What are VA Loans?
Near the end of World War II in 1944, the U.S. government showed its appreciation to returning veterans by creating the VA loan program to help vets buy homes. VA loans help eligible veterans by guaranteeing the loans that banks, credit unions and independent mortgage lenders underwrite. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for this program.
If you’re an eligible veteran and you’d like to purchase a home or condominium, a VA loan can guarantee up to $417,000 of the entire loan. If you’re a veteran considering refinancing an existing loan, VA loans offer you a couple options. You can refinance to reduce your interest rate or you can take cash out of the loan (called equity or a “cash-out”), but it’s limited to $144,000.
Prime Mortgage Lending Helps Veterans
GoPrime Mortgage, Inc. . (dba PrimeRate Mortgage Lending) offers VA loans as just one of its many loan packages available. If you’re an eligible veteran, first, thank you for your service to our country! Second, Zachery “Zack” Adam of Prime Mortgage Lending of West Asheville does everything he can to match you to the very best mortgage that fits your needs. That may or may not be a VA loan.
But there are many ways that VA loans can help you if you’re a veteran, including:
- Purchasing a new home or condominium
- Building a new home
- Refinancing your existing home loan
- Improving, repairing or altering your home
- Buying a manufactured home with or without the lot
- Improving a manufactured home lot
- Installing a cooling or heating system
- Doing home weatherization upgrades
- Purchasing a home while simultaneously improving the energy efficiency of the home
- Refinancing an existing VA loan to decrease the interest rate
Safeguards with VA Loans
If you qualify for a VA home loan, you have added peace of mind with these VA home safeguards:
- Builders of new homes are mandated to provide you with a one-year warranty that the home is built to VA-approved specifications. The same warranty also must be provided for newly manufactured homes and condominiums.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs may suspend the loan program from lenders who scam or try to take advantage of the veteran borrowers. Loan suspensions may also be issued if lenders decline to sell a new home or provide loans to eligible veterans of good credit based on race, religion, color, disability, sex, national origin or family status.
- In instances of new construction completed under HUD or VA inspection, the government compensates you for repairing any structural defects that affect livability. You have to request this assistance within four years of the VA loan application to receive the warranty.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs encourages lenders to extend forbearance if you become unable to meet the terms of the loan (based on temporary reasons).
- You can only be charged the fees and additional charges that are deemed allowable by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
- You can repay any VA loans with a penalty of no less than the amount of one installment of the loan or $100. In other words, you can’t be penalized for paying a loan off in full before its due date, as is the case in certain other loan types.
Local Gratitude
In addition to the appreciation that the VA shows with these fabulous loan options, remember that it’s local people like your team at Prime Mortgage of West Asheville who help you get those loans. You’ll receive first-class customer service whenever you talk to Zack or anyone at this local independent mortgage lender.
Zack works really hard for veterans, not only to provide the best mortgage products (including VA loans), but also to explain everything in terms you can understand. It’s not just the right thing to do; it’s the only thing to do. And so, with gratitude for your service, you’ll always be treated with the utmost respect at Prime Mortgage Lending of West Asheville. Come in to the office at 862 Haywood Road or call 828-348-1907.
