VA Loan Experience

[Solid]

Hello everyone,
It has been quite some time since I last posted here, but I'm always happy to see that the board continues to be as vivacious and informative as it was back in the day.

I'm transitioning into a career in tech and, as part of a class I'm taking, have been asked to review VA home loan websites (happy to explain further as needed). It occurred to me to stop by here and ask if any of you have either taken out a VA loan or are in the process of doing so, and would be OK talking about how that went, what steps you took, etc.? Doesn't matter if you used online resources or did it directly with a local bank, I just want to understand the experience.

I won't be asking for any personal / identifying information.

As I said, I'm happy to explain what I'm up to in more detail-- and I'd be equally happy to pass on a bit of what I'm learning by way of describing the process of reviewing how websites work, etc., if that's of interest.

TS - let me know if this is inappropriate and I'll fade back quietly into the mist.

All the best,

David

[(1VB)compforce]

I'd be happy to help. I have a VA Mortgage, have refinanced it once and also have experience as an IT guy in a bank. I would suggest that we leave the thread out here so that it can help others rather than jumping off to a private conversation. To go through the process, we can speak generalities. You really don't need to know specific dollars, rates or anything else based on your description.

[Pete]

First home loan was VA back in 1988.

Painless, signed some papers along with everything else. No problem.

[cbtengr]

Took out my VA loan in 83 pretty painless back then, very low interest rate which really made it attractive at the time, 12 % . As I recall the seller had to pay a point to the lender.

[JJ_BPK]

Use your google-fu, the droids you're looking are out there.. A bit dated, but that may be indicative of the lack of need?

http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/962194293

[Debo]

David,

Mine was an absolute trainwreck. PM me your questions and I'll fill give you some info.


D.

[miclo18d]

2009 loan was relatively painless. Had to download some paperwork from th VA site and give to the USAA person that handled the loan. They did all of the leg work otherwise (USAA that is).

The hardest part is making sure your debt ratio is good. Getting all of your CC balances low and minimizing any loans. We sold a car that still had a balance so we could get the house.

The whole loan process took about a month to get to closing, but we already had preapproval from USAA.

[CW3SF]

I used mine in Jan 2014. Very painless, excellent rate and no issues.

[Solid]

Great. Thanks, everyone. So a few questions:
- Where / how / through who did you learn about the VA Loan?

- What did you do in terms of educating yourself about the VA Loan vs. a traditional loan? Who did you speak to / what did you read?

- Did you shop around to get a sense of the best rates?

- Any part of the experience that you thought was particularly great? Can include the benefits of the loan itself

- Any part of the experience that you thought was particularly painful? I'll reach out to those that have already said so through PM

Thanks again!

David