Not only has the Department of Veterans Affairs’ VA home-loan program gained significant market share compared with competing private and government mortgage options, but big banks and mortgage companies have stepped up efforts to help returning veterans obtain decent and affordable housing, including by gifting them hundreds of homes free of charge, with no mortgage attached.
Have questions about the appraisal process for a VA loan? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com; they have VA certified appraisers that are glad to help.
The VA’s home-purchase financing program is now at record levels. New loans to buy houses have more than doubled since 2007.
Since 2011, when VA-backed mortgages represented about 3 percent of total home-purchase mortgage activity, they’ve soared to roughly a 7 percent share, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
For sales of newly built homes, the VA share is much larger — it was 14.5 percent in September compared with a 16.7 percent share for the other major federal housing finance program, FHA, the Federal Housing Administration.
So VA loans are housing’s hot product, but why? Lots of reasons:
VA-guaranteed mortgages come with terms that no other financing source can match — zero down payment; flexible and generous credit underwriting that emphasizes the applicant rather than the algorithm-driven computer programs that dominate conventional lending. Plus VA interest rates are competitive, and maximum loan amounts go into the jumbo range.
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