kept me as a Veteran - in the know of the process and was on time and above board with all transactions. :)

L

[Berta]

I just read the initial post and need to add----my husband purchased and paid for 2 homes before I knew him , with his VA COE and then sold them.

When we got married and bought the farm in NY we could not use any VA loan  for the farm because we did not plan on living here for a long time.

As it happened we bought the farm on our honeymoon, from former NJers I had known for years, and they were willing to hold a short  term mortgage with a good interest on the balance.

I guess my point is this- my husband was sure we had to intend to live on the farm we bought-to get a VA loan,  and didnt know when we could move up to NY and I think he was right.....as to trying to purchase  ,at time of sale what was technically  'vacant land.'

But then we decided to move up to NY  about a year later and I sold my home in NJ and we even bought more land, in NY.

This is a good question- as to whether a vet could buy land and then with the VA loan, purchase a home to put on it.I dont see why they couldn't do that.

But the VA loan people are easy to talk to.They would know.

 

 

[rpowell01]

I’m up here in Jefferson City, Tennessee currently for two weeks on vacation… Being from Florida this place is like night vs daycompared to Florida…To be honest I have been looking at houses online for sale all around this area… I haven’t used my VA Home Certificate yet because the bank I use now is a private local bank so they don’t use or accept the VA Certificate… Anyway I just love this place/area and right now I’m researching and really thinking of selling out in Florida and moving up here… Tennessee doesn’t have the full exemption on property taxes that Florida has but the cost of living is so cheap here that it works out the same… I live in a small county of roughly 30,000 people in Florida and our gas prices are high approx. 2.40 currently but here it’s only 2.12 and lower… The houses per square feet is way way cheaper here compared to where I’m from in Florida… 

 

So right now I owe $79k on my home currently… I had utilized the SHIP program which is a grant that is given to help with down payments on your home… After 20 years of living in the home the grant doesn’t have to be paid back!! If you live in the home between 10-15 years toy have to pay back I think 50% of the grant if you sellout and between 15-20 you only pay back 25%… We paid $120k and approx $23k was granted to us from SHIP…If I can make at least $20k tp help put down on a home up here I’m selling out and moving…

Im tired of Florida, I’ve been there my whole life my my duty stations while in the Army and I’m ready for a change… I’m 49 years old and well I want to live in a higher altitude because It feels better on my whole spine…