Kitsap County contains a diverse cross section of people. Military personnel make up a very large and valuable segment of our population. If you are in the market for a home or need to explore a refinance, and you are in the military or have been in the past, a VA insured mortgage is something you may wish to consider with your loan officer.
In order to be eligible for a VA mortgage, you must have or have had some connection with the US military. Eligibility is fairly simple to identify and you loan officer will help. In general, if you have completed 6 months of active service, or 6 years of inactive (such as the National Guard) you probably are eligible. There are also several special situations that may also make you eligible, such as being the spouse of a deceased military person. For a detailed description of eligibility, please follow this link.
If you can claim VA eligibility, you have a tremendous tool at your disposal! VA buyers can, and often do, purchase their first homes "Double Zero Down". In other words, VA buyers are not required to have a down payment and are allowed to have a seller pay for most of there closing costs. In addition, the VA loan limits for Kitsap County are quite generous, up to $417,000 for a single family dwelling. The credit requirements for a VA loan are quite forgiving. It is very common these days to have some credit "bumps" in our past. With a VA mortgage, these, depending on severity, will not stop a VA eligible buyer from attaining home ownership. And the VA borrower will not pay a higher rate soley because of a less-than-perfect credit report. There are restrictions to the VA guidlines but they are surprisingly flexible. Don't assume that because you may have only a little cash or a credit problem in the past, that a VA loan is out of the question. Every year Olympic Northwest helps many military families achieve their dream of home ownership.
VA buyers do not have to pay Mortgage Insurance on their home loans! A VA mortgage has a Funding Fee instead of Mortgage Insurance. This fee can vary from as low as 0% up to 3.3% of the loan amount, depending on the transaction structure and the VA borrower's situation. The Funding Fee does not have to be paid up-front, it can be added to the mortgage without affecting the approval, and becomes part of the payment. Your loan officer is trained to identify and help you minimize this fee.
The financial benefits of home ownership are many and well known. The benefits of a VA mortgage are not so well known. Did you know that all VA mortgages are Assumable? What that means to a home owner is that his or her home will very likely be worth more money on the open market than a comparable home nearby in the near future. The reason is this; we are at the beginning of a rising market for Interest Rates. It was not unexpected and all the different industry analysts agree that the rates will continue to rise slowly in the foreseeable future. Just as happened in Kitsap in the early 80's, there will come a time when these attractive 5% and 6% and even 7% mortgages will no longer be available. When that time occurs, homeowners with VA assumable loans will be able to sell their homes with the mortgage intact. There are restrictions of course, but as in the 80's, many people will make more money on the sale of their homes because they can offer valuable mortgages along with the home. It has happened before and it will happen again.
