Jeff and Barbra met each other in the air force, serving together for years in the state of Oregon. After falling in love and getting married, they decided on purchasing their first home! However, being very uneducated about real estate, mortgage, or buying homes in general, they decided to go to a real estate agent! This real estate agent showed them a gorgeous selection of homes in the North Portland area. Luckily, a four bedroom house with beautiful views of Mount Hood and downtown Portland, costing only $215,000 became available for sale. For lack of better words, Jeff and Barbra experienced love at first sight!
After finding their dream house, and refusing to consider any other houses, Jeff and Barbra then went to a va loan specialist. Once speaking with this lender, Jeff and Barbra were shocked! Although they have amazing credit and qualify for the loan, the debt incurred from their recent wedding and their current income levels were too high to cover a loan for that full $215,000, and only qualified in the $180,000 range. Because of this, their dream home merely sizzled away to a different family, leaving Jeff and Barbra devastated!
Although this is a fictional story about a couple who did not work the system strategically, this could very much be you when purchasing your next home!
It is highly recommended for veterans to go to their VA lender before looking at homes through a real estate agent. Instances like that of Jeff and Barbra will not happen because you would first know how much money you can spend on a home before becoming emotionally invested to a home you simply cannot afford.
In addition to discovering how much money you will receive with a va loan, it is strongly encouraged to get pre-approved by your lender before visiting a real estate agent. There are two main types of approval that veterans can apply for: pre-qualification and pre-approval. What a pre-qualification does allows the lender to understand what you want in terms of buying your new home. Information such as your income, credit, and other forms of financial structure are not needed in this phase because the lender is merely trying to understand what your plans are in achieving your new dream house!
On the other hand, a pre-approval allows the lender to view your income, pull your credit, review W2s and Tax returns, and analyze all other financial forms in order to accurately come up with the loan amount you would qualify for!
Because of the trauma people like Jeff and Barbra experienced, realtors today recommend you visiting a lender before coming to them. Together, Lenders and realtors work together in helping you avoid conflict in finding your dream home!
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