VA Mortgage Loans: Purchase, Refinance, Cash Out, IRRRL, Streamline

By Justin Woodbury


A VA loan is meant to help veterans of the United States Military get easy access to home financing. You will of course need to consult a mortgage specialist in order to determine your eligibility, because guidelines do change often. However, you should be able to qualify for one if you meet one of the following conditions: You have served 90 consecutive days of active service during wartime; You have served 181 days of active service during peacetime; You have more than 6 years of service in the National Guard or Reserves; You are the spouse of a service member who has died in the line of duty or as a result of a service-related disability.

First, you may utilize your VA mortgage loan to purchase a home, in this scenario you may sometimes make a home purchase with 100 percent financing. For example, let's say you have your dream home in your crosshairs, but the home appraised for three hundred thousand dollars. With the VA loan, you may be able to take out a loan for the full amount, and not have any down payment. You would still have closing costs associated, but with a conventional loan you would be required, in most scenarios to have at least five percent down, with a FHA loan about three percent down, and you will have mortgage insurance on top of it! With a VA Loan and as of this writing, there is no mortgage insurance required.

Now, once you have your VA mortgage loan you may refinance it if you want to make changes and there are several typical ways of doing this. If you are currently in a fixed rate loan and want to lower your payments, you can refinance and replace your current loan with an adjustable rate mortgage that could potentially lower your payments. You may change your loan to a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year mortgage so that you can save money on cumulative interest. You may change from a 15 year loan to a 30 year loan so that you can save money on a monthly basis. Some of these refinances can be completed using the IRRRL refinance or Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, which may save you money on the appraisal and funding fee!

Another thing you can do with a VA Mortgage Loan is A Cash Out Refinance. This essentially allows you to use your VA Home Loan to withdraw from your home equity and use the cash for almost anything you want. A typical scenario would be for something like a home improvement such as a room addition, kitchen remodel, or the installation of solar panels. There is also the possibility to use it for Debt Consolidation of high interest credit cards or personal loans. You can usually get a much lower interest rate and payment on a mortgage loan when compared with credit cards and you can get rid of those double digit, revolving interest rates.

Like most refinances, there are sometimes costs associated. In the case of the VA loan you sometimes have a funding fee or closing costs. This funding may be able to be waived in some scenarios though so you should contact a loan specialist or mortgage broker to find out which loan program would best suit your goals and eligibility.




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