Brent Bruce's Mortgage Insights

This Blog was recently publised in 6 Southern California regional newspapers on December 18th, 19th, and 20th, of 2009

By Brent C. Bruce

The end of World War II brought a huge number of our military service men and women home from the front lines abroad. Peace had been restored and these young service people were anxious to begin building their lives back home. In 1944, under President Roosevelt, our government created a home loan program, as part of the GI Bill, to assist these veterans in buying a home for their families.

Today the VA home loan is still the best option for veterans and other service people looking to take advantage of our low price real estate market.

The most attractive feature of the VA home loan is that it does not require any money for a down payment. This program also allows for the home seller to pay for the buying veteran’s closing costs. This combination creates an opportunity for a veteran to be able to buy a new home with not one penny out of their pocket. In fact the VA home loan is often referred to as the “VA No-No”, meaning that, when it is properly structured, it requires “no down” and “no closing costs” to the veteran.

Another great feature of the VA home loan is that is does not require monthly mortgage insurance. Most other home loan products require expensive monthly mortgage insurance payments if you make a down payment of less than 20%. Not having this monthly mortgage insurance can not only keep your monthly mortgage payment lower, but also allows you to qualify for a more expensive home.

While this loan is called a Veterans Administration home loan it is not restricted to only post-service veterans. Those who are currently serving in our armed forces, including the National Guard and Reserves may also qualify. A surviving spouse of a veteran may be entitled to this VA benefit as well under certain circumstances.

The VA does require a minimal up front Funding Fee for this benefit, but it can be paid by the seller, or included in the new home loan if necessary. You must be buying the home as your new principle residence, and qualify under all other standard VA home loan guidelines as well. Overall, the VA home loan has quite liberal guidelines and they are written in a way that is to the benefit of our service men and women.

It’s also worth mentioning that, according to Retired U.S. Army General Erik Shinseki, who is now the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, over 90% of all VA home loans are made with no money for a down payment. Remarkably the VA home loan program has the lowest rate of foreclosures out of all loan products available. The American people support a great loan product, as a way to give back and our service people and veterans appreciate it.

For more information on this outstanding home loan, or to find out if you are eligible for a VA home loan, contact an experienced VA home loan lender in your area.

You can also find more information on the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website at www.homeloans.va.gov.

P.S.– If you are a member of our nations Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, Coast Guard or are in the Reserves, - Thank you for all that you do.

Brent C. Bruce

Branch Manager

Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp.

8480 Red Oak Street

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

Phone (909) 463-4750

Email – bbruce@alliedhomenet.com

Website – brentbruce@brentbruce.com