Today the Texas Veteran’s Land Board announced that the new Texas Vet Housing Assistance Program loan limit is $417,000, up from $325,000.   They also increased the land-only program to $100,000, up from $80,000.  That’s how Texas takes care of our military veterans!

For more information, see www.texasveterans.com.

Rebecca Queen with RE/MAX is holding a homebuyer seminar for military veterans this Thursday, April 12th, from 5:30pm to 6:30pm with a brief presentation at 6pm.  Active duty and retired military veterans are invited to come by and ask any and all questions about buying a house.  The VA Team will be present to answer financing questions.  Rebecca will address property search and acquisition questions.  We will also be joined by the Veterans’ representative for Williamson County who has a wealth of information on other veteran resources.  All veterans and ...]]>

Rebecca Queen with RE/MAX is holding a homebuyer seminar for military veterans this Thursday, April 12th, from 5:30pm to 6:30pm with a brief presentation at 6pm.  Active duty and retired military veterans are invited to come by and ask any and all questions about buying a house.  The VA Team will be present to answer financing questions.  Rebecca will address property search and acquisition questions.  We will also be joined by the Veterans’ representative for Williamson County who has a wealth of information on other veteran resources.  All veterans and family members are welcome!  Contact Rebecca Queen at 512-767-5733 for more information.

Today we officially launched our VA Marketing Portal for all of our Realtor partners who have taken Chad’s VA training classes.  This portal includes all kinds of marketing material for immediate download, including letters to send to your database of veterans and non-vets, “snippets” of information to add to your newsletters, articles on VA and Texas Vet financing, social media ideas, etc…. To gain access, please attend one of Chad’s VA training classes coming soon.  The next upcoming class is always posted at www.chadbowman.com/classes!  Are ...]]>

Today we officially launched our VA Marketing Portal for all of our Realtor partners who have taken Chad’s VA training classes.  This portal includes all kinds of marketing material for immediate download, including letters to send to your database of veterans and non-vets, “snippets” of information to add to your newsletters, articles on VA and Texas Vet financing, social media ideas, etc…. To gain access, please attend one of Chad’s VA training classes coming soon.  The next upcoming class is always posted at www.chadbowman.com/classes!  Are YOU on THE TEAM?

When a veteran is using a VA loan to purchase his or her new home, the following things are important to keep in mind in regards to other properties owned:

1.  If any of the properties the veteran will continue to own still have a VA loan on them, that will reduce the VA entitlement available to the veteran.  Make sure your lender calculates your remaining eligibility before you commit to a new purchase.

2.  Typically you need a minimum of 3 months PITI on all properties that you are keeping as ...]]>

When a veteran is using a VA loan to purchase his or her new home, the following things are important to keep in mind in regards to other properties owned:

1.  If any of the properties the veteran will continue to own still have a VA loan on them, that will reduce the VA entitlement available to the veteran.  Make sure your lender calculates your remaining eligibility before you commit to a new purchase.

2.  Typically you need a minimum of 3 months PITI on all properties that you are keeping as investments.  That can be in just about any kind of account and does not need to be liquid, but we will use only 60% of the value of a retirement account when calculating the funds available.

3.  In order to use rental income to offset the mortgage payment on a rental property, we must provide a copy of the current lease agreement with a 12-month term and document proof of the first month’s rent and security deposit.  In that case, we will use 75% of the rent received to offset the current mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance.  Of course, what you claim on your tax returns, after writing off expenses, will supersede this calculation.

Call us if you have questions!

If you have not yet locked in your interest rate with your lender, don’t be surprised that today’s rates are higher than what might have been quoted to you in the last several days.  The stock market has been on a roll lately and we’ve had a pretty quick bump up in interest rates.  The amount of the change is different for all types of loan programs, but as an example, a refinance that we quoted just two days ago will now cost roughly $1,800 more to get the same ...]]>

If you have not yet locked in your interest rate with your lender, don’t be surprised that today’s rates are higher than what might have been quoted to you in the last several days.  The stock market has been on a roll lately and we’ve had a pretty quick bump up in interest rates.  The amount of the change is different for all types of loan programs, but as an example, a refinance that we quoted just two days ago will now cost roughly $1,800 more to get the same interest rate.  That’s what we mean by a volatile market!  If you are not locked, then you are “floating” which really means you are betting on interest rates going lower before you lock.  That could be a costly bet.

Waives VA funding fee if 10% or more

Deeply discounted rate if 30% or more

No property taxes in Texas if 100% rating

REGRETS?   No Mr. President.  None that I can think of.

Here are the typical fees for property appraisals used in the home loan process:

VA Loans = $400 (set by VA)

FHA Loans = $450

Conventional Loans = $455

Investment Properties = $600

Just remember, these fees will likely fluctuate between lenders.

Thank you Raina for hand-making those awesome cookie houses for our United Lending Team!  We loved them!  (And we told everyone you made them, by the way.)  We already told other clients what they are up against.  You rock!

Lately we have received a couple of questions from Realtors who heard USAA can do VA loans for relatives of veterans, such as parents or children.  This is not the case.  Only veterans can get VA loans, with the exception of the unmarried surviving spouse of a deceased veteran.  USAA’s program is branded the  ”Military Family Home Loan” and is a joint venture with Wells Fargo.  This is simply an FHA loan through a Wells Fargo subsidiary and is NOT a VA loan.  When there are no other options, FHA ...]]>

Lately we have received a couple of questions from Realtors who heard USAA can do VA loans for relatives of veterans, such as parents or children.  This is not the case.  Only veterans can get VA loans, with the exception of the unmarried surviving spouse of a deceased veteran.  USAA’s program is branded the  ”Military Family Home Loan” and is a joint venture with Wells Fargo.  This is simply an FHA loan through a Wells Fargo subsidiary and is NOT a VA loan.  When there are no other options, FHA may be a good idea, but it is important to note that it is typically the most expensive loan program available due to the mandatory upfront and monthly mortgage insurance.  Bottom line… any lender who can do an FHA loan can do a “Military Family Home Loan” since it’s the same thing.  We get that USAA is trying to offer more options, but members would prefer they put more time and money into improving their delivery of VA loans.